Children's old-fashioned games

Stuck-in-the-mud is a very simple chasing game. One person is on, and he has to chase and try and catch all the other children. As soon as he touches someone, that person has to stand with their legs apart and shout I'm stuck in the mud, help! The way to free that person is to crawl between their legs, then they become unstuck. Of course the dangerous part is crawling through the legs, because that's when the person who is on can catch you both. If you are caught, you have to also be on, and help catch other people and make them stuck in the mud. The point of the game is to get everyone stuck, with no-one to help rescue them. 

One person is on, and stands, preferably against a wall, with his or her back to the rest of the children, who stand in a row as far back as they can within earshot. The one who is on, shouts K-I-N-G spells King! and on the word King, spins round to look at the children. While she/he is spelling, the children run towards her. They can move forward while her eyes are hidden, but as soon as she shouts the word King! and turns around they must freeze. Anyone who moves, or wobbles, is out.  The aim of the game is to reach the one who is on and touch him or her, and then he's out. If you are the one who touched, you become the speller. You carry on playing until the last one standing is the winner. 

One of the very oldest is one of the simplest:  Ouma, Ouma, hoe oud is jy?  .. and you count your granny's age in Afrikaans and in skips: Een, twee, drie, vier, ... and so on, to much hilarity. It never seemed to pall, having a gran who was only ten or fourteen or however many skips each child managed.  This one is more difficult:  An dy Span dy , Sugardy Can dy French  Al mond ROCK! Breadandbutterforyoursupper'sallyourmother'sGOT! And the last bit had to be done as fast as possible. This one was an unusual one, and I'm not sure if I have it right: The High Skip The Sly Skip The Skip like a feather The Long Skip The Strong Skip  The Skip altogether! With each skip you would try to skip as described. 

Skipping is a great community activity. All you need is a rope and a child at each end to turn it.  The rest of the children line up next to the rope. First of all just swing the rope from side to side, so that the children can jump over it easily. These words are as follows:  Cups and saucers Plates and dishes! Here comes the man With the calico britches Eever, Iver, Over! At Over ! The rope gets swung right over the children's heads and this is slightly more difficult. The children count until everyon is out.  This one is similar:  Lay the table, knives and forks, Bring me in a leg of pork,  If it's fat, take it back,  If it's lean, bring it in,  And don't forget the  Salt-Mustard-Vinegar- Pepper! At Pepper! The rope gets twirled faster and faster until the last child is in. She is the winner and can choose who can turn the rope next.   The next rhyme goes as follows:  All in together  Dusty, dusty weather! I spy Jack Peepi...

This a great party game. Two children are chosen to be the choppers. So I've nominated Sipho and Ada to be the choppers. These two go to one side and whisper to each other what their gifts to the one they catch will be. Sipho whispers that his prize will be a computer, and Ada decides that her prize will be a ride in a helicopter. The children aren't supposed to know whose prize is whose. Then the game begins. Sipho and Ada face each other holding both hands with their arms up high in the air, forming a bridge. (I wonder how the poor little things will cope during social distancing time. I suppose this game may only be played after there is a Covid vaccine!) Anyway, the rest of the children line up and start to sing as they walk under the bridge of Sipho and Ada's arms : Oranges and lemons, Say the bells of St. Clement's . You owe me three farthings , Say the bells of St. Martin's . When will you pay me? Say the bells at Old Bailey . When I grow rich, Say ...

You'll need at least four children to be able to play this successfully. Have an envelope with a heart drawn on it, and the children must all sit in a wide-ish circle. (If they're too close together, the game becomes too wild!) My six playgroup children all sit sweetly together and then we begin. I hold the letter in my hand and start to chant: I wrote a letter to my love and on the way I dropped it, I dropped it once, I dropped it twice, I dropped it three times over. One of you has picked it up and put it in your pocket, It wasn't you, It wasn't you, It wasn't you, (and then, I drop the envelope behind Lyra's back quietly and then shriek) It was YOU! And I run around the circle of children and have to sit in Lyra's spot before she manages to catch me. Then it is her turn to say the rhyme. We all say it with the children until everyone learns it off by heart.

( The cover of L. Leslie Brooke's Ring O' Roses (1922) shows nursery rhyme characters performing the game - Wikipedia ) Two, three and four-year-olds all enjoy this game. It's very simple. One child stands in the middle while everyone else holds hands and dances around her. These days I suppose everyone will have to hold a sanitised teddy in between himself and the next child! Anyway, the playgroup all stand in a circle, and you all sing: "Ring a ring a rosies A pocket full of posies A-TISH-oo A-TISH-oo We all fall down!" ... and the last person to land on the grass is the one who has to stand in the middle while everyone dances around him or her.

My playgroup children are all excited and jumpy, so I thought we should play a walking-around game to focus their minds a bit. The boys are Sipho, Jason and Kosie and the girls are Ada, Jane and Lyra. They're all nearly four years old. So I line them up behind me and explain that I am Wolfie. They have to follow me and shout: "Wolfie, Wolfie, What's the time?" I turn and say: "Nine o' clock."  Try and do this calmly else they will start shrieking and running too soon. You can add menace with each additional time. Because they're still so little, I say the times in order: you'll say that it's ten, then it's eleven, then twelve, and then finally it's "Wolfie, Wolfie, what's the time?" and I shout "One o' clock, DINNERTIME!" and then catch one of them, who will then become Wolfie. In these days of masks and social distance, you may have to jump on their shadows, or give them each a pool noodle to drag and you ...