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Colonial School Games

Children in colonial times worked hard at school. They were expected to sit still and straight on wooden seats, refrain from talking unless the teacher spoke to them, and to write on slates with crude tools. Recess was a big part of the school day, however. Colonial customs held that playing outdoors was healthy for children. Without manufactured toys, children made up games. Many of these games formed the basis of games children have continued to play centuries later.

Rolling the Hoop
- Colonial children often played with hoops. The object was to roll the hoop in front of them as they walked, trying to keep it rolling and not letting it fall flat. At school, they would race each other with hoops. Two or more children would stand next to each other and then walk or run to a predetermined finish line while rolling the hoop in front of them. The first to reach the finish line without letting the hoop fall was the winner. At recess they could play this as a relay, with a player on each team running and rolling the hoop down to a chosen point and back, handing the hoop off to the next player, and so on. The first team to finish were the winners.
Ninepins
- Ninepins was similar to bowling. Nine wooden "pins" of some kind -- most likely different sizes and shapes -- were placed on the grass, three to a row. Using a handmade ball or a rock, children would roll the ball or rock at the nine pins and knock down as many as they could. Whoever knocked down the most during a turn was the winner.
Leapfrog
- Leapfrog was a great game for recess because any number of children could play. All the children would crouch down on the ground in the stance of a frog. The last child in the line would leap over each of the other children, one at a time, until he reached the front of the line. He would then crouch down as a frog, and the last child in line would leap over all the children and become the first frog in line, and so on. This game gave colonial children exercise, fresh air and the chance to let off pent up energy after sitting quietly at their desks all morning.
Singing Games
- Children learned many nursery rhymes and often turned them into games. Singing "Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush," they would hold hands in a circle and walk around and around together singing the rhyme, going faster and faster each round until they fell down in a heap, laughing. Another colonial-era song is "London Bridge is Falling Down." The children would walk in a circle and sing the rhyme while holding hands.
Enduring Games
- Many colonial games have stood the test of time and are still played by children. Examples are tag, "scotch hoppers" or hopscotch, sack races and "jackstraws," which was the game of pick-up sticks and was introduced to the colonists by Native Americans.

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