From outdated classroom supplies and equipment to much-loved games we used to play in the playground, it's a pleasure to get nostalgic about our former school days. Let's take a look back at some of our favourite memories from school in the '80s and '90s. For a daily dose of 9Honey, subscribe to our newsletter here .
Is this school lunch order making you do a double take too? An old paper bag with a canteen order scrawled on it was shared onto a popular Instagram page, @the_iconic90s and it's making us all yearn for simpler times. The classic Australian food order includes one meat pie for $1.20, a chocolate donut for $1 and a Big M chocolate milk for $1.
And the grand total? Just $3.20. It's unclear exactly what year this paper bag was unearthed from, but it's giving plenty of Australians a healthy dose of nostalgia.
"I'll never forget that feeling of sheer happiness when your mum said you can get your lunch from the canteen. It's the little things that made us happy 😃," the photo was captioned. A few Instagram users took to the comment section to marvel at the cost.
"Gotta love those prices," one person said. "The sauce now costs $3.20," another joked.
Adults around Australia have been triggered by an image of a familiar purple plastic tub with a little white lid and the memories it has conjured up. Namely, Perkins Paste. The glue became something of a cultural icon and was a staple in classrooms across the country before the start of the '90s – before glue sticks.
*SOB* Interestingly, many primary school kids simply loved to smell or eat the thick white paste, rather than use it as was intended – as an adhesive. "This stuff was delicious," said one man when a photo was shared to a popular Facebook nostalgia group. "Didn't eat it but loved its smell," said another.
"The smell was unforgettable! I can still smell it! Ah the memories. Never forgotten." "Yep! Ate it, sniffed it, crafted with it.
" noted a fourth. "I remember my teacher being puzzled why I kept running out of glue," laughed another. "Opening a new pot was akin to opening a new jar of Vegemite," gushed another.
The glue was in fact made from boiled potato dextrin, hence the appeal. Sadly, production of the popular product out of its Surry Hills factory was ceased in the '80s. This iconic book was the inspiration behind every kid's school project in the '80s, or even if you just wanted to write your name.
The Lettering Book , by Noelene Morris, was first published by Scholastic Australia in 1982 and now the treasured book lives on in the hearts and minds of a generation. For the uninitiated, it's basically an activity book with hundreds of styles of hand-drawn letters, headings, borders, and symbols - and provided us with hours of tracing pleasure. Yes, there are new and updated editions available , and an original can earn you big bucks on eBay.
When shared to Reddit alongside the caption 'This book was the bomb', many adults flocked to the post with appreciation. "I loved this book," said one. "Another core memory unlocked.
" "So many of my school projects benefited from this." said another. "Oh yeah, that's 1987 right in the feels.
" No computer? No worries. We used to love the entire process of borrowing a book from the school library in the '80s. First, you would take a paper card out of the "lending pocket" and use a pen to write your name on it.
Next, the librarian would date-stamp the card and file it before stamping a due date in the book itself. The anticipation of seeing who had borrowed the book before you was always sky-high. We kid you not, Gen Z! Not to mention the catalogues to find the book you were after! Three words: Dewey Decimal System.
Boy, did the class cheer loudly when this cart got wheeled into the classroom. Time for a movie or back-to-back episodes of Behind the News . All the cool girls of the '80s had one of these.
Was there anything better than popping open those compartments all day long? The more buttons and compartments, the better. Better yet, if the pencil case featured Hello Kitty or Little Twin Stars! We could not get enough of those pastel puffy clouds and rounded stars. Ah, the sweet, sweet smell of stencils fresh off the mimeograph.
Who else recalls begging their teacher to be the lucky student to go and pick up a stack of fresh stencils from the school office? And...
inhale. Before the cost of living crisis and wild inflation, $5 could get you quite a hearty lunch at the school canteen. Aussie adults are taking the time to reminisce on these good old days, after a set of old primary school lunch menus were shared online highlighting the delicious goodies that could be bought for next to nothing.
"Mum's given you $5 for lunch...
what are you ordering?" the pictures of the old menus were captioned on Reddit. READ MORE: Devastating reason family is searching for this blue elephant The first menu, dated March 2003, is from Oberon Primary School in Belmont, Victoria. It includes a range of food options including hot food, sandwiches and rolls, jaffles, cakes, snacks, lollies, frozen goodies and drinks.
Some of the stand-out purchases include $0.90 for a peanut butter sandwich, $0.60 for a satchet of Nutella, $0.
50 for a jelly cup and two jelly babies for $0.05. Another canteen menu shared by the same user was from Ashby Primary School in Geelong West, Victoria.
The hot food selection from over 20 years ago was pretty impressive, offering three chicken nuggets for $1.10 and a cup of noodles or ham and pineapple pizza for $2.00.
One of the most nostalgic aspects, however, is reading the instructions for ordering lunch. "Money to be in brown paper bag with the following on the outside: child's name, teacher's name, lunch order and cost, amount of money enclosed and if change is required," it reads. Did you prefer your toffee sticky or tooth-breakingly hard? Either way, these bad boys were always the first to sell out at the school fete at recess.
"England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales." Hours and hours of playground fun, and all you needed was a leftover piece of elastic from your mum's sewing kit. Anyone else triggered? Every cool kid in the '90s could be found with a stash of Tazos in their pocket to trade in the playground.
Cat's cradle was another classic playground favourite, and all you needed was one piece of string. The old-fashioned version involved taking the string off another person's hands and forming a series of consecutive shapes. Cat's Whiskers, Cup and Saucer, Diamond Bridge.
.. and that damn Parachute we could never quite manage.
And who could forget Cutting the Hand? School banking day was always a highlight! Hands up if you had a Dollarmite savings account and one of these pencil cases and rulers? While the school banking program was officially banned around the country last year, many kids say they have fond memories of the controversial initiative. We distinctly recall getting in trouble for using one of these hand-operated pencil sharpeners too often. It was a good day when the teacher handed you one of these scratch 'n sniff stickers for answering a question correctly in class.
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