I think it's called this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_figure

I almost forgot about it until I saw it in some anime then it triggered my memories. I remember when I was a kid, my mom played that string thingy with me... she said kids of her days played that because there weren't much games/toys to play with...

I don't remember if this was a gendered thing tho... I kinda felt like it was something that is more "for girls"... or maybe because it was mom that played it with me... idk...

Now I mostly don't remember how it works anymore...

Yes I remember this but we used elastic bands instead of strings. Simply because we had them more readily accessible at school. I've also seen it done with string or yarn.

And yes usually girls would be the ones playing with that but not too exclusively.

I remember playing that with other kids in elementary school. We knew the first 6 or 8 moves, then would just make it up from there... we'd end up with a complete mess of string, but we didn't care, and we'd keep going anyway.

we called it "cat's cradle" and yeah, we 'played' it in the American Midwest in the 80's and 90's

I played this as a kid growing up in Germany. I also learned it from my mother but I forgot how it's played.

I remember playing it in elementary school in the 80-90s, where it was popular for a while. I wasn't very good at it.

This was in Finland.

Yeah. Had books and books about how to do different things. Cats cradle was the most well known...shape (?), but use to know so many. It was considered a girly thing like the fortune teller puzzles out of paper. A shame for the boys, it was fun to learn.

I do remember this one. We called it “Cat’s Cradle”. I don’t think I ever played it, though childhood was 10,000 years ago so I may have just forgotten.

Boy here. I liked the eiffel tower and jacob's ladder.