Summary

Game name (and type): 'The Jungle Game' (hiding game)
Alternative types: counting-out rhymes, language play

Handwritten description of the hiding game 'The Jungle Game' written for Dr Dorothy Howard by D. Warnes, a student at Double View Government Primary School, presumably on 25 March 1955. Warnes describes 'The Jungle Game' as a game which can be played by any number of children in a well vegetated area such as the bush. To begin, players recite a counting-out rhyme such as 'Spuds' or 'Boy scout you're out' to determine who will assume the role of 'he'. Warnes notes that each player is a given a sheet of paper featuring a unique number and an animal name. While 'he' counts, the other players hide. Warnes explains that each time 'he' finds a hidden player, he records the number listed on their sheet of paper. After six games, the various scores of the different 'he' figures are compared with the highest score declared the winner.

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.

More Information