What are colonial activities for kids?

PLAY colonial games like marbles, hopscotch, spelling bees, sack races, tug-of-war, jackstraws (pick-up sticks), whirligig, and ninepins. You can also construct hoop and stick games or graces.

What kind of games did colonial kids play?

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?

What does colonial mean for kids?

Colonization occurs when one country takes control of another country or region, establishing a settlement, or permanent part of the colony, in order to control the area and gain riches. For example, Jamestown was the first settlement in the American colonies.

What did children play with in the colonies?

When children used materials for play, they were usually found in nature or around the house. Colonial kids typically played board games, puzzles, and cards. Some of these included chess, checkers, and backgammon. Wealthier families had wooden tables in their homes with boards carved into the tops of them.

What were some things colonial kids did that kids still do today?

When children had time to play, they played some of the same games we still play today – like tag, hid-and-seek, and hopscotch. There were no factories for making toys, and store-bought toys were very expensive. Children or adults made most toys from things they could find outside or in the house.

Colonial Games for Children

What are colonial activities for kindergarten?

PLAY colonial games like marbles, hopscotch, spelling bees, sack races, tug-of-war, jackstraws (pick-up sticks), whirligig, and ninepins. You can also construct hoop and stick games or graces.

What did colonial people do for fun?

Shooting and woodchopping competitions were popular, and, making the most of two important forms of colonial transport, boat races and horse races became common forms of entertainment. However, indoor activities relied more on things the settlers had done back in Britain.

What toys did kids play with in colonial times?

They made dolls from cornhusks and rags. Leftover wood and string could be used to make spinning tops. Hoops from barrels could be used in races and other games. Many times the children made up their games and needed no equipment at all – they improvised with what was around the farm they lived on.

What toys did kids play with in the 1600s?

Seventeenth-century depictions of children playing show us a wide variety of toys, ranging from dolls and toy soldiers, through hoops, jump-ropes, whirligigs, hobby-horses, tops, toy drums, and balls. Tobacco pipes were borrowed from smokers for blowing soap bubbles.

What are the 13 colonies for kids?

In 1776 the 13 colonies declared their independence from Great Britain. The names of the colonies were Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Virginia.

How do you teach children about colonialism?

When teaching your children about your family, discuss your ancestry and how you came to be settlers on this land. Talk about this history of your settler ancestors, and their role in colonialism.

What was life like for kids in colonial times?

Instead, colonial children usually learned about the adult world by doing things the way their parents did. But, just because they didn't go to school, their lives were not easy. Children were expected to help with a share of the family's work. Boys helped their fathers and girls did chores at home.

What are some colonial sports?

Colonial boys, as today, practiced sports pursued by their fathers: baste the bear (after bear baiting, but with the “bear” tethered by a short rope to his “keeper” who tried to touch all who attempted to bait the bear with twisted handkerchiefs), ice skating, archery, cricket, and football—a rowdy game which Edward ...

What sports were in colonial life?

Colonists had brought with them European games and sports such as bowling, football, cricket, quoits, and cards. Some of these activities, such as cricket and football, fell out of use as they did not require the kinds of skills the colonists needed in their everyday lives.

What card games did colonists play?

Everybody did it—men, women, rich, poor, gentry, and slave. Like their English cousins, colonists bet on all sorts of things. They wagered on card games, like whist, piquet, cribbage, loo, put, and all-fours.

How do you play colonial marbles?

Each player drops an agreed number of marbles into the circle. Players take turns to fire their shooting marble/taw from the edge of the ring. The aim is to knock as many marbles out as you can. If your taw goes out of the ring it's the next person's turn.

What did kids play with in the 1500s?

In medieval times, toys such as kites, toy soldiers, hobby horses and push and pull-along animals were given to children to play with. The simplest toys were made from wood and bone. Some wealthier families were also able to give their children toys made from bronze, glass and even silver. Did you know?

What did kids do in the 1700s?

The children of average or poor families began working very early on in life, sometimes even as early as age seven. They worked mostly on farms as shepherds, cowherds, or apprentices and often left home to do so.

What games did the 13 colonies play?

In all the colonies, kids played with balls and bats and marbles and dolls. They played tag. In the south they played lawn bowling. In the north, they played shuffleboard.

What did kids do for fun in the New England colonies?

- Describe the games that were played by colonial children. - Play some of the games. Between all the chores, bible lesson, and schooling, children found time to just be kids. They played games like marbles, flying kites, bowling, ring toss, walking on stilts, having sack races, Blind Man's Bluff, and spinning tops.

What were colonial dolls made of?

In America, from the colonial era up to the early 20th century, children of various statuses would play with dolls made from rags or cornhusks. Mass production of rag dolls began around 1830, when fabric color printing was first developed.

What did colonial girls do?

Women trained girls to be wives and mothers by having them help around the house. Girls helped with cooking, preserving food, caring for children, cleaning the house, washing clothes and gardening. They milked cows, churned butter, and made cheese. Girls' work was important to cloth making.

What were the fun activities in the 1700s?

Card games such as whist and piquet were favored in social gatherings. Outdoor activities and sports also held a prominent place in leisure activities. Cricket, horse racing, fox hunting, and fencing were among the sports that gained popularity, particularly among the aristocracy.

What did colonial people eat?

Colonial cooks fried, roasted, baked, and boiled. They used many of the same foodstuffs found in today's groceries: beef, lamb, pork, chicken, fish, vegetables, and baked goods. Then as now, coffee, tea, and chocolate were popular beverages. Beyond these common roots, though, little was the same as it is today.