Traditional school playground games

The original ship is an enigma: some claim it was the first to sail down the Manchester Ship Canal in the s, whereas others claim the Suez Canal is more likely. The game is fantastic because it requires co-operation, although a big tangled mess is also pretty fun for kids!

The players all hold hands to make a chain. The first two players in the chain hold their hands high to make an arch, while the players on the other end of the chain dance through, keeping their hands joined. Then the players at the beginning of the thread become the needle: They make an arch, and the others go through again.

The idea is to keep going as long as possible without breaking the chain — you can see it in this video from the British Library. The song goes as follows:. If, by the end, everyone is still in the chain, they should dance a jig at this point — and try not to fall over!

This is a gentler playground game for smaller children, but is just as fun! Skip to content. Drawing a circular playing field in the sand, these marbles are then randomly scattered across the field. Players will then engage in a game of mini-billiards; flicking and knocking the colourful pieces out of the circle with their fingers acting as pool cues. Not as agile with your hands? There are traditional old school games that test the agility of your feet too.

This can be played with either a special deck of Old Maid cards or regular playing cards. Start by distributing the playing cards to all players.

In turn, each player fans out his or her cards and the player to the left gets to pick out one. When a player is able to form a matching pair, he or she can put down the pair. The objective is to get rid of all the cards. The player with the Old Maid card, i. As a variation, you can also make the player holding the Old Maid card the winner.

A playground favourite, the rules are similar to tag. The police are in charge of rounding up the thieves by catching them. However, all is not lost as they can still be rescued: provided fellow thieves risk their safety in trying to rescue them by tapping them. Photo credit: quinn. Ever reminisced about those t-shaped boxes drawn in the ground or formed with coloured tape on concrete?

Hopscotch was a clear favourite back in the day and was a more laid back game as compared to the more active, running ones. Simply toss a beanbag or any small object into each box and hop on over to the box to pick it up while maintaining your overall balance on one leg. But what was really going on was pure poetry. Just as the fingers looked hopefully doomed in a stringy trap, the hands would pull back and reveal the finished Eiffel Tower, tea cup, or witches broom creation.

The people line up against one wall and have to run to the other. The bulldog has to tag them…or rugby tackle them, depending on how rough the game is.

To see what he could see, see, see. But all that he could see, see, see. Was the bottom of the great blue sea, sea, sea. The songs were usually annoyingly catching, but the routines could be pretty elaborate and impressive to watch.

Players mark out a grid and number the squares. The first person has to throw a stone onto the first square. He or she then has to jump through the whole course set out, without touching the square with the stone in it. What makes this game so tough is that your turn is over if the stone you throw touches the edge of the lines of the box, or if your foot does the same while you hopscotch.

Depending on the number of players, it can take a whole lunch time to complete the game, so often the winner was just the person who was furthest ahead when the bell rang.