Pioneer Times

Pioneer Games

By Susan Davis
Friend, February 1989, page 46

A typical pioneer school had only one room, one teacher, and about twenty-five students in grades one through eight. Not only did boys and girls of different ages study together, they often played together during recess.

Shadow Tag

On bright, sunny days, shadow tag was a perfect game to play. At the beginning of recess, Henry was chosen to be it. Henry chased the other boys and girls, trying to step on somebody's shadow. He was just about to step on Laura's shadow, when she cleverly hid it inside a tree's shadow. But Laura couldn't stay there; she had to count to ten, then leave the safety of the shadow. When she did, Henry quickly stomped on her shadow, and she became it.

Chain tag

Another form of tag that pioneer children played was chain tag. In this game, two people were it; this time it was Edna and Mary. Edna clasped Mary's hand, and they began chasing the others. When they tagged Carrie behind the schoolhouse, she linked hands with Edna, making the chain three people long. The chain grew longer as more people were tagged.

Last Couple Out

Another pioneer game was last couple out. Caroline was chosen to be the leader, and the other children each chose a partner. They lined up side by side behind Caroline. Henry and Charles were partners, and they were the last couple lined up behind Caroline. When Caroline yelled, "Last couple out!" Henry and Charles separated. Henry ran forward along the right side of the line, and Charles along the left side. The two boys tried to clasp hands before Caroline tagged either of them. But Caroline touched Charles, thus becoming his partner. They took their place at the front of the line behind Henry, the new leader.

Dare Base

Sometimes pioneer children divided into two groups and played dare base. Helen and Loren were the two team captains. Helen's team's base was the area around the flagpole. Loren's team's base was the area around the seesaw.

Loren felt daring; he thought that he could run around the flagpole without getting caught. He ran his fastest, and he made it! Since Loren's dare paid off, he got to choose Henry to join his team. Carrie was on Helen's team, and she felt daring too. She ran her fastest but only made it halfway around the seesaw before she got caught. Her dare failed, and she had to join Loren's team.

Baseball

A form of baseball was another game the pioneer children played. Can you imagine the pitcher throwing a homemade twine ball and you swinging at it with a flat board? That's how pioneer children did it.

Railroad spelling bee

In school, if the children had been well-behaved, the teacher might reward them by having a railroad spelling bee after the afternoon recess. All the children lined up next to the wall. One day little Mary was at the front of the line, so she could spell any word that she wanted to. She correctly spelled cat. Then Charles, who was next in line, had to spell a word beginning with t, the last letter in Mary's word. He spelled tail. Laura was next, and she had to spell a word beginning with l. She slowly spelled, "l-i-v-e-l-e-e." Then, because she had misspelled lively, she had to sit down. The game continued as Henry correctly spelled a word beginning with y.

All too soon the railroad spelling bee ended--it was time for the children to go home. But the next day they would return to the one-room schoolhouse to study and play again.

Pioneer Games

If early settlers wanted a toy, they would have to make it themselves. Sometimes someone would make a toy and sell it to a store and then you could buy one, but this happened rarely. They played a lot of games that children still played today by different names. They are:

• Drop the Handkerchief is a pioneer game that is the same as Duck, Duck, Goose. Someone would go around the circle of people and drop a handkerchief on a player to chase them (the goose).


• Blindman's Buff is an old time game that is similar to Marco Polo. One person would be blindfolded. It was played several different ways. One way you played the game was to call out in Blindman's Buff like you do in Marco Polo. In another way to play the game, you were silent and the person had to find you.When the person finds you, they don't just tag you. They have to guess who you are.


• Leapfrog is a game we still play like they did long ago. One person would be the leaper and the other people would stand in a line, put their hands on their knees, and bend over just a bit. When the leaper got to the end of the line this action was repeated.


• Hunt the Shoe is almost like Doggie, Doggie, Where's my Bone? A guesser sits in the middle of the circle as the people around the circle pass different shoes around the circle behind their backs. ( All the shoes are passed at once). The guesser holds the match to one of the shoes that is being passed. Then the guesser would try to guess who has the match to the shoe they were holding.

Here are some games from long ago that you might not have played:

• Croquet is almost like miniature golf. You would hit a ball through stakes (wire loops).


• Shuttlecock is a thing made of feathers that you hit back and forth with a racket. Today it is called Badminton.


• Lacrosse is a game that some said was played to cure the sick. The Native Americans invented it and the settlers played it for fun.

Making Butter

You need a baby food jar or film canister with a lid. Pour cream into the jar. Shake the jar continuously to form butter. Pour out the extra cream. Enjoy over some fresh rolls.

Get some translucent/white Fuji film canisters from a 1 hr photo shop (Wal-Mart)- enough so that you have 1 per child. Wash out VERY well until no smell remains. Fill 1/4 -1/3 full with heavy whipping cream and a small pinch of salt. Snap on the lids. Some say to leave cold, others said to have at room temperature. Anyhow, during singing time have the kids shake their film canister. By the time singing time is over, you can spread their butter onto some freshly baked bread or store bought bread, pour off the buttermilk into a bowl. You can see through the film container to see when your butter has formed. The kids had a blast, sometimes their arms were so tired of shaking, they started to jump up & down to shake their film canisters.. it was hilarious! The butter was great! -Sheila

Baby food jars are also good containers for this if you have them around. When our ward did it, they decorated the lids with a piece of fabric and twine. It was really cute I thought.