This meme says the “THE 70’S,” but I encountered a little boy playing with something kind of like a balsa wood glider yesterday!  I told him how much I loved these when I was his age.

His was a bit fancier — it might have been made of thin plastic.  The gliders that I received from visiting aunts and grandparents were like the mostly unadorned balsa wood jobby that you see below.  It came in a long plastic sleeve like the one pictured, and you had to assemble it yourself.  (It wasn’t quite as high tech as the X-Box.)

Loop-de-loops were damn fun.  It was slightly less fun seeing it snap off a wing or fin after a nosedive.  Note to any well meaning aunts or uncles who might spy a balsa wood glider, if they’re still around:  buy a couple of them for that kid in your life — these things break easily.