A Type Index for Children's Games

Abstract

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Acknowledgements I am indebted to Jean-Pierre Rossie, Cleo Gougoulis, and Celia and Peter Skrine, not only for help with the translation of material from Flemish, French, Greek and German sources, but also for many discussions on the subject of games and their classification, over the years. Notes [1] These observations would not be materially affected by bringing to the comparison another book of the same period, F. M. Böhme's Deutsches Kinderlied und Kinderspiel (1897) which has the following mixed bag of main headings for its games: Amusements without rules Circle and dance games Running, jumping and catching games Hopping games Throwing, kicking and aiming games Gymnastics (for fun) Combat games Searching and guessing games Quiet indoor pursuits for winter Social and forfeit games Riddles (Böhme 1897 Böhme, Franz Magnus. 1897. Deutsches Kinderlied und Kinderspiel, Leipzig: Breitkopf and Haertel. [Google Scholar], iii and iv). Although, unlike the previous lists, there is an implicit developmental theme discernable in these categories, from the games without rules of very young children, the non-competitive circle games, the physical exertion games of older children, to the more sport-like pursuits of youths, and through to the social and intellectual games shared with adults.