Summary

Game type: 'I went to Paris' (game with actions)
Alternative types: chants, language play

Handwritten description of the game with actions 'I went to Paris' compiled by an unidentified student at East Fremantle Government Primary School, for Dr Dorothy Howard between 1954-1955. The category 'Games with actions' refers to games which involve specific actions. The actions are usually the main component of the game and are often accompanied by a chant or rhyme. The author describes 'I went to Paris' as a game suitable for girls aged 10 years and over, which requires a minimum of eight players divided into teams of four. Each team takes a stool on which the speaker sits, a role which changes throughout the course of the game. The author explains that the speaker states the following line: 'I went to Paris'. In response the opposition ask: 'What did you buy?' Possible purchases include a fan, piano, rocking chair and sewing machine, each which is accompanied by a particular physical action. Each time a speaker lists a purchase, all the players must perform the appropriate action which accumulate with each purchased item. The team which perform the consecutive actions for the longest period of time is declared the winner.

One of a collection of letters describing a children's game 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 blue ink on lined paper. Features a small, hand drawn, annotated diagram in blue ink along bottom portion of page; text written on one side of paper only.

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