GAMES
“The difference between a genius and a pedant consists exactly in
this, that the genius performs his work playfully, while the pedant
groans under the drudgery of his task.”
—PAUL CARUS.
“The real fall of man is to do things without zest.”
—G. STANLEY HALL.
=The Value of Games.= All games are play, but not all plays are
games. In a game some rule is involved, some goal or object is to be
attained. Usually, though not always, in a game, two or more play
together.
Most children under three years of age, and many under four, have not
developed sufficient self-control, imagination, memory, and judgment
to play a game. If “Hide-and-Seek” is attempted, they will run out of
the hiding place before they are discovered. In “Hunt the Thimble”,
they will point out where the object is hid. They are with difficulty
held to the sequence of circle games, except of the simplest sort.
At about four years, however, most children have the mental and
social development to find interest in circle games, traditional
games, and some competitive games.
Supplementing the educational values of play in general, different
games have some of these additional educational values:
Training in social relationships, in group action, coöperation,
competition
Cultivating a sense of social interdependence Sharing experiences
with mates
Subordination to the rights, desires, and leadership of others
Loyalty to a leader or a group
Incentive to improvement of skill in order to compete with others
Acceptance of the consequences of failure or inefficiency
Opportunity for leadership to him who is able
Realization of law, through rules of game
Measuring of personal ability and personality with that of mates
=Kinds of Games.= Games may be classified according to
(1) the degree of physical activity involved;
(2) the degree and kind of mental activity required;
(3) the moral and social traits cultivated.
Each of these groups would be subdivided according to age, although
some games seem of interest at any age.
With little children in the home it is convenient to have at hand a
classified list. This list should begin with the standard games, and
be lengthened as new ones are found or, better still, are devised by
the children.
Any game tried should be interesting, “fun”, that is,
(a) suited to the physical powers and mental development of the
child;
(b) expressive of his spontaneous interests.[33]
Certain activities have play interest at every stage but could be
played only in a very simple, brief game under four years, and for
a longer time and more complexly after that age. These most common
activities, or motifs, include surprise, imitation, observation,
guessing, hiding, seeking, catching, chasing, running, ball play. The
worker with young children should be able to invent many little games
based on these motifs. Simple little songs, invented, spontaneously
improvised, or gathered from kindergarten songbooks, add joyousness
to the game, cultivate a love and expression of music, and teach the
utilizing of art in everyday life.
Games may be analyzed by the following scheme, to discover their
values.
Active: Quiet:
Outdoor Outdoor
Indoor Indoor
Sensory Training: Motor Training:
Sight, hearing, touch Bodily control
Taste, smell, weight Neatness
Form, color Alertness of response
Alertness Accuracy of movement
Accuracy Coördination of different muscles
Discrimination Skill
Grace
Mental Training:
Observation Moral Training:
Concentration Perseverance
Alertness Courtesy
Imitation Gentleness
Perception Generosity
Imagination Courage
Judgment Patience
Accuracy Independence
Initiative Justice
Invention Sense of law
Leadership Coöperation
Individuality
Inhibition
Relaxation
Humor
Every game involves some attention and conformity to rules. “Follow
the Leader” involves activity, careful observation of the leader’s
movements, imitation, alertness, motor control, and reasoning in
guessing; if trade is represented, the leader must exercise ingenuity
and initiative in thinking of a new movement. “Spin the Platter” and
“Drop the Handkerchief” require mental alertness intermittent with
attention. “Cat and Mouse” and “Hawk and Chickens” require physical
alertness, dexterity, and quick judgment. “Ring-around-a-Rosie”
involves rhythm, chanting, and a bit of the ludicrous. “Charlie
Over the Water” is a step further, involving mental and physical
alertness. “Little Sallie Waters” and “Farmer in the Dell” involve
love of rhythm and music, dramatizing, and the choice of a partner.
Games for the Littlest
=Eight to Eighteen Months.= Motor control, finger plays, surprise
Finger Plays: Falling, Falling (Mother Play)
Peek-a-boo Rolling and receiving the ball
Pat-a-Cake Hiding self
Open the Door Hiding things
This Little Pig Catching
=One to Three Years.= Motor control, finger plays, hiding;
observation, surprise, guessing, imitation
Hide and Seek (very simple) Finger Plays:
Hunt the Thimble (use ball or doll) Here’s a Ball for Baby
Chasing and catching The Merry Little Men
Rolling, tossing, and catching ball Finger Piano
Shut them, Open
Thumbkin says, “I’ll dance”
Nursery Finger Plays
1. This Little Pig Went to Market
2. Knock at the door (tap the forehead)
Peep in (lift the eyelid)
Lift up the latch (touch tip of nose)
Walk in (touch lips)
Take a little chair
Right down under there (chucking under the chin).
3. Here’s my father’s knives and forks (hands back to
back, fingers standing up like rake)
Here’s my mother’s table (hands turned over, the
interlaced fingers flat like a table)
Here’s my sister’s looking-glass (forefingers raised,
forming a triangle)
And here’s the baby’s cradle (little fingers also
raised, forming a triangle for front piece of cradle).
4. Here’s the church (position as in line 2 of preceding)
And here’s the steeple ” ” ” ” 3 ” ”
Open the door ” ” ” ” 1 ” ”
And see all the people.
5. “Shut them, open; shut them, open;
Give a little clap;
Open, shut them; open, shut them;
Fold them in your lap;
Creep them, creep them, creep them, creep them.
To the little chin;
Open wide the little mouth,
And pop a finger in.
“Shut them, open; shut them, open,
To the shoulders fly;
Open, shut them; open, shut them,
Up into the sky;
Falling, falling, falling, falling,
Almost to the ground;
Hold them up in front of you
And twirl them round and round.”
6. Thumbkin says, “I’ll dance,”
Thumbkin says, “I’ll sing,”
Dance and sing, ye merry little men,
Thumbkin says, “I’ll dance and sing.”
(Tapping with thumb, other fingers closed)
Pointer says, etc. Refrain
Tall man says, etc. ”
Ring man says, etc. ”
Little man says, etc. ”
(On refrain, all fingers tapping)
All men say they’ll rest
All men say they’ll sleep.
Rest and sleep, ye merry little men;
All men say they’ll rest and sleep.
(Last stanza, hands closed, thumb inside; sing softly)
7. Now see we here.
These friends so dear,
As they together meet.
With bows polite
And faces bright
Each other they will greet.
Oh, “How do you do,” and
“How do you do,” and
“How do you do,” again
And “How do you do,”
And “How do you do,”
Say all these little men.
(Hands held up with fingers erect, palms opposite. At line 7, thumbs
bent toward each other, and following fingers on each succeeding
greeting; all together on line 11.)
=Three to Four Years.= Children are usually not yet interested in
group games; some children not until five or six years. At this age
children can play together with their toys but cannot manage a
game among themselves. They are able to play simple games with an
adult. The parent or teacher can make simple games out of the daily
activities.
Slightly more difficult finger plays and forms of games than those
listed in previous age period can be used, and simple forms of those
games listed in succeeding period.
Motor Accuracy:
Tenpins
Circle and Active Games:
Ring-around-a-Rosie
Cat and Mouse
Sense Games. These involve the “guessing” interest but require
thought.
Sight and Observation. Tell what object, color, form is taken
away from a group, or added. Match a color or form of flower or
other object, first with object in hand, later from memory. “I
saw”—relating what was seen on a walk, in a room, or when passing a
store.
Touch. Tell the name of an object or form by handling it while
blindfold.
Hearing. Tell the direction of a sound, instrument sounded, person
speaking, while blindfolded.
Language Games. Many can be invented similar to the following, in
which increase in speaking vocabulary is gained. Nouns: I went to
the Zoo (store, boat, etc.) and there I saw—(name objects). Verbs: A
train (bird, dog, wind, etc.) can—(name activities). Adjectives: I
like squirrels (flowers, dolls, apples, etc.) because they are—(name
adjectives).
Alertness. Children at this age, and until six, are often dawdling,
dreamy. Games can be invented to cultivate dispatch and alertness,
as “running a race” with a person or the clock, in dressing and
undressing.
Poise, Relaxation, Concentration. What Montessori calls the “Game
of Silence” cultivates these qualities. As played in the Montessori
schools, the children sit quietly, relaxed, in a room slightly
darkened, while all sounds are hushed, and all listen. After two or
three minutes some one in an adjoining room whispers or calls faintly
the name of a child, and the child goes as softly as possible,
returning as softly. Ten or fifteen minutes is the limit of the
children’s ability to play the game. Forms of it may be played when
going through the house, or whenever quiet is especially desired; or
when the children are becoming irritable or too nervous.
* * * * *
The imitative, imaginative, and dramatic play instincts of the years
from three to six offer opportunity for a wide range of invention of
games. These should not be formal but by their very nature must give
freedom of initiative, imagination, and self-expression. They may
be utilized, for instance, in social training, as in playing that
the child is a prince or princess at a banquet, or is a parent to
the doll who sits near by to be taught, making a game of neat table
manners or careful chewing. They may be utilized for moral training,
as in playing that the child is the fairy godmother who could bring
sunshine wherever she went; or Siegfried, who could kill all the
dragons of ugly temper or words.
=Four to Six Years.= Simple circle games, singing games, dramatic
imitation, catching, finding. Utilize the sense games, alertness,
language, imaginative and dramatic games described in previous
period, using more complex and difficult situations.
Tag Games:
Drop the Handkerchief
Cat and Mouse
Pussy wants a Corner
Dramatic Kindergarten Games with Music:
The Pigeon House
The Chickadees
The Snail
Hiding Games:
I Spy
Hide the Thimble (using larger object)
Circle and Singing Games:
Ring-around-a-Rosie
Charlie over the Water
Little Sallie Waters
Button, Button
Magical Music
Here we go round the Mulberry Bush
Did you ever see a Lassie
Ball Games:
Variations in catching and throwing
Motor Ability:
Hitting at a mark
Tenpins
Ringtoss
Alertness:
Bird, Beast or Fish
(Many other simple games based on this idea of
classification can be invented, such as the following)
Hard or Soft
Tree, Vine or Plant
Vegetable or Mineral
Found or Made
Attention and Invention:
Stagecoach
(Similar games invented, such as Boat, Flower, Wardrobe, Mythology)
=Six to Nine Years.= Period of special interest in traditional
circle games, running and catching, imitative action, observation
and alertness, dramatic action. More complex games are invented,
utilizing classification, invention.
Circle-singing:
London Bridge
Round and Round the Village
Farmer in the Dell
Counting-out Games:
Tag variations:
Wood Tag, Stone Tag, etc.
Catching Games:
Pom, Pom, Pull Away
Hawk and Chickens
Blind Man’s Buff
Dodging and dare games
Motor Control:
Hopscotch
Cat’s Cradle
Marbles, Jackstones
Honey Pots
Handicap races, as potato race
Alertness:
Going to Jerusalem
Spin the Platter
Bird, Beast, or Fish
Magical Music
Crambo
Riddles
Sense Games:
Taste
Smell
Touch
Table Games:
Checkers
Dominoes
Imitation or Invention:
Follow the Leader
Solomon says “Thumbs up”
Hold Fast and Let Go
Trades
Charades
Hitting at Mark:
Tenpins
Ringtoss
Archery
Volley ball
Faba Gaba
Croquet
Tennis
FOOTNOTES:
[33] These spontaneous interests and the developments of physical and
mental abilities are briefly analyzed in Chapters V, XII, XIII.