Figure 1.--These two unidentified boys from San Diego, California are having a good time playing cowboys and Indians in June 1932.

We see all kinds of outdoor play. Of course where the child lived had a lot to do with play activities. We see boys enjoying the outdoors alone or with friends. Sand boxes were popular for younger boys. Some families had pools of varying sizes and spriklers. Boys enjoyed looking for insects or small animals or paddling in streams. There were a lot of such unorganized activities. We also note organized activities. Boys played many different outdoor games. This was especially the case in cities where lots of friends were about. There were party games that both boys and girls played. One favorite for everyday play with mixed groups was hide and go seek. This could be played inside if the family had a reasonable-sized home. On their own, boys were more likely to play war with different thems such as cowboys and Indians. Other play may be less coherent or well organized in adult eyes. Here age was a factor. Younger kids played in the backyard or around the home, As they got older they ventured into the wider world which depending on where they lived varied greatly. As they got older sports began to replace games as favorite outdoor activities. A few exceptions were marbles, mummelepeg, and flipping baseball cards. Of course this varied over time. Modern boys are no longer allowed to have knives for mummeldepeg. And often marbles and flipping sports cards are discouraged as losers wind up unhappy. Older children, especially boys, are most likely to gradually shift from childish ball games to sports.

Chronology

Games that children play of course varied over time. Play was not encuraged by parents, seeing it as a waste of time and ideling through the 18th century. Children were viewed essentially as small-sized adults. And they were dressed and treated like that. This concept did begin to change in the late-18th century as part of Enligtenment thinking. Enlightenment thinkers like Rosseau began to promte the idea that childhood was a destinctiv phase of human developmnt and children should be treated differently than adults. Public schools only began to develop in the 18th century, at first in Germany and America. Few children as a result attended school. The new thinking about childhood most affected upper- and middle-class children. The working-class, the great majority of the popultion wirked. There was little provision for play. The whole family worked, either farm work or piece-work in the home. THis includd all but the younger children. We can begin to see attituds changing with the appearance of the boy's skelleton suit around the turn-of-the 19th century. The Victorian era is when many modern concepts begin to gell. This was also when public schools became well established and sports became incrwasingly popular, although at first more for adults than children. We see all kinds of ring games being played. Horsey was very popular. Children began o get blls although we are not at all sure what they did with them. We see games like badmitton and croquet, butthis wa more for families in confortable circumstances. We see modtly boys playing crack the whip, but this required a ;arge plst area abd as poblbly more common in rural areas. This and other games that did not require equipment were widely played. As America becme mor urbnized and afflient, games changed. ports became increasingly popular. Kick ball and dodge bll were very popular in primary school playgrounds. British bull dog and Red Rover were also popular. Girls played hop skotch as well as jump rope and slapping games. More sedate games like musical chairs and pin-the-tail on the inky were popular at parties. Kids in the inner city played stick ball. At home boys played cowboys and Indin or cops and robbers. The same game with a different story line. There was also tag and hide-and-go-seek. Marbles and flipping basebll cards and pennies were also popular. After Workd War much more oparental supervision kicked in and sports becane more important.

Specific Games

We have fond many different games played by American children. Some are more popular with boys or girls, but many are played by both boys and girls. Many are still played today, but many others are historical artifacts of the 19th century. Many are played, outdoors, but there are inside games as well, mostly party games. We are not including commercial board games, buT rather primarily disccussing active games with no or minimal equipment. We are also not including sports. These games are perpetuted primarily through word of mouth among the children and are conducted with little or no adult supervision. These games commonly involve features like physical skill, strategy, chance, repetition of patterns, creativity, and vertigo. They commonly are played by school age children about 6-12 years old, some times a little older girls are involved, often to help with the younger children. As a number of partivipants are involved with mny of the games, some are mostly played at school, camps, picnics and in some cases urbam neighborhoods.

Jungle Gyms

Marbles

Shooting marbles was enormously popular in the 19th century and first half of the 20th century. HBC has little information on playing marbles in the first half of the century. We can confim that by mid-century it was a well established game in America. Less information is available earlier, in part because of the lack of photography as well as the failure of comtemporary publications to report on mundane children's games. I played marbles as a boy and rember being fascinated by all the colorful different types, but dont's remember actually shhoting them. I do remember using them for Chinese checkers. A HBC reader recalls more. "In the late 1930's I played marbles all the time at school. All the boys played and our school yard was plain dirt and we drew the circles and played marbles. There were two major games, first game was we played was "for keeps" and the second game we played was called "agates."

Created: 12:20 AM 10/25/2010
Last updated: 5:47 PM 2/16/2019