Games for the Playground, Home, School and Gymnasium by Jessie Hubbell Bancroft (top novels of all time .txt) π
In the arrangement of material there has many times been a strong temptation to classify the games by their historic, geographic, psychologic, or educational interests; by the playing elements contained in them; or by several other possible methods which are of interest chiefly to the academic student; but these have each in turn been discarded in favor of the original intention of making the book preΓ«minently a useful working manual for the player or leader of games.
[Sidenote: Varying modes of play]
The same games are found not only in many different countries and localities, but under different names and with many variations in the form of playing them. This has necessitated a method of an
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When the whole line has been "locked" in this way, the players unwind in reverse order, still repeating the verse.
When players are familiar with the winding and unwinding process, the game may be played in circle formation instead of line formation; that is, it will start with all of the players facing inward as they clasp hands to form a circle, and the locking or winding will bring them facing in single file around the circle.
This is a favorite game with little girls in China, and is here given with the kind permission of Dr. Isaac T. Headland and Messrs. Fleming H. Revell & Co., from the book entitled "The Chinese Boy and Girl."
CAT AND MICE5 to 60 players.
Schoolroom.
One player is chosen to be cat, and hides behind or under the teacher's desk. After the cat is hidden, the teacher beckons to five or six other players, who creep softly up to the desk, and when all are assembled, scratch on it with their fingers, to represent the nibbling of mice. As soon as the cat hears this, she scrambles out from under the desk and gives chase to the mice, who may save themselves only by getting back to their holes (seats). If a mouse be caught, the cat changes places with him for the next round of the game. If no mouse be caught, the same cat may continue, or the teacher may choose another at her discretion.
A different set of mice should be chosen each time, so as to give all of the players an opportunity to join in the game.
This is a favorite schoolroom game for little children. They should be taught to add sport to the play by giving the cat quite a chase before returning to their seats, instead of seeking safety in the shortest and most direct way.
CAT AND RAT10 to 30 or more players.
Playground; gymnasium; parlor.
One player is chosen for cat and one for rat. The others all form a circle with clasped hands. The cat stands outside of the circle and the rat inside. The game opens with a conversation between the cat and rat.
The cat says:β
"I am the cat."
The rat says:β
"I am the rat."
"I will catch you!"
"You can't!"
This last defiance is a signal for a chase. The cat tries to get into the circle, and the rat tries to evade him. Both may run in and out of the circle, but the players will assist the rat by raising their hands to let him run under, and they will try to foil the efforts of the cat by preventing his breaking through the circle, either inward or outward.
When the rat is caught, he joins the circle and the cat becomes rat, a new cat being chosen from the circle players.
This game is a great favorite with young children, and though very similar in its general form to Bull in the Ring, the slight difference of the circle assisting the rat and hindering the cat makes a great difference in the playing qualities of the game, rendering it much less rough than Bull in the Ring.
10 to 100 players.
Gymnasium; playground.
Any number of players may engage in this contest, which is one of the best for a large number, containing as it does both excellent sport and vigorous exercise.
A line is drawn down the middle of the playing space. The players are divided into two parties and stand one party on either side of the line. The game starts on a signal and consists in catching hold of an opponent by any part of his body, as hand, arm, or foot, reaching over the line and so pulling him across the boundary. Any number of players may try to secure a hold on an opponent and any number may come to his rescue and try to resist his being pulled over the line, either by pulling him in the opposite direction or by trying to secure a hold on one of the opponents. A player does not belong to the enemy until his entire body has been pulled over the line. He must then join his captors in trying to secure players from across the line. The party wins which has the largest number of players at the end of time limits.
CATCH OF FISH10 to 30 or more players.
Playground; gymnasium.
This is one of the very strenuous games, and affords opportunity for some very good exercise and sport.
A line is drawn across each end of the playground, beyond which the players stand in two equal parties, one at one end and one at the other. The players of one party clasp hands to form a fish net. The players in the other party are fish. At a given signal both advance toward the center of the playground, which represents a stream, the object of the fish being to swim across to the opposite shore without being caught in the net. To do this they will naturally dodge around the ends of the net.
The net should inclose or encircle any fish that it catches. The fish so caught may not try to break apart the clasped hands forming the net, but may escape only through the opening where the two ends come together. Should the net break at any point by an unclasping of hands, the fish are all allowed to escape, and the players go back to their respective goals and begin over again. Any fish caught in the net are thereafter out of the game until all are caught. After the net has made one catch, the sides exchange parts, those of the fish that are left forming the new net, and the first net crossing to the other side and becoming fish. The two sides thus exchange places and parts, until all on one side are caught.
For a large number of players it is better to have two small nets instead of one large one, the dodging being livelier and the progress of the game more rapid in every way.
CATCH THE CANE10 to 30 or more players.
Playground; gymnasium; schoolroom.
The players, who should be numbered consecutively, stand in a circle or semicircle. One player stands in the center of the circle or in front of the semicircle, with his index finger on the top of a cane, wand, or closed umbrella, which stands perpendicularly to the floor. Suddenly he lifts his finger from the cane, at the same time calling the number assigned to one of the players in the circle. The person whose number is called must run forward and catch the cane before it lies on the floor. If he fails, he must return to his place in the circle; if successful, he changes places with the center player.
This game may have a great deal of sport in it if the action be kept lively and the one who is calling the numbers gives them in unexpected order, sometimes repeating a number that has recently been given, then giving a few in consecutive order, and then skipping over a long series, etc.
FOR THE SCHOOLROOM.βWhen played in the schoolroom, the player with the cane should stand in the center of the front of the room. The other playersβpart of the class at a timeβmay be lined up in front of the first row of desks, or only the players seated in the first row of seats may be called, according to the number of their row. At the discretion of the teacher this row may change to the rear row of seats, each line moving up one seat to make room for them.
This is an admirable game for making alert and active, children who are slow or dull.
CAVALRY DRILL10 to 100 players.
Playground; gymnasium.
This is a game of leapfrog.
I. Two players make a back. They stand with backs to the jumpers and place their inside hands on each other's shoulders with arms extended at full length to leave a space between. The jumper places a hand on each of the inside shoulders. The push will be away from the center and the backs will need to brace themselves for this.
II. A back is made by two or more players standing close together with sides toward the jumpers, thus making a back several widths deep to jump over.
For whichever form of back is used, any player failing to clear the back without touching it is out of the game, the first two failing becoming backs for the next round when all have jumped. For large numbers of players this may be played as a competition between different groups.
CENTIPEDE9 to 12 players.
Gymnasium; seashore.
The players sit in a circle on the floor, with their feet stretched out and mingled in a promiscuous pile. One player, who is leader, and stands outside the circle, touches one of the feet (he may mark it slightly with a piece of chalk if desired), and calling on some player by name, commands him to tell to whom the foot belongs. When this player has named some one, the leader commands the owner of the foot to stand up. If the guess be wrong, the leader chases the mistaken player and whips him with a knotted handkerchief. If the guess be right, the guesser is released from the game, sits down at one side, and chooses the next one to be It, while the one who was It takes a place in the circle.
This game lends itself especially to the gymnasium or seashore, where the dressing of the feet is inclined to be uniform.
The game is played by the modern Greeks.
CHANGING SEATS20 to 60 players.
Schoolroom.
This game is played in several different forms. The following are very popular.
Changing SeatsβIThe teacher gives the command, "Change right!" whereupon each pupil slips from his own seat to the one across the aisle to the right, the pupils in the farthest right-hand row standing in the outside aisle. The next order may be, "Change left!" when all of the pupils slip back to their own seats, and the row that stood resumes its own.
In the same way the orders, "Change forward!" and "Change backward!" may be given, the row of pupils left out each time merely standing in the aisles.
Changing SeatsβIIIn this form of the game the players in the displaced row run around the room and take the vacant row of seats on the opposite side. For instance, the teacher gives an order, "Change left!" whereupon all the pupils slip over into the seats next to them on the left, the outside row on the left side of the room standing in the aisle. The teacher then says "Run!" whereupon the pupils who are standing run across the front of the room and take the vacant row of seats on the right-hand side. The teacher may then again say, "Change left!" whereupon the entire class, as now seated, moves one place to the left, the outside players standing in the aisle as did their predecessors; on the command "Run!" they, too, run across the room and take the vacant row of seats on the right-hand side. The command may be given, "Change forward!" after which the displaced players run around the side of the room and take the vacant places at the rear; or if the command be "Backward!" the displaced players run forward and take the front row of seats.
The sport of the game consists in rapid changes and unexpected variations in the orders given by the teacher. With right conditions the command to run may be omitted, the displaced row of pupils understanding that they
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