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Kids' Colonial Times Games

The U.S. colonial era lasted from the time of the first European settlers until the states declared independence. Children, in this span of time, worked hard alongside their parents. However, they also had time to play. These children used materials they could find in the environment or played games that used no equipment. The children incorporated many of their games into their daily chores, and these games often were preparation for the work that the children would later do as adults in their day-to-day lives.

Blind Man's Bluff
- Both adults and children played Blind Man's Bluff. The players blindfold one person who steps into the middle of a circle of the other players. The blindfolded person claps her hands three times. Another person enters the circle. The blindfolded person has one chance to guess the other's identity. If the blindfolded person is correct, the second person is "it." If the blindfolded person is wrong, he or she tries to grab the second and guess again. If the blindfolded person does not guess correctly on the second attempt, that person remains blindfolded.
Marbles
- Colonial children, like modern children, enjoyed playing marbles. They made marbles by drying round balls of clay overnight. Two or three players would play the game where the object was to knock your opponent's marbles out of a ring with your marble. The winner keeps the marbles.
Nine Men's Morris
- Nine Men's Morris is a board game that can be scratched in the dirt with a stick or drawn on paper. Each player has nine markers of a specific color or shape to distinguish one player from the other.The two players, for example, can move nine coins of different denominations or other individualized markers for each player on the board's twenty-four spots. The point of the game is to place one marker on one of the dots and line up three pieces in a row while blocking the other player from doing the same. Lining up three pieces in a row means that the player captures one of the opponent's pieces. The rival wins when the opposing player has only two pieces out of nine.
Tip Cat
- Tip cat or One-A-Cat is an outdoor game that dates back to 17th century Britain. The English introduced the game to North America and other colonies. There are many varieties of the game, but all use a 3-foot stick as a bat and a piece of wood that is 4 inches long, 1 to 2 inches thick and tapered at the ends. The players put the "cat" on the ground and strike it upward. This is called tipping the cat. The hitter slams the piece of wood as far as he or she can. There are various scoring methods such as seeing who hits the stick farthest or running bases like in baseball.
Chores
- Children in colonial times did not have much time to play so they made games from their daily chores. Boys would race to see who gathered the most firewood or husked the most corn. Girls would, for example, vie to card the most wool or gather the most eggs without breaking or dropping the eggs. Parents encouraged these contests because the children would work harder at their chores.

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