These books were filled with amusing stories and riddles, Morse Earle says. Riddles, she adds, were a popular pastime for children. In , she states, the book publisher John Newberry began bringing children's literature to the colonies, which then gained popularity. Young people also enjoyed interpreting their dreams, says Morse Earle, especially when children's literature was scarce.
Taverns were becoming more and more popular, say the authors of "Home Life in Colonial Days. Often, games, singing, and dancing were forbidden. These activities were often seen as a waste of time, or as encouraging unruly behavior.
As the website www. However, performances still happened from time to time. In , the website says, a new law forbade theatrical performances, but it's likely that play-acting still happened secretively from time to time.
Children in colonial Pennsylvania celebrated Halloween much like kids do today. They would dress up in scary costumes and collect treats--but unlike most children today, their reason for dressing up was to scare away evil spirits, as the website "Colonial Kids: A Celebration of Life in the s" says. First Skating Day was another important day in the world of a colonial child, says the website.
This was the first winter day when children did not have to go to school, and could spend the day playing outside. Additionally, says Morse Earle, some colonists enjoyed painting on glass as a leisure pursuit. Noah Webster House notes that children often had to help their families by performing boring chores like gathering eggs, carrying wood and churning butter.
In their free time, they played some very familiar games. H opscotch. This game has roots that go all the way back to the Roman Empire and Ancient Britain. Each player tosses a marker like a twig or a stone into one of the squares. If the marker bounces out of that square or lands on a line, the next player takes their turn.
If the toss is successful, the player hops through the court, skipping the square containing their marker. The fox had to chase the geese along the rim and spokes of the wheel.
Anyone who got tagged became another fox until all the geese were tagged. L eapfrog. Each player that follows has to hop over the players that hopped before them. M usic Was an Enjoyable Leisure Activity. H istoric Jamestown notes that music played a big role in the leisure activities of many settlers. Educated individuals were expected to develop some skill on at least one instrument in addition to learning to read music.
It was a common form of entertainment among English society at all class levels. The forts also protected the people of St. These colonists, who were adventurers, soldiers, missionaries, indentured servants, and tradesman, had to work very hard to settle and survive in a new place so far away from Europe. All the men who were physically healthy had to serve in the military, but they also had to run farms, businesses, and trade to support themselves.
Women were expected to run the homes and raise the children. Children had a lot of chores to do to help their families survive. Boys would chop wood, feed animals, and hunt. Girls would grind corn, spin, and weave. Many poorer children did not go to school.
They learned to farm, hunt, cook, and sew from their families. Even though colonial kids worked hard, they still found time for outdoor fun, like swimming, fishing, and flying kites. How do you spend your free time? What games and toys do you usually play?
Ask your parents and grandparents, what did they like to play when they were young? Games and instructions were shared through stories instead of being written down. One generation would pass it on to the next generation. History was also shared orally through stories instead of being written down. One example is that today, kids play a lot of games on their computers and mobile devices.
Playing with technology, helps prepare children to use technology as students and adults. The use of computers is a big change from colonial days, but the idea that playing games could prepare you for adulthood has not changed. A second example is that colonial children played with dolls. Dolls were used to teach kids to care for little siblings or how to be parents when they grew up.
Kids today still play with dolls and these reasons still apply. You may be familar with some colonial games and toys. Have you ever played tag, hide-and-seek, hopscotch, yo-yo, puzzles, dominoes, marbles, pick-up sticks, jump rope, spinning tops, leap frog, card decks, dice, and dolls? See if you can identify a few of the images below. Right image Answer: slide to reveal. It is popular in Spanish-speaking countries, where it is called by a wide number of names, like balero. In simple cup and ball toys, the ball is tossed and caught in a cup on the end of a stick.
In a more difficult version, the ball is caught on the top of a spindle by a hole drilled in the ball opposite the string. This game was played in early America as it had been played for over two thousand years, with small sheep knucklebones. The game was known as knuckles, knucklebones, dibs, or jackstones. Small pebbles or marbles were sometimes substituted for the bones. To play, hold five knuckles in your hand.
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