Summary

Game name (and type): 'Dog and the Bone' (running game)
Alternative types: team games, chasing games, play with props/equipment

Handwritten description of the running game 'Dog and the Bone' written for Dr Dorothy Howard by an unidentified student at Double View Government Primary School, presumably on 25 March 1955. To play, the author writes that two captains select teams, allocating each player with a different number. One individual, presumably a player, assumes the role of 'instructor', placing an object on the ground between the two rows of players. The author explains that the 'instructor' calls out a number. The corresponding players run towards the object, waiting for an opportunity to take the object or for their opponent to attempt to retrieve it. If a player successfully obtains the item, the other player must chase them back to their team. If the player with the object reaches the safety of their team without being caught by the chaser, the 'instructor' allocates the team a point. The author notes that the team with the highest score at the game's conclusion is 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