Jumping & Running Games
Who did Early American
Children play with…
 Since most families
were large and had
six or seven
children, the
children would play
with their brothers
and sisters, or their
neighbors or
children at school.
Learning Games
 To Early Americans these games helped
children learn skills that they would need
later in life as a 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 leaned to be
fair, to wait their turn and to use their
imaginations.
 Over a long span of time, one generation of
children passes its games on to the next
through oral traditions which have allowed
plenty of room for regional, local, and
neighborhood variations but have also
preserved many of the things in tact.
Games
 Hopscotch
 Leap Frog
 Buckety-Buck
 Hop Step Jump
 Jump Rope
History of Hopscotch
 Hopscotch originated in Britain
during the early Roman Empire.
It was initially designed as a
training regimen for Roman foot
soldiers that ran the course in
full armor and field packs, as it
was thought this would improve
their footwork
 The word "hopscotch" is a
compound of "hop" (short jump)
and "scotch" (scratched line).
Called "scotch-hoppers", the
term dates back at least to 1677.
Hopscotch
 Today's version of Hopscotch is
much the same. To play hopscotch,
the course is first laid out.
Traditionally, children drew the
course in the dirt of a playground,
although it was often chalked on
pavement when dirt was
unavailable. Designs vary, but the
course is usually composed of a
series of linear squares interspersed
with blocks of two lateral squares.
Traditionally the course ends with a
"safe" or "home" base in which the
player may turn before completing
the reverse trip. The home base may
be a square, a rectangle, or a semicircle. The squares are then
numbered in the sequence in which
they are to be hopped.
Playing the game (Hopscotch)
 The first player tosses the marker into the first square. The
marker must land within the designated square and not
touching a line or bouncing out. The player then hops
through the course, skipping the square with the marker in
it. Single squares must be hopped on one foot. For the first
single square, either foot may be used. Side by side squares
are straddled, with the left foot landing in the left square,
and the right foot landing in the right square. Optional
squares marked "Safe", "Home", or "Rest" are neutral
squares, and may be hopped through in any manner
without penalty.
Hopscotch continued
 Upon successfully completing the sequence, the
player continues the turn by tossing the marker
into square number two, and repeating the pattern.
 If the player steps on a line, misses a square, or
loses balance, the turn ends. Players begin their
turns where they last left off. The first player to
complete one course for every numbered square
on the court wins the game.
Hopscotch continued
 Although the marker is most often picked
up during the game, historically, in the boy's
game, the marker was kicked sequentially
back through the course on the return trip
and then kicked out.
Leap Frog
 Play in partners. Leapfrog is a
children's game in which players vault
over each other's stooped backs. The
first participant rests hands on knees and
bends over, this is called giving a back.
 The next player places hands on the
first's back and leaps over by straddling
legs wide apart on each side. On landing
he stoops down and a third leaps over
the first and second, and the fourth over
all others successively, etcetera; the
number of participants is not fixed.
 When all the players are stooping, the
last in the line begins leaping over all the
others in turn. Try having races with
your classmates by dividing in two
teams.
Mumblety-Peg
 Played with a knife, Mumblety-Peg is a variant of "Follow The
Leader". The basic form of the game requires any kind of a knife and
two or more players. The object of the exercise is to get the knife to
stick in the ground by having it fall or be flipped or tossed or dropped
from various parts of each person. The first person to play may balance
the tip of the knife blade on his index finger, for instance, and let it fall
of the end of his finger toward the ground. If he makes it stick, every
player following him must do the same. Each person scores a point for
accomplishing the feat.
 Should he miss, then the next person has the discretion of choosing
how and from where the knife is dropped, thrown, or flipped
toward the ground. The game usually continues until the players
are bored with the futility of the exercise.
Red Rover
 In this game, the kids form two opposing lines and attempt to "break through"
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the opposing team's line.
At first, two teams are chosen of equal size, and they form two lines, facing
each other and holding hands.
One side starts by picking a person on the opposing team and saying "Red
Rover, Red Rover, send <Jason> right over"
Jason then lets go of his teammates and begins a headlong rush for the other
line. His goal is to break through the line by overpowering the kid's hold on
each other.
If Jason breaks through, he chooses one person for the opposing team to join
his team, and they both go back and join in their line.
If he fails to break through, Jason becomes part of the other team.
Each team alternates calling people over until one team has all the people and
is declared the winner.
Note that since all the players are on the winning team at the end, there really
are no losers in this game.
Needle’s Eye
 A common game in the Appalachian Mountains, the Needle’s Eye is based upon a chant
that large groups of children would call out as they played the game. Children would
line up in two rows with a space of six or eight feet between them, each line facing the
opposing line. In practice much like "Red Rover", the chant was
 The needle’s eye that doth supply
The thread that runs so true;
I stump my toe and down I go,
All for wanting (or "want of") you.
 At the conclusion of the chanted verse, one child would be invited to run across the open
area between the two lines and attempt to break through the clenched hands of the other
line. Another variation involved the children forming a ring and appointing one person
to stand in the middle, much like the game "Farmer in the Dell" is played. That person
would choose a person from the line to join them, and that person would join the first
person in the center of the ring. In some games, the person who got to choose was then
permitted to try to run through the ring and choose others to join him or her until that
one could break through the ring, while in other variations they simply added to the
inner group of children until no more could fill the center of the ring.
Buckety-Buck
 A Roughed-up version of Leap Frog. Played by two
teams.
 Team A players link themselves into a line. The biggest
and strongest player is the post. Each player holds a team
mates head under their arm all the way down the line.
 One at a time players from team B run and jump onto
Team “A’s” line, trying to break it down.
 If team A does break down, then it has to form another
line, and team B has the fun of trying to break it down
again. If team A holds the line then team B is IT.
Hop, Step, Jump
 This is a centuries-old playground game,
tracing its origins back to England.
 To begin the game, a mark is made on
the playing surface. This is called the
“starting point.” At a distance of 25 feet
from this mark, another mark is made.
This is called the “spring.”
 The players arrange themselves at the
starting point, and one after another, run
to the second mark called the spring.
From this point, each player first makes
a HOP on one leg, and from this makes a
long STEP, and from the step a long
JUMP.
 Those players who cover the greatest
amount of ground are declared the
winner.
Running Games
 Just like children of today children of the
past had lots of energy to burn. They
enjoyed games that allowed them to run and
compete with one another.
Sticky Apple
 Sticky Apple can be very fun. When you
are tagged you must put one hand on the
spot that was tagged. Running while
holding a hard to reach spot like a knee or
an ankle is not easy to do.
Running Games
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Cracking the Whip
Hide and Go Seek
Blind Man’s Bluff
Duck, Duck, Goose
Drop the Handkerchief
Spin the Trencher
Post Office
Tiger in the Corner
Red Lion
Buck
Home Free
Crows and Cranes
Sardines
Kick the Can
Nine Hole
Dodge ball
Cracking the Whip
Painting by Windslow
Homer
 Any number can play. Someone is chosen as the "leader". Players form a
line behind the leader and hold tightly to the belt or garment of the person
in front of them.
 The "leader" quickly changes pace and speeds up or slows down.
Sometimes the leader goes in circles and moves very fast - the others try to
hold on. The leader attempts to get those holding on to let go. If they do,
they must drop out of the game!
 This game is very hard for the person on the outside of the line as they may
have to take 4 steps for every one that the person in the center takes.
Hide and Go Seek
 The game use to be called
Whoop! When all the children
who were hiding were hidden
they called out Whoop and the
game began.
 In a standard game, one person
is designated to be it. That
person counts to 50 in a spot
away from everyone else.
Everyone else hides. The “IT”
person needs to find everyone
no matter where they are
hidding.
Blind Man’s Bluff
 The popular game consisted
of one person who is
blindfolded and chases the
other players by their
footsteps and movements.
The rest of the players
scramble around in all
directions, trying to avoid
being caught by the one that
is blindfolded. The player
who is caught is the one that
becomes it.
Duck, Duck, Goose
 All the players sit in a circle,
except the player who is it. He
or she walks around the outside
of the circle and touches each
players head, saying “duck.”
After calling out Duck a few
times, It suddenly calls out
“goose.” The player who is the
goose has to jump up and chase
It around the circle. It runs
around the circle and sits in the
goose’s spot without being
tagged, the goose becomes it.
Drop the Handkerchief
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Number of players 8+
To begin, all the players except one stand in a circle. The
odd player runs around on the outside of the circle
carrying a handkerchief, which he will eventually drop
behind one of the circle players.
The main idea of the game is to drop the handkerchief
without the other players knowing. The players in the ring
must look toward the center at all times, and can't turn
their heads to watch the runner behind them. If the runner
is creative, they can try to trick the other players. For
instance, they may speed up the pace after the drop, or not
vary in pace at all to leave no clue. The runner can also
make a lot of noise to distract the other players.
As soon as the player in the circle discovers that the
handkerchief has been dropped behind him, he must pick
it up and chase the runner who dropped it. The runner may
run around the outside of the circle, or at any point
through or across the circle. The goal is to reach the vacant
space left by the person chasing. The circle players should
lift their hands to allow both runners to pass freely through
the circle. Whichever player reaches the vacant space first
stands there, the one left out taking the handkerchief for
the next round.
Spin the Trencher
 Many settlers families owned large wooden
trenchers. Trenchers were long shallow
dishes that were used for preparing or serving
food. But for children they became a game.
 The bowl is put into the center on the floor
and the players sit around it in a circle. One
player is it. He or she spins the bowl and
calls out the name of an animal. The player
who is that animal has to run to the bowl and
keep it spinning. As the animal gets up the
person who is it tries to take their spot. If he
succeeds the animal is now it. If a player
allows the bowl to stop spinning he or she is
out of the game.
Post Office
 In this game, each player chooses the name
of a city. One player is the postal clerk.
The rest of the players sit in a circle. The
clerk calls out “ The mail is going from
Asheville to Weaverville” The player who
chose those cities have to exchange seats
without letting the postal clerk steal either
of their seats.
Tiger in the Corner
 Five people play this game of tag. Four
people stand to make corners of a large
square. The fifth person is the “tiger” who
stands in the center. When the tiger shouts,
“Tiger wants a corner!” the other players
must switch corners. The tiger tries to run
to a corner before one of the other players
does. If the tiger gets there first, the player
who lost the corner becomes the new tiger.
Shadow Tag
 "It" tries to step on another player's shadow.
If a player gets tired of running away,
he/she must lie down so "it" cannot tag
them.
Red Lion
 One person is the Lion and another is the Lion
Keeper. The lion selects and area to be a den.
The lion keeper stands near by the den. The
rest of the players walk slowly toward the den
singing “Red Lion, Red Lion, come out of your
den. Whoever you catch will be one of your
friends.” When the players get close the lion
keeper shouts ‘LOOSE!” and the lion runs out
to chase everyone except the lion keeper. If the
lion chases someone and catches them they
must say red lion while holding onto their
capture. The person captured returns to the den
and everything starts over this time with two
lions until all the players get caught and become
lions.
Amoeba Tag
 Two people are it. They hold hands and
chase people, the person they catch joins the
chain by linking hands. When another
person is caught they can stay together or
spilt 2 and 2 they must split even numbers
and can link together at will. This game is
played till' nobody is left.
Colored Eggs
 One person is the "wolf". The other people line up next to each other,
with the wolf facing them. Everyone in line picks a color in their
mind. The wolf then says..."knock-knock", the line answers "who's
there?". Wolf replies "a big bad wolf with (curly or some other
variation) hair".
 The line says.."what do you want?" Wolf answers "colored eggs". The
line yells "what color?". The wolf then says a color. Whoever had
"picked" that color then runs around a selected area (to the far oak tree
in the yard and back to the line, for example), with the wolf giving
chase.
 If the wolf catches the "egg", then that person becomes the wolf with
the game starting over. If not, and all eggs make it back to line
successfully, the wolf then calls out the next color, etc.
Buck
 This is a chase game for 6+ players. The players
gather in a circle and count off using the “One
Saw” verse.
 The players who’s line is “Buck” can start
running. The countdown gets to two players the
one that does not have the buck line is it. It is in
charge of chasing and tagging. Anyone It tags has
to help chase everyone else down.
Home Free!
 When the player that is It finds someone, they
shout 1,2,3 and the players name. And both
players run back to home base. If the hider gets
to home base first, they shout 1,2,3, HOME
FREE! That player is now safe, and must look for
the other players. If the person that was it reaches
home base first then the person that was caught
becomes it in the next game. The game continues
until all the players have been caught or have
made it home safely. If no players get caught, the
same person is It in the next game.
Crows and Cranes
 Line the girls up in two lines facing each other,
one side being the cranes and the other the crows.
When the YL calls "cranes" or "crows", all of the
team called must turn and run to the wall behind
them, hotly persuade by the other team. If a girl is
tagged she joins the other team. This is kept up
until one side has everyone in it. When "crab" is
called no one moves, if they do they must go to
join the opposing team. This helps keep the
suspense going as they must wait to see exactly
what you are going to call.
Sardines
 To play Sardines, one person
hides while the rest count.
When a seeker finds the hider,
s/he must hide in the same place
without being spotted by the
other seekers. Eventually, all
but one of the seekers end up
crammed into the hiding spotjust like sardines in a tightly
packed can. The first seeker to
find the hiding spot is the hider
in the new game.
Kick the Can
 Players draw a circle on the ground about sic feet wide
and place an empty can in the middle of the circle. The
person who is it has the job of guarding the can. One
of the players outside the circle runs in and kick the
can and everyone runs to hide. The person who is it
gets the can and brings it back to the circle and sets it
right side up and yells FREEZE! The other players
must immediately stay where they are at. The person
that is it calls out all the people that he can see. All
those names that are called must return to the circle
and they become the prisoners. While the person that
is it tries to find the rest that are hiding the others that
are hiding can run and kick the can over and free the
prisoners. If there are no prisoners then the people
hiding can run to the circle and yell home free. The
last player to make it to the circle then becomes it for
the next game.
Capture the Flag
 There were two teams.
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 Team 1 had the front yard and Team 2 had the back yard, or a field was split
between the two teams. The teams were given a time period, like 5 minutes, to
hide their flag in their part of the yard.
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 [optional] During this period spies were sent out to see were the flag was
hidden as well as look-outs to catch the spies.
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 When the flag was hidden you call out that you were finished. Then you
simply try to get the other teams flag. If you get caught and tagged by the
opponent on their territory you had to go to jail and could only be freed by a
teammate who grabs you when your opponent isn't looking.
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 The first team to capture the flag wins. In most versions you had to both get
the flag, and bring it back to your side.
Nine Hole
 Each Player digs a hole near a wall, a line is drawn about
sixteen feet (5M0 away from the holes. Each player stands
next to their hole, except for one called a pitcher. The
pitcher stands on the line and tries to get the ball into one
of the holes. If the pitcher gets it in a hole everyone but
the person the hole belongs to runs away. The person who
owns the hall retrieves the ball and throws it at the other
players. The person to get hit with the ball becomes the
pitcher for the next game. If the person misses, however,
they become the pitcher. A player is out of the game after
missing 3 times. The winner is the last person remaining
in the game.
Dodge Ball
 Divide into two teams. One
team forms a large circle and
the other stands inside the
circle. One person on the team
forming the circle starts the
game by throwing the ball at a
person inside the circle. To
avoid people getting hurt you
must hit below the knees.
When a player gets hit they join
the other team.
Who has the button?
 The players form a circle and the person who is
"it" leaves (or closes his/her eyes) while the others
pass a "button" or another object around the circle.
One person hides the object behind his/her back.
All the other players put their hands behind their
backs, too. Then "it" is allowed three guesses as to
who is hiding the object. If "it" guesses correctly
they exchange places and a new person is "it".
Poor Doggie
 "It" is the doggie who must try to make
someone laugh. The players sit in a circle
and Doggie goes to each player and barks,
whines and imitates a dog. The players have
to pet Doggie and say "Poor Doggie, Poor
Doggie, Poor Doggie!" The player must not
smile while saying this or he/she will
become the next Doggie.
Ships Captain
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One player is chosen as the captain. S/he calls out orders to the rest of the players who are the crew. If a player does not follow an order
correctly, s/he is out. (This decision is made by the captain who is always right.)
Orders:
To the ship: run to the captain's right
To the island : run to the captain's left
Hit the deck: lay down on your stomach (or if players don't want to get dirty, they can crouch down)
Attention on deck: salute and yell, "Aye, aye captain!" -- players may not move now until the captain gives the order of, "At ease!" (ie even
if the captain gives a different order such as "to the ship" the crew must continue to remain at attention until told "at ease")
Three men in a boat: the crew must form groups of three and sing "Row, row, row your boat" Anybody who is not in a group of three is out.
The love boat: crew members grab a partner and dance. Anybody without a partner is out.
Clear the deck: everyone must have their feet up off the floor
Scrub the deck: everyone on their knees scrubbing
Captain's Quarters: everyone ran towards the captain.
Man-over-board: Players must find a partner as quickly as possible. One partner must lay on their stomach while the other places their foot
on their partner's back. Children without a partner or pairs that are too slow are eliminated.
A Periscope: Every player falls on their back and sticks one leg in the air. The last ones are eliminated.
SHARK!!!!: Everyone must run to a designated base (multiple bases can be used). The last player to the base is eliminated.
Crow's nest: All players must find a partner. The lightest player rides on their partner's back. Those without partners or who assemble the
crow's nest too slowly are eliminated.
Three maids in a row: Children form groups of three and sit in a vertical row. The players who are the odd-man-out are eliminated.
Sick turtle: Everyone falls onto their backs and waves hands and feet in the air.
Bow: Run to the front of the boat
Stern: Run to the back
Port: Run to the left side of the boat
Starboard: Run to the right side of the boat.
Row the Boat: Each player finds a partner, sits face to face, holds hands, and pretends to row a boat. Players who can't find partners or who
are too slow are eliminated. Alternative rules: If playing in a pool, all of the orders stay the same except for "hit the deck" which becomes
"walk the plank." This means that crew members must bob underwater.
To make the game less competitive, player do not get "out." Instead, if the captain notices that they do not follow an order, they must stand
out for a count of 20.