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Games That Relate to Farming & Ranching in the Late 1800s

Children's games from rural America in the late 1800s usually involved simple materials because people in this time did not usually have spare material lying around. Also, since children spent most of their time working, the games they played often related to the work they did or were going to do.

Barrel Hoop and Stick
- To begin the game of barrel hoops, children first had to find a loose metal hoop that normally slipped around a large barrel like a belt. The goal of the game was to roll the hoop along the ground as fast as possible, but because the metal rings were very unstable, children used wooden sticks to guide the hoops. Children played the game alone or raced their friends. Some communities also held competitions where children and adults competed to race the fastest hoop across the field or down the dirt path.
Fox and Geese
- During the cold months on the range or on the farm, children often amused themselves with the game of "Fox and Geese," a game still played today. On a snowy day, all the children stamped out a circle in the snow, 20 feet in diameter or larger depending on the number of participants. Next, they walked through the snow in straight lines, cutting up the circle like one would cut a pizza pie. The only safe place was the center of the circle, called the hub. The fox started in the hub and had to chase the geese, but the geese had to run along the lines they created. When the fox caught a goose, that goose became the fox, and the game continued.
Hunt the Thimble
- A very simple rural game involved a principle familiar to many kids' games: trying to find something hidden. In "Hunt the Thimble," one player hid a thimble somewhere in an empty room and then invited the other players to find the thimble. The last player to find the thimble was out, while the first player to find the thimble hid it at the start of the next round. Adults already present in the room often helped children to find the missing thimble.
Cat's Cradle
- The game of "Cat's Cradle" was popular in rural America during the 1800s because children could usually find enough string or yarn to play it. "Cat's Cradle" also taught children dexterity and the ability to manipulate a raw material they might later work with. To play "Cat's Cradle," you needed two people and one string tied at the ends to make a circle. One person looped and twisted the string into a criss-crossing pattern, and then the second person performed a series of maneuvers to reshape and then take the twisted pattern from the first person. The end result was called the "Cat's Cradle."

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