Summary

Game name (and type): 'Follow the Leader' (games of imitation)
Alternative types: counting-out rhymes, language play

Handwritten description of the imitation game 'Follow the Leader' written for Dr Dorothy Howard by Jill Halford, a student at Double View Government Primary School, presumably on 25 March 1955. Halford describes 'Follow the Leader' as a simple game which can be played anywhere by any number of children. She writes that a leader is established by 'counting spuds' or reciting a counting-out rhyme. Players line up behind the leader, who runs, jumps and skips. Players must imitate exactly the actions of the leader. She notes that other children can join the game as it progresses.

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 printed on one side only.

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