Recess! 

It doesn't matter when you  went to school.  You always had a game to play at recess.  From handball to huzzlecaps, there were games, games, games!

Children in the early settlements of the 1600s had very few toys compared to today.  They played leapfrog and hopscotch, flew kites and rolled hoops.

Activity games, such as marbles and hopscotch have been played since even before the times of the Ancient Romans. Pitching games were very popular with boys, who pitched anything  from marbles to horseshoes to pennies.  Pitching pennies was actually a game called "Huzzlecaps."  Boys also played with tops and could make the tops spin longer by hitting them  with a whiplash.  Ball games were also popular. One game, called stoolball, was played by  bowling a ball at a three-legged stool which was then protected by a batter on the opposite  team.  The game is an ancestor of the modern-day game of cricket.  In the game of stoolball,  the ball was about 4 and 1/2 inches in diameter, was stuffed with quills and was very hard.  The  bat was a 3 and 1/2 foot long staff made from a strong twig.

 Girls played with dolls, whether they were purchased dolls with porcelain heads or handmade  dolls of corn husks.  Wealthy or well-bred girls were not always allowed to join in the games  that boys played; however, those who grew up in rural areas could do just about anything that the boys did.  

 Here are some games that were played in one-room school houses in the late 1800s.  

One game was called Annie Over.  This game was played by dividing the number of students at the school  in half.  Half of the students stand on one side of the schoolhouse and the other half stand on the other side of the schoolhouse.  The student holding the ball yells, "Annie, Annie, Over!" and they throw the ball over the top of the schoolhouse.  This would be difficult in today's schools, but in the 1800s, some of the older kids were able to throw the ball over the schoolhouse.  Whoever catches the ball on the other side must then run around the side of the school and try to hit any player from the opposite team with the ball.  If a student is hit with the ball, this student is then out of the game and they begin all over again.  The winning team is the team that still has players remaining in the game when the other team has all gotten out.

Another game was Pom Pom Pull Away.  This was also a favorite game in the 1800s.  One student is "it".  The rest of the students make a line on each side of the student who is "it".  The student who is "it" calls anyone from either line by their name and says, "Pom Pom Pull Away!  Come away, or I'll fetch you away!"  For example:  if the student who is "it" calls to a student named Billy Hawkins, he or she would say, "Billy Hawkins, Pom Pom Pull Away!  Come away, or I'll fetch you away!"  Then, Billy Hawkins must try to cross to the line of students on the other side of the student who is "it" without being tagged.  

Fox and Geese was also a popular game.  It was played after a snowfall.  The students would trample the snow down to make a path in the snow.  The path was in the shape of a circle with spokes running through it like a wagon wheel.  One student is the fox.  The other students are the geese.  The fox tries to tag the geese "out" by chasing them around the path.  The geese must run in groups of three or four and have their hands on each other's shoulders.  The goose who is tagged becomes the new fox and the game starts over again.  

Here on our web page, you can have recess and play games too! When you print out the Word Search below,  see how many school-related  words you can find .

Word Search