Summary

Game name (and type): 'Hop Squares', 'Hoppy' (hopscotch)
Alternative type: game with found objects, games with actions, rhymes, language play

Handwritten descriptions of a rhyme accompanying a hopscotch game and the game 'Hop Squares' composed for Dr Dorothy Howard by Pam Roper, a student at Collier Primary School, in 1955. Roper transcribes the hopscotch rhyme, but does not include a description of the associated physical actions. The language used in this rhyme reflects the period in which is was created. Roper explains how 'Hop Squares' is played, providing a detailed, annotated, hand drawn diagram of the hopscotch pattern. Using a stone as a 'taw', players attempt to kick the 'taw' into prescribed positions as they hop through the pattern.

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 descriptions in pencil on lined paper. Features a large, detailed hand drawn diagram at centre of page. Text printed on one side only.

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