Unbelievable Things Kindergartners Were Expected To Do In The 1950s

It’s really quite difficult to get ahead in the world without a decent understanding of finances. In fact, it’s probably best that kids are taught about money management from as early as possible. That way, they’ll be more prepared as they get older. Naturally, this was as true during the 1950s as it is today.

It seems that kindergarten teachers in the ’50s appreciated just how important it was for kids to understand money. Margaret Bramer’s report card from 1954 includes an item that reads, “I know pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, half dollars, dollars.” Hopefully, this early exposure to the idea of money helped Bramer’s financial management throughout her later life.

Good manners at the dinner table are important, as teachers of the ’50s understood. That’s why Bramer and her classmates were encouraged to “eat nicely,” as their report card put it. It’s a quaint way of phrasing it, but it’s also a clever way of getting kids to think about dinner etiquette.

Each meal of the day represents a chance for children to learn all about table manners. All that’s needed is a bit of effort from the kid and some patience from the grown-up teaching them. Looking at Bramer’s report card, this was definitely an important value back in the 1950s.

Nowadays, it’s not all that common to see kids walking to school without a parent or guardian accompanying them. Back in the day, though, things were very different indeed. If you were a child in the ’50s, the chances were likely that you’d be sent off to school on your own.

Even really young kids like those in kindergarten may have been walking to — and back from — school by themselves in some cases. It’s a crazy thought for us looking back today, but times were very different in the 1950s. Parents simply weren’t as paranoid about all the things that could potentially go wrong.

As well as being great fun, playing music as part of a band can be really beneficial for young kids. Not only does it help them to develop their own personal fine motor skills, but it also teaches them about making a collective contribution. A band, after all, is made up of several different people.

On top of everything else, playing in a band obviously spurs kids to develop a love for music. Such a musical passion, it’s fair to say, is rewarding in its own right. That’s why it’s so impressive that kindergarten classes in the ’50s were encouraged to play in rhythm bands at school.

One of the essential things that Margaret Bramer’s class needed to know seems a little strange when we look back on it today. One of the entries that the kids needed to tick off was, “I know my father’s name.” There’s no mention on the page of having to learn their mother’s name.

This point may reflect a general trend in the ’50s of fathers often being away from home for work. It was seen as traditional for men to work, while women stayed at home to rear the children. Maybe this comparatively small amount of time spent with their dads made it important for kids to make a point of learning their names.

If you give a child some pottery clay, chances are that they’ll be excited to play around with it. The material’s unique texture encourages kids to stretch it, press it down, form shapes — anything they can think of. It can be a lot of fun, but the actual benefits of this kind of play can be huge.

Playing with pottery clay teaches kids that the actions they perform lead to certain outcomes. It encourages them to think creatively, to imagine a ceramic and then set about bringing it into being. The benefits of the activity can’t be overstated, and teachers in the ’50s were astutely aware of this.

One of the entries on Margaret Bramer’s report card reads, “I know my right hand.” On the surface, this seems quite reasonable, as it’s important for children to learn their right from left. But the fact that the right-hand side was specifically emphasized instead of the other way around may be quite telling.

Because of a long-standing bias, being a leftie has historically been quite problematic for people. Left-handed kids were even sometimes forced to learn how to write with their right hands. Things started to change during the 20th century, but there would’ve still been a hang-up about southpaws during the ’50s.

Showing children how to stay clean and hygienic is definitely important, but an emphasis on spotless fingernails in particular might seem a little strange. But that’s exactly what Margaret Bramer and her classmates had to bear in mind. Their report card included an item that read, “I keep my fingernails clean.”

Maybe the fact that kids had to pay specific attention to their fingernails is a reflection of all the time they spent outdoors back in the 1950s. After all, there are so many indoor activities that can occupy children nowadays. Perhaps, then, they’re not as likely to collect grit underneath their fingernails from playing outside as they were back in the day.

Margaret Bramer and her classmates were encouraged to sow seeds, which is a great thing for kids to do. In fact, it’s a lesson that we’d do well to impart to children these days. The benefits of this exercise for youngsters back in the 1950s would have been significant.

Perhaps the most important thing about getting kids to plant seeds is that it teaches them about food production. Children who simply see food as something their parents buy from stores won’t appreciate the hard work that helps to produce it. Kids should be aware of this truth from as early an age as possible.

During the height of the Cold War, there was a great deal of anxiety about the possibility of a nuclear attack. So, at the beginning of the 1950s, even schools were preparing their students for such a scenario. Basically, the kids were taught to “duck and cover,” to shelter underneath their desks and brace themselves.

An animated film called Duck and Cover was created to help teach kids about the maneuver. The protagonist was Bert the Turtle, who would take cover from an atomic blast in his shell. The film was a rather easygoing way of getting kids to deal with the grim prospect of nuclear war.

It’s fair to say that the art of sewing may be somewhat lost to today’s kids. But back in the ’50s it was an essential skill that children were taught from an early age. And maybe it’s something that should be brought back, because it’s a very useful skill for youngsters.

Sewing is a creative activity, which is helpful for developing a child’s imagination. Plus, it’s really good for fine-tuning their motor skills. And in addition to everything else, it teaches them patience and how to adhere to specific instructions. These are all skills that would benefit young children today.

For people born more recently, cooking lessons in kindergarten weren’t really that common. In fact, the closest they could get to a kitchen may have been a pretend one. But back in the ’50s, some kids were given real-life lessons in putting together a nice meal.

There are plenty of benefits that come with teaching kindergartners how to cook. It really helps their cognitive abilities develop, which can positively impact their academic lives. It obviously helps their motor skills, too, and it goes without saying that cooking is a great skill to have anyway.

In a sign of the times, one of the entries on Margaret Bramer’s report card says, “I listen nicely to records.” Appreciating music is a great thing for a person of any age to do, children included. But not many kids these days would be dropping the needle on a vinyl record.

Kindergartners today are presumably far more familiar with streaming services than they are with record players. But perhaps learning to use one of these vintage machines would be beneficial for kids? Consuming music by digital means, in some ways, makes it more disposable, whereas spinning a record is more active. That might help to develop children’s attention spans.

Under a section titled “personal habits,” Margaret Bramer’s kindergarten report includes two entries that mention things called “wraps.” The first one says, “I can take off and put on my wraps,” while the second reads, “I can hang my wraps correctly.” But what exactly are “wraps”?

Thankfully for those of us confused by the term, a commenter on Reddit explained. They wrote that “wraps” was the term people once used for scarves and hats — anything that would keep people warm in the wintertime. It seems that managing to keep the cold at bay was an important skill for young kids to master in the ’50s.

Few actions represent the joy of childhood more than skipping. It’s a fun and happy thing for kids to do, but it also really helps with their physical development. That’s probably why kindergarten teachers of the ’50s saw it as such an important thing for youngsters to learn.

Skipping can actually prove to be a really tricky thing for some kids to master. After all, they really need to have a firm grasp of rhythm and time if they’re going to master it. With that in mind, ’50s teachers probably had the right idea when they made the activity a pivotal part of their kindergartners’ education.

Back in the 1950s, American society held very rigid ideas when it came to questions of gender and gender roles. It was, for instance, widely accepted that men would go to work, while women stayed at home and tended to the household. These old-fashioned attitudes were actively imposed upon the children of the era, too.

During the ’50s, young girls were taught to master skills that tended to revolve around maintaining a household. They were clothed in skirts and dresses, while their behavior was encouraged to be more placid than that of boys. It was a strict time in terms of what was expected of young ladies.

While young girls of the 1950s were supposed to be gentle and well-behaved, expectations were quite different for boys. Male kids were widely brought up across America to be dominant and confident individuals. In some respects, it might even be said that a certain degree of mischief was permitted in boys.

Boys were often expected to do well at school and to play sports. Their ego was built up and they were given more space than girls to explore the world around them. Essentially, it was an attitude that sought to prepare boys for the world of work that awaited them down the line.

It isn’t necessarily the first skill you’d think to teach some kindergartners, but teachers in the ’50s obviously valued children’s ability to carry chairs. And to be fair to them, it’s probably a useful task for kids to learn. It likely helps with the development of their motor skills, after all.

Plus, picking up and stacking chairs is probably a good way to teach kids how to follow specific instructions. So, Margaret Bramer’s kindergarten teacher in 1954 probably knew what they were doing when they taught the class how to carry chairs “the right way.” Hopefully, it stuck with Bramer for the rest of her life.

In her book Reading Magic, Mem Fox explains just how important nursery rhymes are for young children. She writes, “Experts in literacy and child development have discovered that if children know eight nursery rhymes by heart by the time they’re four years old, they’re usually among the best readers by the time they’re eight.”

It’s really important, then, that kindergarten kids are taught plenty of nursery rhymes to learn by heart. That’s something that Bramer’s teacher seemed to be well aware of, if the report card that they issued is anything to go by. One of the entries on it simply reads, “I can tell rhymes.”

It’s nice to see that kindness was singled out as a lesson for Margaret Bramer and her class on their report card. The entry that reads, “I am kind to others and help them,” is definitely an idea that all children should be encouraged towards today. Hopefully it’s something we all still value.

Kindness is clearly virtuous for society at large. But on top of that, it also impacts individuals for the better, too. Doing something nice for somebody else actually makes people feel happy. So, with that in mind, kind kids are more likely to be cheery. Clearly, Bramer’s kindergarten teacher of 1954 sought to create a kind, happy environment for the kids.