I’d pretend to be Spider Man, swinging on monkey bars at the playground. The neighborhood kids would pretend to be superheroes and jump around. We would randomly pick someone and imagine they are the enemy. Sometimes it got confrontational, so the parents could step in.
Daniel Zeng, 19, Pre-Law Major at Pitzer College
We played house during recess at elementary school. We played in the sand and everyone had their roles, and we had different scenarios, like we would make food with the sand.
Sienna Gibbs, 19, Psychology Major at UCSC
My neighbors and I would play Legos and build a whole city with a supermarket. You always want more Legos and it’s fun to figure out what to do with the pile. We would make lots of Lego guys and put them on a Lego airplane so they can fight each other.
Zach Rugee, 21, Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology Major at UCSC
We had those spiky balls from trees all over. We’d pretend it was a minefield, so if you step on one it blows up or sticks to your bare foot. We built forts with them and threw them like cannonballs. And I’d make paper airplane spaceships like Star Wars and fly them through leaves and bushes like a jungle planet.
Anthony Garcia, 23, Nomad
My friend and I would pick ferns and hide behind them. We would tell my little sister that we were “fern sisters,” like we were made of ferns.
Melissa Lamb, 56, School Psychologist
In preschool, I told a girl, “I want a kiss from you.” She said, “I’ll pretend my glue stick is lipstick, so the kiss won’t go away.” When I kissed her, my lips stuck together, and she laughed. She said, “I told you! You’ll never forget me now!” And I never have. I learned then that women are smarter than us.
Ivan Chacon, 52, Finance
