We even used to make “forts” out of tumble weeds, with opposing sides across some open area, and then have “wars” lobbing dirt clods over the walls of the “forts” at the opposing side. The “war” would end when we’d run out of dirt clods, and we’d be off to make up something else for play. “Toys” were mostly things we created for play with whatever we had that we could use. I was a teen before I had my first bike that was not made from parts we scavenged from discarded bikes.
It seemed quite natural, as we could not have snowball fights (which we did upstate New York) as snowballs are seldom available (other than in the mountains) in Southern California.
It used to rain though, a lot. The hill in our backyard would become a mud slide. So we could get cardboard and make mud sleds. I was a bit of a sissy though and didn’t enjoy getting too muddy. The boys were into it.
I remember one rainy thanksgiving looking out the window and seeing a huge gorgeous pheasant in the yard. (Too bad my dad wasn’t a hunter, lol)