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Utah Pioneer Games

Of the pioneers that trekked from the east to Utah, the majority of them relocating Mormons, it is estimated that roughly a fourth of them were children. The children involved in the journey to Utah had many responsibilities, including caring for the animals, washing dishes and clothes, gathering firewood and sometimes even driving the wagons. Once the chores were done, however, children played a number of games to entertain themselves and take their minds off the struggle of their travels. These games can be recreated at home or in the classroom to teach children about the pioneer lifestyle.

Games That Could Be Brought Along
- To keep wagons as light as possible, pioneering children on the way to Utah were not allowed to bring many books, clothes or toys with them. The few toys that brought along on the trek were small and light. Jacks, which consisted of pewter pieces and a wooden ball, and marbles, using clay marbles, were common games that could be easily packed or carried.
Games Without Toys
- The most popular games played by children on their way to Utah were ones that did not require toys. They played leap frog, duck duck goose and arm wrestling, three games children still play in modern times. Tic tac toe was also played, using a stick to draw in the sand rather than a pen and paper. Hide and seek was also common, as was a game called blind man's bluff, which was similar to hide and seek except one player was blindfolded and the other players attempted to get as close to the blindfolded player without being detected rather than simply hiding.
Games With Scavenged Toys
- Children often scavenged toys to play games with from items in the wagons or in the area they were traveling through. Examples of games played with scavenged toys are jump rope, using a spare length of rope; throwing buffalo chips (dried buffalo manure); horse shoes, using old horse shoes; and jackstraws, which is similar to the modern day game pick-up-sticks.
Games With Crafted Toys
- Some children crafted their own toys out of scavenged items to replace the toys they left behind before beginning their trip to Utah. Crafted toys included corn husk dolls, which were made by wrapping corn husks around sticks and securing them with string, and whistles carved from reeds or twigs. Marbles, as mentioned in "Games That Could Be Brought Along," were created out of clay.
  
  They also made haumatropes, which were pieces of hide or paper with a design on each side and a piece of string attached to each side. When the string was wound and released, the two designs would combine to create an optical illusion of one picture.
  
  Whimmydiddles, made by cutting notches into one stick and attaching a second stick as a "propeller" with a nail, were common among young boys. They could run a third stick along the main stick and the motion would cause the "propeller" to turn.

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