Want to know how to entertain a kid for hours? Welcome to the world of the Pogo Stick!!! This amazing contraption as been incredibly popular since its introduction in the 1920’s, and it has quite the history, or should I say fairytale?
Here’s a short version of the “history”:
Legend has it that an American traveler named George Hansburg was traveling through Burma when he met a poor farmer with a daughter named Pogo. Pogo wanted to go to the temple every day to pray, but couldn’t because she had no shoes to wear for the long walk through mud and rocks. As a solution, the poor farmer built a jumping stick for her. George Hansburg loved this invention and when he returned home, he made and sold a similar jumping contraption of his own that is now….the Pogo Stick.
So, I have one question for this nice farmer/ genius inventor. If you had the capabilities to make a jumping stick for your daughter to hop through mud and rocks, wouldn’t you have been able to easily make her a pair of shoes? It just seems more logical to walk from point A to point B rather than balance on a jumping stick. Just a thought.
Although, I must say that I sure am glad he decided hopping was better means of transportation, and I’m confident that a lot of happy hoppers would agree! Not sure what to get a kid (or myself) for Christmas this year? Go ahead and add this to the list of gifts that keeps on giving! Learn more here.
Contributed by: Ashley Hollingsworth
