Games for children in colonial times

Children in colonial times enjoyed many of the same outdoor running games children still play today, like tag, leapfrog, and hide and seek. Quoits Game. Quoits is what we know today as ring toss or horseshoes.

For this activity, you need rings made of rope, iron, leather, or even tree branches and a stake hob. Decide how far players should stand across from the stake to throw and draw a line there.

Players take turns tossing their rings toward the stake, attempting to get them around it. If the ring completely encircles the stake, you receive 2 points. If the ring leans against the stake, you receive 1 point. This simple toy was made with a button or small piece of wood and string.

We have made our own on several occasions and I am always surprised how much fun the kids have with these toys. Your children can decorate the whirligigs with markers or color pencils to make it their own.

This toy is one of the activities included in our Discover the 13 Colonies Study Guide. As you can see, kids in the 13 Colonies found ways to have a lot of fun. And by playing colonial-era games like these, your kids will discover how enjoyable history can be.

The 13 Colonies Notebooking and Activity Unit is full of writing prompts, discussion questions, and hands-on activities that you can use as part of your American history lesson plans. Do your kids enjoy mapping? Combine geography and history through these Colonial America map activities. If you are looking for more American History activities you can do with your tween, check out this massive list of ideas. Here are a couple of handy books about the 13 colonies, including two with some additional games and hands-on activities.

You are featured today! Come get your button! We hate spam as much as you. Comments What a great collection of games to bring history alive! This is a simple game for two players to move their pieces diagonally capturing opponents by jumping them.

When a piece reaches the opposite end of the board, it becomes a Queen or King. This is designated by placing a captured piece on top of it. The Queen or King may move and capture forward or backward. Play continues until one player can no longer move.

This is a bowling game that probably originated in continental Europe during the Middle Ages. The game of ninepins was brought to America by early Dutch colonists. A variety of pins, balls, and rules of play developed as bowling games evolved into the games we know today as skittles, duckpins, law bowls, bocce, and tenpins.

Ninepins can be played with 2 or more players. The object of the game is to knock down as many of the wooden pins as possible with each roll of the ball. The first player to score exactly 31 points is the winner. This whirligig is fashioned from a Spanish Dollar, also known as the piece of eight, a silver coin widely used during the 18th and early 19th centuries.

There are many variations of this toy, including the buzz saw. Buzz saws were usually wood, instead of metal, and made a buzzing sound as you played. In far-flung cultures and throughout history, buzzers have been made by and for children from all sorts of materials and in a variety of shapes and sizes.

To learn more, make your own and give it a try! Place the loop formed at each end of the doubled string over two fingers of each hand and slide the button to the middle of the string. With tension on the string, move your hands in a circular motion so that the button spins away from you and the string becomes twisted along its entire length. When the string is completely wound, simultaneously stop the circular motion and pull your hands apart gently, in a continuous motion.

The button will start to spin back toward you. Bring your hands toward each other just a bit to allow the string to rewind, then apart again each time the string is fully wound, in a gentle and rhythmic motion, slowing or quickening the speed of the whirligig by adjusting the timing and strength of your pull. Explore This Park. El Galeon Background In the 16th century, even though native people occupied the land, Spain, England, France, and other European nations started to claim and settle the Americas.

Visit our keyboard shortcuts docs for details Duration: 2 minutes, 23 seconds Learn more about the countries that controlled Florida. Colonial Life What was it like in the colonies? Why did colonial children play with toys and games?

For fun! Also, in the colonial period, some games helped children learn skills they would need later in life as farmers and parents. Games taught children how to aim and throw, how to solve problems and do things with their hands, and how to follow directions and rules. They also learned to be fair, wait their turn, and use their imagination. Where did colonial kids get their toys from? Most colonial children had to make do with what they had.

There were no factories for making toys or toy stores. Toys had to be found in nature or in the house, or adults and children had to make them. They made dolls from corn husks and rags.

Leftover wood and string could be used to make spinning tops. Hoops from barrels could be used in races and a variety of games. Many times, they made up games at the spur of the moment and needed no equipment at all. What kind of game would you invent if you were chopping wood or picking up stones in a field?

Who did colonial children play with and where did they play? Since many families had six or seven children, brothers and sisters could always rely on each other as playmates.

If their neighbors lived close by, even more children could share the fun and join in the games. Since adults did not have time to watch their children closely, they were often left alone to play in the gardens, fields, or in the house when their chores were done. How are games passed on over the years or from place to place?

How do games and toys show how people's lives have changed or have not changed? Guessing Game. Left image Question: What is it? Activity The whirligig is the old version of the fidget spinner! Try your hand at making your own. Materials: feet of string, yarn, or thin ribbon 1 large button or other round, button shaped object 1 pair of scissors One or more adults to assist you Instructions: Cut a length of string approximately 3 feet long.