Summary

Game name (and type): 'French and English' (chasing game)
Alternative type: running game

Handwritten description of the chasing game 'French and English' composed for Dr Dorothy Howard by an unknown author, presumably a student at Ceduna Higher Primary School, circa March 1955. According to the author, children form two teams of seven players who stand about five yards apart. One player touches the palms of the opposing team members' hands with the exception of one child, who he taps on the fingernail. The selected child must chase the original player back to their side. If caught, the player joins the chaser's team.

One of a collection of letters describing a children's games written to children's Folklorist Dorothy Howard between 1954 and 1955. Dr Howard came to Australia in 1954-55 as an American Fulbright scholar to study Australian children's folklore. She travelled across Australia for 10 months collecting children's playground rhymes, games, play artefacts, etc. This letter, together with the other original fieldwork collected by Dr Howard during this period, is preserved in the Dorothy Howard Collection manuscript files, part of the Australian Children's Folklore Collection (ACFC), Archive Series 3. The ACFC is an extensive collection documenting children's folklore and related research.

Physical Description

Handwritten game description in blue ink on lined paper. Text printed on one side only.

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