Chinese Wall

March 11th, 2011

The Chinese wall is marked off by two parallel lines straight across the center of the playground, leaving a space between them of about ten feet in width, which represents the wall. On each side of the wall, at a distance of from fifteen to thirty feet, a parallel line is drawn across the ground. This marks the safety point or home goal for the besiegers.

One player is chosen to defend the wall, and takes his place upon it. All of the other players stand in one of the home goals. The defender calls “Start!” when all of the players must cross the wall to the goal beyond, the defender trying to tag as many as he can as they cross; but he may not overstep the boundaries of the wall himself. All so tagged join the defender in trying to secure the rest of the players during future sorties. The game ends when all have been caught, the last player taken being defender for the next game.

This is a capital game for both children and older players, as it affords opportunity for some very brisk running and dodging, especially if the playground be wide. It differs from Hill Dill and several other games of the sort in that there is a more limited space in which the center catcher and his allies are confined.

Games for the Playground, Home, School and Gymnasium by Jessie Hubbell Bancroft

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Chinese Chicken

March 10th, 2011

This game is played with small blocks of wood or bean bags. Stones, or, at the seashore, bathing slippers, may be used instead. These are placed in straight rows of five to fifteen each, with intervals of about ten inches between them. The players are divided into groups numbering from five to ten each, and line up as for a relay race, each before one row of blocks or bags.

The game is played in the same way by each row of players, and while the game may be competitive between the different groups, in its original form it is for one group only. The first player in a group represents a “lame chicken,” and hops on one foot over each bag until the end of the line of bags has been reached. The last bag is then kicked away by the “lame” (lifted) foot, after which it must be picked up and carried back over the same route to the first end of the line, when the same player hops back on the opposite foot, kicks away a second bag, picks it up and returns, and so on until he fails. Only one foot may touch the ground at a time, and may touch it but once in each space between the bags. No bag may be touched except the one at the end of the line, which is afterward picked up, and this must be secured without putting the lame foot upon the ground.

When the “chicken” infringes any of these rules, he must at once give place to another. The winner is the player who has at the end of the game the greatest number of bags.

This is a Chinese game, taken by kind permission of the author from Miss Adale Fielde’s _A Corner of Cathay_. The Chinese children play it with their shoes in place of the bean bag or block of wood.

Games for the Playground, Home, School and Gymnasium by Jessie Hubbell Bancroft

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Chickidy Hand

March 9th, 2011

One player is chosen to be It, and stands near a post with the fingers of his hands interlocked. The other players, each clasping his own hands in the same way, crowd around the post and touch it with the clasped hands. The one who is It counts ten, whereupon the players all run, the one who is It trying to tag any of them. None of the players may unclasp their hands until they are tagged, whereupon they are prisoners and clasp hands with It, forming a line which thereafter is the tagging line, though only the original It may tag the other players. The game is a contest between the tagging line, which tries to recruit and retain its numbers, and the free players, who try (1) to avoid being captured for the tagging line, and (2) to reduce the tagging line by breaking through it; but the players in the line must resist this. Each time that the line is broken, the one of the two players (whose hands were parted) who stands toward the head of the line is dropped out of the game. A free player may not be tagged after he has thrown himself upon (touched) a pair of hands that he is trying to part. The last player caught by the tagging line is the winner and becomes It for the next game.

Games for the Playground, Home, School and Gymnasium by Jessie Hubbell Bancroft

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Chicken Market

March 8th, 2011

This is one of the traditional dramatic games.

One player is chosen to be market man and another buyer; the rest of the players are chickens; they stoop down in a row and clasp their hands under their knees. The buyer approaches the market man and asks, “Have you any chickens for sale?” The market man answers, “Yes, plenty; will you walk around and try them?” Whereupon the buyer goes up to different chickens and tests them by laying over the head his clasped hands, palms downward and pressing inward. The buyer pretends to be dissatisfied with some of the chickens, saying, “This one is too tough,” “This one is too old,” “This one is too fat,” etc., until at last he finds one that suits him, the chickens being supposed to go through this ordeal without smiling.

When a chicken is found that appears to be satisfactory, the buyer and the market man take him by the arms, one on either side, he still remaining in his first position with hands clasped under the knees, and swing him forward and backward three times. Should he stand this test without loosening his own grasp, he is supposed to be all right, and the buyer leads him off to the opposite side of the playground, or home. The game continues until all of the chickens are sold. Any chicken that smiles, or whose arms give way in the swinging test, must pay a forfeit, all of the forfeits being redeemed at the close of the game. Where there are more than ten players, there should be two or more buyers and sellers.

This game is played in various countries: in England as a “Sale of Honey Pots,” in China as a “Fruit Sale,” etc. The version here given is from Italy.

Games for the Playground, Home, School and Gymnasium by Jessie Hubbell Bancroft

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Chickadee-Dee

March 7th, 2011

This game is a good one for the loft of an old barn on a rainy day. The writer obtained the game from a group of boys, who found it one of their chief sports used in this way.

It is necessary to prepare in advance a rather large, soft bag; an oat sack or potato bag may be used. This should be nearly filled with dry leaves or some substitute, and the end gathered up and tied with a string, so as to leave quite a hilt or handle for a firm grasp. All light is shut out of the place, so that the sense of hearing will be the only guide in the game.

One player, who is It, is seated on the floor in the center of the loft or room, and holds the sack. The object of the game for this player is to tag or touch any of the other players with the sack without leaving his sitting position on the floor. The object of the other players, who are scattered promiscuously, is to approach as near as possible to the center player, taking him unaware, with a taunting cry of “Chickadee-dee!” close to his ear.

The game starts in perfect silence and darkness. A player steals up to the center man, calls “Chickadee-dee!” and darts back again as quickly as possible, the center man whirling his bag around in a circle and hitting out with it in the direction of the voice, trying to hit this player. While he is doing this, another player from some other direction repeats the call of “Chickadee-dee!” close to his ear, and darts back or dodges. Any tactics may be used for dodging, such as dropping to the floor, jumping, or the more usual modes of dodging.

Any player hit with the bag exchanges places with the one in the center.

Games for the Playground, Home, School and Gymnasium by Jessie Hubbell Bancroft

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Charley Over The Water

March 6th, 2011

One player is chosen to be Charley, and if there be more than twenty players there should be two or more Charlies, to make the action more rapid. Charley stands in the center; the other players join hands in a circle around him and dance around, repeating the rhyme:–

“Charley over the water,
Charley over the sea.
Charley catch a blackbird,
Can’t catch me!”

As the last word is said, the players stoop, and Charley tries to tag them before they can get into that position. Should he succeed, the player tagged changes places with him.

Games for the Playground, Home, School and Gymnasium by Jessie Hubbell Bancroft

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Changing Seats

March 5th, 2011

This game is played in several different forms. The following are very popular.

CHANGING SEATS–I

The 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 SEATS–II

In 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 are to run as soon as they stand.

The action of the game may be slightly quickened by having the running row divide, half running around the room in one direction and half in the other. For instance, if the players in the right-hand row have been displaced, half of them may run to the rear of the room to reach the rear half of the outer row of seats on the opposite side, and the other half run across the front of the room to the forward half of this row of seats.

Games for the Playground, Home, School and Gymnasium by Jessie Hubbell Bancroft

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Centipede

March 4th, 2011

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.

Games for the Playground, Home, School and Gymnasium by Jessie Hubbell Bancroft

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Cavalry Drill

March 3rd, 2011

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.

Games for the Playground, Home, School and Gymnasium by Jessie Hubbell Bancroft

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Catch The Cane

March 2nd, 2011

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.–When played in the schoolroom, the player with the cane should stand in the center of the front of the room. The other players–part of the class at a time–may 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.

Games for the Playground, Home, School and Gymnasium by Jessie Hubbell Bancroft

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