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Child's Play
Life in the early days was harsh and unforgiving. Children were
expected to be productive members of the household, and Puritan ethic gave
little credence to what might be called frivolous activities. Children, however,
like children of all ages, found ways to amuse themselves. Alice Morse Earle in
her early volume on "Child Life In Colonial Days," gives us some
insight of games evolving or adapted over time during the 17th and 18th
centuries.
 | Various forms of tag: |
| Stone tag, Wood tag, Squat-tag and
Cross-tag. |
| "Scotch Hoppers" or more commonly today, Hop
Scotch. |
| Cats-Cradle or Cratch-cradle |
| Hoops |
| Boys games included Chuck-farthing, Kite-flying,
dancing, dancing round May-pole; marbles, fishing, cricket, kick-ball,
and various other games of ball, leap-frog, etc. |
| Singing games such as London Bridge is falling down,
Here we go round the Mulberry bush |
| Winter games including "coasting" or
sledding, ice-skating. |
| Foot-ball, sternly disapproved of by
the Puritans for it's "murthering devices." |
| Flower games in which children made dandelion chains
and the like |
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