Item HT 41099 Document - Mary McGowran, to Dorothy Howard, Description of Hiding Game 'Frog in the Kettle', 2 Mar 1955

Summary

Game name (and type): 'Frog in the Kettle' (hiding game)

Handwritten description of the hiding game 'Frog in the Kettle' composed for Dr Dorothy Howard by Mary McGowran, a ten year old student at Cherry Gardens School, on 2nd March 1955. According McGowran, six children hold hands to create a circle with one child, the 'frog', in the centre. While the group of children chant 'Frog in the kettle and can't get out', the 'frog' must escape undetected from the circle and hide in the near vicinity. Once the disappearance is realised, the remaining children must find the frog.

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 paper. Features a hand drawn diagram on lower portion of page; printed text along upper portion. Text printed on one side only.