Summary

Game name (and type): 'Scarecrow' (chasing game)
Alternative type: running games

Handwritten description of the chasing game 'Scarecrow' written for Dr Dorothy Howard by an unidentified student at Double View Government Primary School probably on 25 March 1955. The author describes 'Scarecrow' as a game which requires at least four players. To play, the chaser known as 'he' is selected. 'He' chases the other players, who must stand like a scarecrow with their arms extended if captured. Remaining players can free the scarecrows by re-tagging them. The author notes that if a player is turned into a scarecrow three times in a row, they become the chaser.

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 pencil on lined paper. Features borders ruled in red pencil; text written on one side only.

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