Growing up in the 50's

There is no doubt that the influence of growing up in the 50's in low/middle income America will be unequaled and probably never seen again.  It was the advent of "The Handyman".  Saturdays was spent building go-karts, motor boats from scratch, soap box derby racers, Tea-parties and anything that the imagination would come up with. 

 My kids only can glance at what we were given.....We had;

Walt Disney,

Davy Crockett

Bonanza w/Hoss

The Surf scene

Red Skelton, Melton Berle, Ernie Kovaks

The Mickey Mouse Club

Cub Scouts, Brownies, Boy and Girl Scouts

Mom going to Bingo or Bunko

Dad going to secret clubs or drinking parties in the woods.

Saturday morning matinees

Ice skating parties

Smores

BB guns

3 D viewers w/ interchangable discs

Sandlot baseball

Dodgeball

Red Rover

Top 40 Hits

Sock Hops

Trot lines

and every sort of game kids could come up with

I could go on forever but I would like to hear what others remember that influenced them.

I wish that we could pass this on to our kids as a society, but sadly I believe we failed.  I made every effort to inspire imagination in my own kids but I feel I've failed to some extent or lost to the TV or MTV generation.

Please add comments of your memories.