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Games and Toys
Bilbo Catcher
Colonial children didn’t
just make their own school supplies but they also made toys too. One toy
they used was the bilbo catcher made out of wood and clay balls. Bilbo means
sword so some say that playing with this catcher may have reminded kids of
dueling with swords. With some simple materials you find around the house,
you too can pretend to play swords with a bilbo catcher.
Materials:
Instructions:
-
Poke a hole in the side
of the cup up near the top, pull some string through hole and make a
knot.
-
Lay the other end of
the string in the middle of your sheet of aluminum foil.
-
Scrunch the foil up
into a ball shape, with the string in the middle.
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Poke the pencil through
the middle of the bottom of your paper cup about an inch. Tightly wrap
masking tape just above and below the place where your pencil pokes
through in order to secure it.
-
In order to play the
game you toss your “foil ball” up into the air and try to catch in the
cup!
Cornhusk Dolly
Colonial girls played with
dolls like many girls do today. Some wealthy colonial girls had precious
dolls sent to them from England. They were made of porcelain, had glass eyes
and human hair. These dolls were way to valuable to play with so they
usually made their own just like the girls who couldn’t afford dolls from
England. Almost every family grew corn so they just used the husks to turn
into little dolls. Grab some cornhusks and make yourself a cornhusk dolly
just like the colonial children did. Boys, you can do it too!
Materials:
-
Cornhusks (you can find
them at craft stores or in the Mexican food section of your local
grocery store)
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Heavy string or yarn
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Scissors
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Permanent marker
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Glue
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Optional: Corn silk, moss, yarn or wool
Instructions:
-
Lay 4 to 5 large husks
on top of each other and fold them together in the middle. Use a piece
of string to tie a neck about 1-inch below the fold to make a head.
-
To make the arms, roll
another husk, lengthwise, to make a long tube. Tie the ends, about ½
inch from the edges to make wrists and hands. Slide the arm section up
under the tied neck of the doll. Tie a string below the arms to hold
them in place and make a waist.
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Take your permanent
marker and draw a pretty face on your doll.
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The doll doesn’t need
hair but you can give her some by gluing on corn silk, moss, yarn or
wool.
-
If you want to give
your doll some pants, cut the bottom the husks up to the waist,
long-ways. Then tie each side about ½ inch from the bottom to make
ankles and feet.
Blindman’s Buff
Colonial children and
adults enjoyed this game during the 1700s. The game got its name from an
earlier version of the game where they blindfolded a person, spun
them around and shoved or buffeted them. They later changed their
rules. You can grab any number of your friends and family and all join in on
a game of blindman’s buff.
Materials:
Instructions:
-
Players draw sticks or
straws to see how will be blindfolded first. The player who draws the
shortest stick or straw is “it.”
-
Once you have
determined who is “it”, they are blindfolded while the others circle
around him or her.
-
One or two players from
the circle step forward, spin the blindfolded person around 3 or 4 times
and then rejoin the circle.
-
The players join hands
and walk in a circle around the person who is blindfolded. When the
player who is “it” claps their hands three times the circle must stop.
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The person who is
blindfolded points at one person. They must step into the circle and the
blindfolded person must guess who it is. If the person who is “it” is
correct, that person must now be blindfolded. If they guessed wrong, the
blindfolded player has the chance to tag him or her it.
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