Children's game

“ Children are most ingenious in this kind of game, and it affords opportunities to give them new words, as friable, elastic, when they really ask to be helped to express in a word some discovery they have made. Children learn in this way to think with exactitude, to distinguish between friable and brittle; and any common information that is offered to them in the course of these exercises a possession for ever. A good game in the nature of an object-lesson, suitable for a birthday party, is to have a hundred objects arranged on a table, unknown to the children ”

“ Give each child a pencil and a card on which the game and the name of the child who thought of it are written. Each one in turn tells his game and all the children play it. When all have had a turn, and each game has been played, the children look over their lists and choose the game they liked best. The originator of the most popular one receives a prize. ”

“ For the small children sand piles have met the desire for occupation, and kindergarten games have satisfied the instinct for association. The primitive nature of the child demanded change, and one kind of game after another was added for those of different ages. Swings, climbing ladders, and poles are always popular, and for the older boys opportunities for ball playing, skating, and coasting. All these activities must be under control. The characteristics of children on the playground are the same as those of their elders in society. Authority and instruction are as necessary as in school ”

“ RECREATION AND SOCIAL LIFE THE VALUE OF PLAY Children enjoy play because it satisfies physical, mental, and social wants. But it is also the principal means by which they prepare for the more serious duties of later life. It builds up health, trains the muscles and the senses, and sharpens the wits. It gives practice in team work, develops leadership, and teaches the value of "rules of the game." Every child is entitled to an abundant opportunity to play, both because of the happiness it affords him and because by it he is trained for membership in the community. ”

“ In return for these requirements they give a great deal, this or that, more or less, according to the character of the game; they give physical control of movement, quickness of eye and hand, promptitude in decision, observance of right moments, command of temper, and many other things. In fact, for some games the only adverse criticism to offer is that they are more of a discipline than real play, and that certainly for younger children who have no other form of recreation than play, something more restful to the mind and less definite in purpose is desirable. ”

“ No attempt should be made to teach them at these times anything else but the old satisfactory games. The experiences derived from these games about the nature of the children, who are stimulated in one direction or another by the game, must be kept for later use. ”

“ A teacher should be ready with suggestions for new games or occupation of some sort when interest wanes in a game that is being played; but a new game should not be suggested until there is evidence that players are tired of the old one. Do not make the mistake of thinking that children want to play games incessantly during a half-day session of a playground. Children like quiet [29] pursuits occasionally as well as do adults, and it is well to alternate games with such quiet periods and also with marching, gymnastics, folk dancing, or periods of free activity. ”

“ This game may be used for a class of children, or for a few only. In the former case, the majority of the scholars would, of course, be lookers-on.
Half a dozen boys and girls should be playing in different parts of the room; one might be drawing, another building, and a third looking at a picture-book; or they might all be joining to play a game together. ”

“ The two games which follow are intended to teach this.
18. INVITATION TO PLAY
A house with garden is needed; to make this the children join hands and stand as shown in diagram, p. 32. In the 'house' [37] there should be a 'mother,' and in the 'garden' a number of children playing with ball or skipping-rope. A smaller 'house' is required at some distance from the first. In this, also, there should be a 'mother'— (Mrs. Day) , and a little girl— (Nell) . A classroom may be used for this 'house' if more convenient.
As the play proceeds the 'mother' comes to the 'door' to watch the children's game. ”

“ For example, there is the element of gesture, which in its elaborated form becomes technical acting. In its primitive and fundamental form it is instinctive with children—well-nigh purposeless at first, uncontrolled and fantastic like the early activities of their imagination, but easily organized and directed toward a purpose. The first step in this direction is the game. Some of the charming group-games the children learn even in the kindergarten are genuine dramatic art. ”

“ THIMBLE GAME
Each child should have a thimble, and the teacher should have one also. A short conversation about the thimble should precede the game—how it is smooth inside and rough outside. What makes it rough? What are the little holes for? Which is the rim? &c.
(The teacher, if facing the children, should use the left hand for right.) ”

“ If the teacher endeavours to provide the child with games that possess an educative value, physical, intellectual, or moral, how can she give such games to the children, and at the same time avoid setting the game as a task? ”

“ This is a favourite game and can be played with very little noise. At home, all [67] the children would go out of the room except the one who remains behind to hide the thimble, but when played in the school or classroom, it will be sufficient if six children are sent out. ”

“ Children are very fond of this game in many grades, and it may be made very lively, the old man dodging rapidly up and down his aisle, and the other players bobbing quickly up and down from their seats. ”

“ It is only by getting into the game with the children and encouraging them to play naturally, permitting them to get all the joy there is in the performance hereof, that games may be made of greatest service. ”

“ The more they play the more elaborate becomes their paraphernalia, the whole game being a fairly accurate picture of the daily life of their parents in its setting, clothed in the language and bearing of the children. Through their games they learn about the work and play of the grown-up world. Besides noticing the elements which make up this world, they find out a good deal about the actions and processes that are necessary to keep it going. ”

“ If the ball is not caught, the child who was called picks it up and runs after the other children until she manages to hit some one with it. The child who is hit picks up the ball and all return to the starting place. The lines are again repeated and the game proceeds as before. ”

“ The children who do not know the game will probably omit to pass the stick into the left hand; as each one tries to do the trick, the teacher says 'right' or 'wrong' as the case may be, and those who are wrong are told to notice particularly how the teacher does it. ”

“ You shall have a nice young man
To fiddle for your sake.
The birds will sing, the bells will ring,
And we’ll all clap hands together.
—Congleton Workhouse School (Miss A. E. Tremlow) .
(c) The popular version of this game is played by the greater number of the children forming a line on one side with joined hands, and one child (sometimes two or more) facing them, advancing and retiring while singing the verses. When he asks the question, “Will you come?” one girl on the opposite side answers “No!” and afterwards “Yes!” ”

“ Another capital, healthful game is single-stick, which makes a boy "to gain an upright and elastic carriage, and to learn the use of his limbs."—H. Kingsley. Single-stick may be taught by any drill-sergeant in the neighbourhood. Do everything to make a boy strong. Remember, "the glory of young men is their strength." ”

“ Chess and checkers are the favorites. It is believed that education for leisure time is a special responsibility of those who teach highly intelligent children. The most intelligent tend to become "isolates," through not finding in the ordinary course of life recreations congenial both to themselves and to contemporaries. A game like chess or checkers can be shared with pleasure, irrespective of age, by any two people who have a sufficient "mental nearness." ”

“ Preliminary.—One of her Majesty's inspectors remarked on one occasion that he could judge of the intelligence and manners of a school by the way in which its scholars playing in the street would reply if asked a question as to the whereabouts of any particular place in the locality.
It is doubtless desirable that children [25] should know something of the streets and roads of the district in which they live, and if they have clear ideas as to the meaning of 'right' and 'left,' the following game should help them in describing the position of places. ”

“ The streets (p. 26) of Game No. 12 may be utilised for this game. The children should have on their hats and caps, and walk along the streets. The game is intended to teach them how to behave when walking; they should keep to the right, not speak loudly, and the boys should raise their caps when they meet anyone who acknowledges them.
When the game is fairly started, the two verses which follow may be repeated by all the children:
Keep always to the right
When in the street you walk,
And please remember this—
Do not too loudly talk.
We must not stare at folks,
Or turn to look behind ”

“ In this book we shall talk about some forms of play and recreation that are not strictly confined to children, but which we may still enjoy even after we have become grown men and women. We shall also talk about some children’s games that some of the older readers may have outgrown. ”

“ It is worth noting that such passing out of one's ordinary self and assuming a foreign existence is confined to the child-player. A cat or a dog will be quite ready to go through a kind of make-believe [Pg 16] game, yet even in its play the cat remains the cat, and the dog the dog. ”

“ All the children join to form a large ring, and one of the taller girls stands in the centre to represent 'Spring.' The twelve flowers mentioned in the verses should be represented by twelve children standing at intervals in the ring. Before commencing the game, the child who represents 'Spring' might appropriately repeat the lines of Guessing Rhyme No. ”

“ We need more careful study on the part of teachers of children’s games, and more planning that all may secure the benefits which come from this sort of activity. In the schoolroom, wherever it is possible, the spirit of play should pervade the work. There will be cases enough where results will depend upon the exercise of authority. Let us never forget that the reaction of play may mean just as valuable results as the reaction of necessity, and that the ideal life is the one in which all work is play. ”

“ Her biographer thinks it worth telling that Miss Austen could keep up in 'cup and ball' over a hundred times, to the admiration of nephews and nieces; in like manner, any feat in keeping up the shuttle-cock might be noted down as a family event, so that the children may be fired with ambition to excel in a game which affords most graceful and vigorous play to almost every muscle of the upper part of the body, and has this great recommendation, that it can be as well played within doors as without. ”

“ Yet it would be unfortunate and in a sense unnatural for the teacher, and even more so for the parent, to leave the playing child entirely to his own devices. Adults have three important tasks in this direction which are imperative—namely, general incitation to play, encouragement of what is good and useful, and discouragement of injurious and improper forms of play. Animals teach their young to play, and for this reason I have said it would be unnatural for parents to be unconcerned about their children’s games. ”

“ Counting-out rhymes and other methods of choosing players for games form one of the most interesting topics in the whole study of children's games. Such rhymes and methods are found in use all over the world and are prehistoric, having descended like the great mass of children's games from the serious practices of adults in the childhood of the race. ”

“ This playing with grown-ups does not curtail the play in which children engage with their contemporaries. There are games that are distinctly "children's games." We all know of what stuff they are made, for most of us have played them in our time—running-games, jumping-games, shouting- games. By stepping to our windows nearly any afternoon, we may see some of them in process. But we shall not be invited to participate. At best, the children will pause for a moment to ask, "Did you play it this way?"
Very likely we did not. Each generation plays the old games ”

“ A boy who has picked it up advances and offers it to the lady, at the same time raising his cap, and the lady says 'Thank you.' The game may be continued at the teacher's discretion, and the verses again repeated.
14. DRESSING CHILDREN
About a dozen of the older children stand in the centre of the room, and a number of the little ones come in with coat and hat in hand. The older children repeat the verse:
Ready for the babies stand,
See they come with hat in hand.
Bigger children always should
To little ones be kind and good. ”

“ Some are still so played, and some years further back it was a general practice for men and women in country districts to play these or similar games at fairs and festivals; it is unlikely that adults would play seriously at children’s games, but children having seen their elders playing at these amusements would adopt them and use them in their turn, until these amusements become in turn too frivolous and childish for them. ”