Lots of children's games were played by boys or by girls. Boys and girls often went to different schools. Some schools had separate rooms for boys and girls. This meant that boys and girls did not often play together. Here are some of the games that they used to play. Can you tell which games were played by boys, which games were played by girls and which games were play by either boys or girls.
| Potato Race | Played by? | |
| Two rows of twelve potatoes were laid on the ground, spaced 1 metre apart. Players had to pick-up each potato with a teaspoon and place them in a basket, or chalk circle, at the end of each row. You must not touch the potatoes with you hand. The winner is the first person with twelve potatoes in their basket. |
|
|
| Oh Great Queen (or King) |
Played by? | |
| One player stands on a stool or a box. This is their throne. The other players must pass before the throne one by one. Each player stops in front of the Queen and must say ‘Oh great Queen, I worship thee and bow down before thee’ in a very solemn manner. The Queen then makes the most ugly faces and strange poses to make her subject laugh. If the player laughs, they become the next Queen. |
|
|
| Hunt the Ring | Played by? | |
| The players form a circle with one person in the centre. A long piece of string, with a hoop (such as a curtain ring) threaded on it, is tied in a circle around the inside of the players. The players take hold of the string circle and pass the ring about from one to another. The player in the centre must guess who has the ring. This is made as difficult as possible by all sorts of hand movements by those who are hiding it. If the hunter guesses correctly in which hand the ring is hidden, they join the circle and the player who has been caught holding it becomes the hunter. |
|
|
| Follow the Leader | Played by? | |
| Players all form a line behind the leader, who marches, halts, jumps, stoops, kicks, dances, whistles and poses in as many different ways as they feel, whilst the followers have to imitate them exactly. |
|
|
| Hundreds | Played by? | |
| A game for two players. Draw a circle a few feet away from you. Both players shoot a marble towards the circle. If both or neither marble stops in the circle, then both players must shoot again. When only one player’s marble stops in the circle, that player scores 10 points and has another go. He keeps on shooting until he misses the circle. Every time his marble lands in the circle he gets another 10 points. When he misses, the turn passes to the other player. The first player to reach 100 points is the winner. |
|
|
| Birthday Clapping Game | Played by? | |
| All in together girls, Its fine weather girls, when is your birthday, please jump in, (now really fast) January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December All out together girls, |
|
|
| Bouncers | Played by? | |
| For this game you throw marbles, not shoot them. You use bigger marbles which are called bouncers. The first player throws his bouncer forward about five feet. The second player throws his to try and hit it. The third player throws his to hit either of them, and so on. If a bouncer is hit, the owner must pay the thrower one marble. Bouncer marbles themselves are not given up in payment. |
|
|
| Capture The Flag | Played by? | |
This is a game for two teams. Team 1 had the front yard and Team 2 had the back yard, or a field was split between the two teams. The teams were given a time period, like 5 minutes, to hide their flag in their part of the yard. (Optional) During this period spies were sent out to see were the flag was hidden as well as look-outs to catch the spies. When the flag was hidden you call out that you were finished. Then you simply try to get the other teams flag. If you get caught and tagged by the opponent on their territory you had to go to jail and could only be freed by a teammate who grabs you when your opponent isn't looking. The first team to capture the flag and bring it back to your side wins. This game is a totally different game at night in the woods! |
|
|