| CHILDS PLAY HISTORY FROM EARLY TIMES.
   
"The history of childhood is a nightmare from which we have only recently begun to awaken" - Lyodd Demause. "Children have always played from time immemorial". DRUMMOND ABERNETHY. Director of The National Playing Fields Association.
Boys and Girls Come out to Play.
Boys and girls, come out to play. The moon doth shine as bright as day! Leaves your supper and leave your sleep, And come with your playfellows into the street. Come with a whoop, come with a call, Come with a good will, or not at all. Up the ladder and down the wall, A half-penny loaf will serve us all; You find the milk, and I'll find the flour, And we'll have a pudding in half an hour.
It is only in recent history that child's play was to eventually become recognized as having any true value or worth. For it wasn't until the 19th century that even the period of childhood itself was recognized and accepted. Historians tell us that before then, child's play was seen as an intrusion into the grown ups world of work and leisure. For once the child was out of the nappy stage, he was expected to play an active role in family life along with all of its various responsibilities." Children reveal themselves most transparently in their play life ", " And that they play not from outer compulsion, but by inner necessity." For children cant help but play, for it is in their very nature to do so". " Children gain much from this activity, to prepare them for later maturity and adulthood ".
It was Arnold Gessel who recognized that,
Play is in itself an educational process that children gain great value and benefits from. As a means to prepare them for adulthood. Their play years of childhood are in many ways their training ground and have a marked influence on their physical, social and spiritual development. This is particularly so in their formative years of infancy. Learned men who have made intensive studies of children's games and of their play. They have discovered that some of the most primitive people played the very same games, as the children of our present age. These men discovered in their intensive studies, that even the less ritualized games of children, have their origins in earlier primitive times. These men discovered that even the animals and mammals play. Often these are just simple games such as follow my leader, which are played by birds, fishes and all animals in general. All children express this spontaneous desire to explore their world around them, observing their elders, by mimic and manipulate. Through means of free play and imitative play. William H Thorpe the biologist, considered "child's play to be closely related to exploration in the world of the more complex animals". The early circle games of children, owe their origins to their saving of seeds, during harvesting and the associated love and marriage rituals of an earlier time in history. Whilst the lines style of games originated from work like situations. This copying, or mimicking adults, is perhaps the child's main activity in their play. For a great deal of their play is imitative. Children love to copy grown ups, gestures, dress, manner and our various customs. This they have always done throughout history, from time immemorial. Often adding a new dimension as they see fit. For children grasp every opportunity to express themselves in their unique way, whether it is by dress, mimic or rhyme. Children's rhymes and play chants are a fascinating area of play, these have been passed down from one generation of children to another, throughout our history. Often telling stories, or accounts of historical events, pathos, history, culture and the traditions of our society. It is via this unique play world that children are able to express their wonder, feelings,and concerns of issues of the day. Along with their joys of their childhood days. Though not yet being able to take on the responsibilities of adulthood, yet never the less, in awe of the spectacle of the adult world and their own innocence of their childhood world. Many of these rhymes and sayings were noted and observed by Jean Harrowen in her Origins of Rhyming Songs and Sayings of 1977.
"The traditional rhymes of children's songs and sayings, provide links with the past, which cannot be matched and they recall incidents and social conditions in history that may otherwise be forgotten."
It is due to these original children's lullabies etc, that were the germs of all folk songs, that these children's rhymes are still here today.
These lullabies were sung or spoken to babies, to send them to sleep. From the very first cave men times right up to the present day. Children's counting rhymes were developed from children ability of copying adults around them. These often came via ancient rituals, relics of the bible. Sanskrit, magic formulas, death rhymes or druid rhymes. These were the formula children often used for deciding who was to be "it", in the particular game and it is our children who continue these traditions even to today. WINKEN BLINKEN AND NOD. Sailed off in a wooden shoe Sailed off on a river of crystal light, -- Into a sea of dew. "Where are you going, and what do you wish?" The old moon asked the three. "We have come to fish for the herring fish That live in the beautiful sea; Nets of silver and gold have we!" Said Winken, Blinken,And Nod.
The old moon laughed and sang a song, As they rocked in the wooden shoe, And the wind that sped them al night long Ruffled the waves of dew. The little stars were the herring fish That lived in the beautiful sea -- "Now cast your nets wherever you wish -- Never afeard are we"; So cried the stars to the fisherman three: Winken, Blinken,And Nod. All night long their nets they threw To the stars in the twinkling foam -- Then down from the skies came the wooden shoe Bringing the fisherman home; 'Twas all so pretty a sail it seemed As if it could not be, And some folks thought 'twas a dream they'd dreamed Of sailing that beautiful sea -- But I shall name you the fishermen three: Winken, Blinken, And Nod.
Winken and Blinken are two little eyes, And Nod is a little head, And the wooden shoes that sailed the skies Is the wee one's trundle-bed. So shut your eyes while mother sings Of wonderful sights that be, And you shall see the beautiful things As you rock in the misty sea, Where the old shoe rocked the fisherman three: Winken, Blinken,And Nod. THE EARLIEST RECORDS OF CHILDS PLAY. One of the very first recorded accounts of children playing was in the bible. "And the streets shall be full of boys and girls playing thereof ." ( Zechariah Chapter 8 verse 5 ) Other early accounts include Egyptian times. At the turn of the 12th Dynasty around 1900 BC Egyptian children played ball games, along with games of dogs and jackals and three knuckle bones. However it was the Lydians who in fact originally had invented the ball games. The Greek Homer in the Odyssey, described how Nauseas the kings daughter played ball with her friends. The Greeks also played a form of hockey, as well depicted in The National Museums Mansell Collection. It is also claimed that Atys the Greek king, invented dice, knuckle bones and ball. According to Herodetus, Atys made the people play all sorts of games to lessen the rigors of his fasting days. Other favorites of this period included board games, like checkers, dice, jacks, yo-yos and more. War games and fighting with sticks was another common pastime, especially in militaristic Spartan Greece. Various ball games and other athletic competitions were also around back then. The play of children has to a great extent been influenced by their social and historical environment. This was to become even more apparent by the middle ages, for from this period sprung the holidays and recreations of today. The recreations then were controlled by the civil authorities and the church. Although most people were encouraged to play an instrument, to sing or to dance. During the Middle Ages, time for actual game play decreased. This is because children who happened to be born into the family of a knight would be trained as one. From a very young age they spent most of their time studying, learning and training in the art of knighthood. This left little time to actually goof off and have fun. Other children were born into religious families and spent most of the day learning to be a monk, or some other religious person. Girls at this time were trained to be proper ladies, or housewives. Those born into a common household had to help, work in order to keep their family going. Still, it should not be said there was no time for game play. The village populations then were small, relying heavily on agriculture. Which accounted for their love of the land, pagan observances and customs. Holidays were plentiful and usually linked to a church date or a festival, originated from Holy Days.
The majority of people then were very poor and families had to pull their resources to survive. Often people worked from dawn to dusk. This meant children had little if any time for play. Children herded sheep, pigs, geese, or set snares for rabbits. So that usually by the age of ten they were young adults, with all the associated responsibilities. Childhood was therefor not regarded as a condition requiring special considerations, or provisions. Mimicking the local village idiot was a great cause of much amusement. By the end of the century, rebels were demanding free hunting and fishing and thereby began the legend of Robin Hood. In 1398, the English writer John Trevisa observed that, " The young love talkings and counsels of such children as they are and forsake and avoid the company of old men". Children were happy with their own company. Medieval adults had a concept of childhood as a stage of life. They believed that human beings progressed through a series of such stages, known as the 'ages of man', each with its special features. One of the oldest children's rhymes is the one called, "How many miles to Beverleyham?" , or " to Babylon", as it became later known. We learn of it at the end of the 13th century, in a Latin sermon about people who vow to be good Christians but fail to keep their word. The preacher compared them to children who play. We learn more about medieval children's rhymes and speech from children themselves. Many went to school, especially boys and the fact that there were plenty of schools in medieval times is a testimony both to adult recognition of children's needs and to the existence of organized communities of children. Then, as now, teachers encouraged their pupils to write about things they liked and knew. Pupils' notebooks - of which a number survive after 1400, contain scraps of songs and riddles. The ages of man are best known today from Jacques's speech in Shakespeare's, As You Like It, which identifies seven: babyhood, childhood, typified by a schoolboy, adolescence and four adult phases. Children would visit the popular fairs with their attractions of toys, trinkets toys, liquor, gingerbread babies and the peep shows. These fairs were held after the harvest was in and before the winter arrived. These fairs had developed from the earlier yearly markets and provided lots of new amusements. Here children would join in and jostle freely in the crowds, watching the bull, or the bear baiting, the dog and cock fights, or bouts of fisticuffs, or bare knuckle boxing. As an Italian visitor commented in the 15th century, "The want of affection in the English is straightly manifested toward their children, for often having kept them at home till they arrive at the age of seven, or nine years at the utmost". "They put them out, both male and females to hard service in the houses of other people, binding them generally for another seven of nine years". "And these are called opportunities and few are born who are exempt from this fate". "For everyone however rich he be, sends away his children, into the houses of others". "Whilst he in return receives those of strangers into his own homes." Good manners, courtesy and religious virtues played a vital role in the community. It was felt that all children should be subservient to all of their elders and betters. This was well illustrated in the children's books on sale to the wealthier classes. In Arnold's The Babes Book 1475, he wrote the following, " When you enter your Lords place say Good Speed and with humble cheer greet all who are there present". "Do not rush in rudely, but enter with head up and at an easy pace and kneel on one knee only to your Lord or Sovereign". "Take no seat but be ready to stand until you are bidden to sit down". "Keep your hands and feet at rest, do not claw your flesh, or lean against a post in the presence of your Lord, or handle anything belonging to the house". "But sweet children, have always your delight in courtesy and in gentleness and eschew boisterousness, with all your might". Play was another large part of children's' lives and was relatively well-recorded in the Middle Ages, because adults often tried to stop, or regulate it.
In "Children's Games," by Pieter Brueghel. The boys in the bottom right of the painting are playing what is obviously a form of "Johnny-on-the-Pony." The painting was done in 1560. Brueghel, a Flemish painter, is one of the all time greats.
Brugels "Children's Games" hangs in the Kunsthistorischen Museum in Vienna. The Metropolitan Museum of Art sells a little book dealing with this painting. In it there are blowups of details in "Children's Games" that make it easier to recognize familiar games.
The canvas-reds and greens on dark-and-light browns-consists of more than 200 children taking part in some 80 games. Many of the games, like Johnny-on-the-Pony, are easily identifiable as a form of game kids still play today.
Among the pastimes that can be identified are: Blind Man's Buff, Swimming, Leap-Frog, Balancing a Broom, Walking on Stilts, Wearing Masks, Spinning Tops, Knife-Throwing and King-of-the-Hill. There's a fascination to studying a clear reproduction of the work because you keep coming up with identifiable games.
A critique of the work says,
Brueghel was born about 1525, so he was about 35 when he painted "Children's Games." Not much is known about his life, and there is no indication of what moved him to paint this ode to childhood. It's notable that there isn't a schoolmarm or indeed any adult in the work, which has been called a "paradise for children."
Critic Robert Delevoy says, "This delightful work was wholly original; attempts to link it up with any local art tradition or to track its sources to other painters lead nowhere. What we have here is a unique encyclopidia of games indispensable to any would-be historian of the recreations of childhood through the ages." "Thanks to Brueghel's surpassing power of artistic organization, this huge crowd of romping children has been gathered into a unified composition enabling the beholder rapidly to survey the multiplicity and at the same time to form some idea of the various component movements. The artist whose sublime genius directs this world of play is at home in these higher regions where the creative impulse itself is recognized as a kind of play."
The poet John Lydgate in the 15th century, writing about the follies of youth, mentions activities such as running, leaping, dancing, wrestling, stone-casting, hunting, fishing, catching birds and climbing trees to steal fruit. He also refers to numerous games of skill: closh which was a kind of croquet, camping, football or hockey shooting at butts; playing nine men's morris; two games of dice; chess; tables, backgammon; kayles, skittles; and quek.
Another 15th-century writer, whom we know only by his first name, Geoffrey, an anchorite of King's Lynn in Norfolk, wrote about play from a different point of view. Geoffrey is an unsung pioneer of English scholarship was the first person to compile English to a Latin dictionary and in doing so, the first to create an English dictionary too. He was also original in a third sense. Unlike most later lexicographers, he meant his dictionary for children to use and he inserted a number of words that he defined as 'children's play'. They include names of games, such as buck-hide and base-play and equipment for games: merry-totter which was a swing or seesaw, powpe, which was perhaps a pea-shooter and shuttle. Older children were often employed as apprentices in industrial crafts, following an Act of Parliament in 1536. But even they were forbidden to play except on the holy days. .
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| As literacy spread through society, adults provided books for children to read. Children's literature, as we understand the term, can also be traced back to at least the end of the middle ages, between the reigns of Richard II and Henry VII. This literature included both non-fiction and fiction. Chaucer was a pioneer of the first of these, for he began to write his book The Astrolabe in 1391, for his son Lewis, who was then only ten or so. Frost fairs were held on the Thames in London, with swings and roundabouts until 1813. Sometimes these would last for months. These included new attractions such as wheel trafficking, skating, side shows, printing and oxen roasting. Whilst other popular fairs were held in places such as St Bartholomew's until 1855 and St Giles at Oxford in 1876. These were a great attraction to children. These Martina's Fairs included shows, shooting galleries, street vendors, nut hawkers and fine ballad street singers. In the towns there were often dancing rooms full to the brim, along with pubs and coffee houses, all of which were open to all children as well as adults.
`The century of the child.`
Then in 1665 the Great Plague of London occurred from which nearly a third of the population died. This was caused by the poor sanitation,the prevalence of rats and lice and the dirty crowded streets. The disease spread most within the poor population and a great number of their houses were painted with red crosses, denoting diseased inhabitants. At this time many people fled to the countryside, but a great many were denied health certificates and were obliged to stay.
The game of cricket was first officially played at Hambledon in 1774, in many ways it was similar to the popular children's game of the time called trap ball.
Paintings of the period such as Children Playing by Miles Bartlett Foster, show children running free in the country meadows. In such country areas the boys climbed trees for conkers, went fishing, or played football and cricket. Others played the popular pastimes of stilts, causing many a fall and bruises. Many village fetes and fairs were held which were a great attraction to children, with their associated races, stalls of hamburger, hot potatoes and gingerade. Here there were shooting galleries, punch and Judy shows and numerous exhibitions of birds and beasts, waxwork figures, models, glass blowing, cotton spinning, picture galleries and all manner of attractions to keep children amused.
Teenagers, at least, were reading Arthurian romances and Chaucer's Canterbury Tales by this period and in the 1520s and 30s, Protestants launched scathing attacks on the reading of Robin Hood ballads by the young. The 15th century bible translator and protestant reformer William Tyndale called such literature, "Fables of love and wantons and of riobaldry", "As filthy as heart can think, to corrupt the minds of youth withal". We even encounter the first modern children's stories, in the sense of tales that centre on children and their adventures. One is the romance of the Swan Knight, the story of children transformed into swans by their wicked grandmother. The oldest boy escapes, grows up, fights the grandmother's champion, kills him and exposes her villainy. All the swans are turned back into children, except for one. RICH MAN POOR MAN. Beggar-man, thief. Gentleman, Apothecary, Indian Chief. Sailor true. Skilled physician, Oxford blue. Squire so hale, Dashing airman, Curate pale. Stealer of beef, One knows joy And one knows grief. You have children, One to four. O Lady, dear Lady, You've kids by the score. The eldest is -- Why, he's twenty-four! Beggar-man, thief. Gentleman, Apothecary, Indian Chief. Sailor true. Skilled physician, Oxford blue. Squire so hale, Dashing airman, Curate pale. Stealer of beef, One knows joy And one knows grief. A Beadle.
For a time during the age of Cromwell even Christmas was abolished in 1647 along with carol singing. It was during these years that in the city of London a beadle was employed to whip children away from the Royal Exchange, who were playing there. Such was the grown ups dislike of kids playing anywhere near them. The children's favorite rhyme of that period, Little Jack Horner had first appeared in 1770. It was said to have its origins in a legend that the title deeds of Mells Manor in Somerset which was called the Plom, were sent to King Henry viii in a pie, but were stolen on the journey. The 19th Century. This was for the most part due to the forthcoming children's reforms. A third of all children however were still living in extreme poverty, the city slum children lived in were unsafe, unhealthy and insanitary environments. This despite the calls from the middle classes and social reformers for better care conditions, creches, day nurseries and more open space areas. Despite this, little had been done for poor families. Were as the wealthy lived in areas such as those designed by the architect and planner John Nash. Now there were sharp distinctions between the rich and poor child and the village and town child in so many and varied ways. One of the main areas being the fresh air and open space of the countryside, compared to the overcrowded and unsanitary and noisy streets of the city. Childhood was not recognized as having any value, special attention, or provision.
The Hayloft. Through all the pleasant meadow-side The grass grew shoulder-high, Till the shining scythes went far and wide And cut it down to dry. Those green and sweetly smelling crops They led in waggons home; And they piled them here in mountain tops For mountaineers to roam.
Here is mount clear, Mount Rusty-Nail, Mount Eagle and Mount High;-- The mice that in these mountains dwell, No happier are than I! Oh, what a joy to clamber there, Oh, what a place for play, With the sweet, the dim, the dusty air, The happy hills of hay!. The country cousins of the town children lived in far different surroundings, although often even they were badly mistreated. Often working long hours in occupations ranging from spud lifting, fruit picking, weeding, stone clearing and bird scaring. Their harvest time lasted for up to four weeks a time when all of the families were involved from the oldest to the youngest, being paid a piece work rate per family group. During these times there was often much drinking of alcohol , such as beer or cider and consequently there were many cases of tragedies. With children falling under heavy laden hay carts, or abused by men of dubious natures and constant fights, yet there was often much merriment among the workers, especially after the harvest was taken home. Then there would be playing of fiddles and dancing in the hay barns. During these times the country child ate bread and potatoes as their main food and tea as their main drink. Whilst the adults drank beer or cider in vast quantities. Popular games in this century included trap ball, top cat and blind mans buff, which was then called hood mans blind. Kite flying was also very popular and blowing soap bubbles with clay pipes. In winter times children went skating on the frozen rivers and lakes, using skates made of bone which were lashed to their footwear. At work they still were employed in relays and were broken away from their family units.
Whilst the country child's parents were working in the fields, often their children would search for blackberries and wild crab apples. It was common to see children picking wild flowers which were in abundance along with seeds and rushes from river banks. Children would be seen picking large bunches of wild flowers, shredding and binding them with dollies to take home to parents as gifts. Often they would play hide n seek in the farmyard among the cart and wagon, or among the hay and straw. Or else peeping out at their father whilst he milked the cows or foddered the calves.
Other interests for children included watching the harnessing of the horses, or visiting the steam engine house to watch the chaff cutter. Children would copy the ploughman with their imitation of a log of wood which they dragged along by a cord. Other novelties included skimming flat stones, or pebbles, across river waters, seeing how many skims were possible before reaching the opposite bank. Catapults were popular among the lads to scare crows and many also had ferrets which were used for rabbiting expeditions. The rabbit was the poor mans standby in times of hardship, making a healthy pie and stew. Until the disease of miximostosis was introduced in the next century and would ultimately put an end to this tradition. Often these children wandered for miles in areas free from traffic, free to explore and return home safely.
As was well illustrated in Tom Browns Schooldays,
"The boys would wander all over the neighborhood,sometimes to the downs, up to the camp where they cut their initials out on the springy turf". "Racing down the manger, rolling among the thistles, or into the woods". "To the brooks to make pan pipes from the reeds there, to the moors with their brambled thickets, or to the sand hills searching for rabbits, or bird nesting in the season, anywhere and everywhere."
The village pits provided focal points for local community events such as maypole dancing and was often where the travelling salesmen set up their roundabouts. Or where the morris men were to be seen dancing and where the drum and fife men gathered. Children's toys now included footballs made from pigs bladders, make shift swings made from cart ropes and dustbin lids for its seat. Along with toboggans made from discarded tin sheets. OLD SCHOOL DAYS. Come gather around friends and il tell you a tale about the very first school and the dirty ink well and the battle cry was recite that again and again history was dates children were well mannered and always must wait when manners was king and adversity king the book was the word and George was the king and masters of crews do what i say and not what i do your taught to follow this golden rule whether you have pennies or shoes tip your cap to the master do as your told and don't leave your children out in the cold don't criticise and be branded a fool. There was a distinct and sharp contrast between the country child and the town child then. The country child had a great more freedom and open space with the untamed hedgerows, woods and meadows compared to the city environment of the slum child. When the Martina's Fairs were held in the towns, train loads if children were brought in from these outlaying areas, whilst many walked there, or came on carts, or shandries. Queens Park in Manchester created a play area for children with swings, ball and two shuttle cock areas, an archery area, skipping area, swings grounds and a cricket ground.Then in 1877, Burbary street in Birmingham created a simiar playground. Playgrounds then were generally private. With the development of urban life into the country areas, many people were concerned as to how this would effect the country child and his play space. The most noticeable of these was no doubt the teacher, poet, clergyman and visionary William Barnes of Dorchester Dorset. FOREVER A CHILD.
He was forever a child born to be free a childhood spent living so loved near the sea his handle was cupid you could tell from his smile he chased the young girls just once in a while he climbed all the trees he ran all the streets his voice it was merry so swift were his feet his friends they were many his exploits a few he ran with the wind he was born just like you he dressed in the manner not like kids of today he sported a cap when he went out to play his school was a chapel his master were a don he jumped the sea tides his Constitution so strong he was up with the sun to bed with the moon he sang of love each new day in June his sweethearts were many from London to Poole then he rode on the ferry from lands end to crewe. Ray Wills William Barnes was a teacher and clergyman who wrote poems in the Dorset dialect. He saw the threat to child's play and what it would do to the lives of children and to future generations who were deprived of play space. THE LANE. The children will soon have no place for to play, And if they do grow, They will have a mushroom face, With their bodies as simple as dough, And his limbs do grow worksome by play, And if the young child's little body is spoilt, Why the mans will the sooner decay, William Barnes |
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In Victorian times a great many children had an unhappy childhood. They worked hard to satisfy the needs of their parents because families were very poor and they didn't have enough money, so children worked. They underwent very difficult conditions of employment. Days were long for them: usually eight or twelve hours a day, six days a week. Children worked in very sad conditions when they were in rags.The building could collapse because at that times, streets were very poor. In the industrial revolution,they looked like slaves A great many children worked in manufactories. At that time, there was no insurance and when children had accidents or were ill they didn't have any help. Many children often worked with adults: they worked under the same conditions. Children were small, they could go into narrow spaces, children were clever too and employers appreciated these qualities. In the 19th century, children lived in very difficult conditions because they lived near factories and in unhealthy flats or in suburbs with poor hygiene. They had bad nutrition. They ate some bread, pork, milk or cheese (not everyday. This favoured infant mortality and diseases. Towards 1830 charity associations came to help children and their families. It gave food and clothes to everybody. After 1840 school was an obligation and children stopped working. But the conditions remained very difficult for all because streets and suburbs were very dirty in England. In 1830, children could be ill with cholera when they drank water. Streets in London were dirty. Conditions of life were very difficult. Children lived in the street and the industrial revolution caused pollution. Many children were very ill. Children's lungs infected and they blackened. They had tuberculosis. These diseases were the infection of the lungs. Whooping cough was practically the same as tuberculosis. It was a virus. In the 19th century vaccines didn't exist. Therefore the rate of mortality was high.
Parents of rich children often were bankers, merchants, industrials or civil servants. They lived in beautiful suburbs, sometimes in private hotels. The upper class organized parties and could go to festivals whereas the poor worked. Only children from rich families went to school. But these ones were not many. Boys were in famous schools like Eton,where education was very strict.
They could go to school invented by Thomas ARNOLD, a rugby man, where behaviour, friendship, fair play were more important than others. Thomas ARNOLD and parents thought it was more important for gentlemen to learn classical authors than sciences. Girls didn't have the same education as boys. They learned to become good wives and good mothers. This education was very unfair so in 1870, the Education Act was passed. It offered schools for all children between the age of 5 and 13. Numerous Attempts were now made to provide some form of organized play activities for children. These ranged from country excursions for slum children, organized by The Fresh Air Fund and The Children's Holiday Fund. To church groups such as The Children's Happy Evening Association, The Salvation Army, The Band of Hope and the Shining Light. These church groups organized a variety of play activities in the evenings, sundays and during school holidays. These included religious education, teas, prizes and magic lantern shows. All children attending were expected to learn religious texts.
Film of Band of Hope /Click link below.
MOVIE. Children at the factory gates 1901.
A popular rhyme of the period. . NIPPLE NIPPLE. "Nipple Nipple with one eye went to church on Sundays Children then were also encouraged to call on their neighbors on Sundays, with collection cards to raise church funds. For religion played a great part in influencing the child's morality and behavior. Rocking horses and swings were now frowned upon by the moralistic victorians and considered to be too stimulating to the child's sexual feelings. Mothers were now advised by many not to play with their young children for a young delicate and nervous baby needs rest and quiet.If he cried and was not in pain she was advised to ignore him. Prayed to God to give him strength To whack the kids on Mondays".
Jane Adams a commentator of that time commented, "The inveterate demands of youth, that life shall offer a large measure of excitement, that this love of excitement". "This desire for adventure is basic and will be envied by each generation as a challenge to their elders."
Children continued to mimic adults and the world as they saw it in their play world. Small children in London played games of mothers and soldiers, nurses and hospitals, carts and horses, shops, convicts and warders and railway stations.
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 Children now found it difficult to play barefooted on the streets, as there was now so much dirt, filth and broken glass around. During this period a great many poor children from the working classes who lived in the towns and cities suffered from poor mental or physical health. Such as poor vision, nervousness and rickets, along with a variety of mental illnesses. The poorer child's height, weight and general health was shown to be lacking when compared to the wealthier child, with children's diet being the main contributory factor.
As Trussell wrote in The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist, (1905) "Ere we see the inside of another room of slum town, with the father and mother and four children sitting down to dinner of bread and dripping and tea". As soon as they became of age children received half time certificates, until they were fourteen years of age and left school to work full time. Homeless or destitute children could attend workhouses at a cost to the ratepayers of twelve shillings per child per week. Such workhouses as were in Charles Dickens classic story of Oliver Twist . These places were inhospitable and squalid. One of the sites of such a workhouse was at mint street in Southwark which is now the home of the Mint street adventure playground site. Another is at Poole in Dorset. Quay in Poole Dorset.   Children living within these regimes had to live on meals of gruel, which consisted in the main of greasy water with lumps of floating gristle, or a hunk of bread and a jug of skilly. Skilly being a compound of oatmeal and water. These workhouses had no sanitation and little comfort. Although on Sundays the children were permitted to spend some time with their mothers in the womens room and there permitted to have cheese with their bread.
In 1907 Baden Powell took a group of boys camping at Brownsea Island near Poole in Dorset and formed the Boy Scout Movement. Shortly after in 1908, children had their very own childrens encyclopedia and their own newspaper which was called The Little Paper. This was published for the first time in 1910. Some children in 1911 sprang a surprise on their parents and the authorities by going on strike from school, demanding less caning and more holidays. The first official Free school, The Little Commonwealth, was established in 1913 by Homer Lane at Shaftesbury in Dorset. A few years later in 1917 Coldwell Cook had published The Free Way. The free play movement was to have a great influence on child's play in the future and was the forerunner to many fresh ideas in later years including A.S. Neils Summerhill and Michael Duanes Risinghill. Children's street games of London as stated by Norman Douglas, in his book London Street Games, (1916), now included old and new favorites. Games such as king Caesar, king of banbury, queen Anne, king john says no, green man, rise o, hiding hats in the house of parliament, high treason and we are romans. As well as Chinese orders, sally round the jam pot, hat under the moon, piling the donkey, fly Dutchman, black scalings, grulley, hot rice, swolo, frozen foot, daggles, hark, the robbers coming through and broken bottles.
In 1918 the government introduced The Children and Young Persons Act, to protect children from abuse, neglect and all manner of ill treatment. Most popular games were skipping, marbles, whip and top, ring games and ball games. The whip and tops had special names such as carrot granny, window breaker and spinny jenny. The lads had iron hoops whilst the girls had smaller wooden hoops. Children usually managed with discarded bike wheels. A penny now bought twenty marbles all made of chalk, whilst the larger ones were called tallys and these were taken from the insides of glass bottles. The children carried the marbles in flannel bags. CHILDS DREAMS 
Quiet he sleeps in his wee little bed the little man slumbers the hours forgets all thats been said sleeping the nightime dreams fast away far from the hours spent in his land of play
the spinning tops still now the soccer ball lays still whilst the fish are still swimming in the streams by the hill the lights have gone out in the streets down below for the storybooks over at the end of the show
the feet that were swift have rested tonight amidst pillows of slumber and teeth pearly white just a nod of the head and a dream to recall whilst there's games left there strewn at the foot of the hall
the day it was hectic down at the fair with carousel rides and Ferris wheel there with candy's floss to lick and girls to give chase now a just a bundle of mischief sleeps in this place
With mornings of play times and games still to run birdsong and rabbits and those ding a ling songs trees to climb daily and a river to sail kites in the sky and a wish at the well
frolics in forests and playmates to chase bundles of fun in this time and this space with antics and frolics and new sports to try all are the pleasures of play in his eyes
singing and dancing with friends down the lane spills in the park and splash in the rain splashing in puddles again and again a world to explore and not a moment to lose now sound asleep in his rhapsody snooze.
Ray Wills
This century had heralded in new children's rights, reforms and social recreations and was therefore to be remembered by many historians as being, " The Century of the Child".
Jane Adams a commentator of that time commented, "The inveterate demands of youth, that life shall offer a large measure of excitement, that this love of excitement, this desire for adventure is basic and will be envied by each generation as a challenge to their elders". Children continued to mimic adults and the world as they saw it in their play world. Small children in London played games of mothers and soldiers, nurses and hospitals, carts and horses, shops, convicts and warders and railway stations.  playing in the street 
In London children played on the banks of the river serpentine, or tobogganed down Parliament hill. There was however still a marked difference in the play of the wealthy and that of the poor. As portrayed in Robert Tressels The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist, "Often rich and poor were seen to be playing together". Though the class differences were notably apparent. "Frequently in that street was to be seen the appalling spectacle of the ten year old son of the refined trafain dragging along a cart construction of a sugar box, an old pair of perambulator wheels with no tyres". "In which reposed the plebeian Frankie Owen, armed with a whip and the dandy daughter of a bankers clerk, while the nine year old heir of the coal merchant rushed up behind".
 
Children on the streets of the city
During this period a great many poor children from the working classes who lived in the towns and cities suffered from poor mental or physical health. Such as poor vision, nervousness and rickets, along with a variety of mental illnesses. The poorer child's height, weight and general health was shown to be lacking when compared to the wealthier child, with children's diet being the main contributory factor. .
The Twenties . The poor urban family were bound together by a cat’s cradle of rites, and social traditions. There was chapel on Sundays, washdays at the public laundry on Mondays. There were choirs in welsh mining villages and there were pigeon fanciers, whippet racers and brass bands in northern towns. The street was the hub of the community and folks liked to sit outside their front doors watching the world go by and gossip over tea. Such urban thoroughfares were noisy places populated by accordiansis, ventriloquists, muffin men bearing trays of uncooked muffins on their heads, blind matchsellers, musicians, sometimes and a man with a wind up gramophone. Children played hopscotch on the pavements and alleyways,marbles,tag and kick the can, they skipped, pushed each other around in improvised go karts, kicked footballs made of rags or launched kites made from old newspapers etc.With parents at work children were often left to their own devices
1908 madrid
Travelling funfairs were the fashion, with Romany showmen in brightly covered painted wagons with the raucous noise of the steam organs and hurdy gurdys.Here there were shooting galleries and coconut shies. Hawkers selling winkles and toffee apples, plus side shows of bearded ladies, performing dwarfwes,snake women, Siamese twins, sword swallowers,gypsy fortune tellers and boxers who challenged all comers. The introduction of the radio brought with it special children's programmers such as Children's Hour and Uncle Mac, which were first broadcast in 1922. The childhood of the 1920s was very different to earlier times as Mollie Harris had first noted in her own account, entitled A Kind of Magic. (1961). Recounting her own childhood during these years.
"When I look back the ways of my childhood seem to have had a kind of magic about them, they are so colorful, exciting, demanding, full of discovery, joy and adventure". Her account of village life tells of "Traveling men, milkmen who came with their shiny cans, rag and bone men, sweet sellers and there were also various tramps and gypsies". "Schooldays then were spent in overcrowded classrooms and started at three years of age for most children".
Most popular games were skipping, marbles, whip and top, ring games and ball games. |
VICTORIAN CHILDREN
COBBLED STREETS.
We danced and played the cobbled streets hard brick and stone beneath our feet our homes were terraced all in line red bricks back yard and washing line our lights were gaslight our rhymes were free we played games in our street so merrily we spun those tops and ropes of string we hopped and skipped around the ring
though the dogs did bark the cats meowed when the nights were dark to play out late then was not allowed
the boys played soccer ball with goal posts of caps and shirts the girls played chase though some got hurt folks knew their place
for the streets were not so noisy then we skipped and ran we hopped and chased when we were young in our play space we danced and played the cobbled streets hard brick and stone beneath our feet.
  The whip and tops had special names such as carrot granny, window breaker and spinny jenny. The lads had iron hoops whilst the girls had smaller wooden hoops. Children usually managed with discarded bike wheels. A penny now bought twenty marbles all made of chalk,whilst the larger ones were called tallys and these were taken from the insides of glass bottles. The children carried the marbles in flannel bags.
Girls still played hopscotch and tell me true and the boys played fox and hounds and pea shooters. There were regular concert parties held in tall tents with seats called leg danglers. There were now modern picture houses which showed silent movies with special children's matinees and a local pianist who played from a pit in front of the screen. However there was still little in the way of public recreation provision at that time.
Childs play in the nineteen thirties
In 1925 the National Playing Fields Association was founded and did much in the years ahead to draw the publics attention to the importance of recreational provision for children. The N.P.F.A was to be incorporated by royal charter by 1933.
Just two years earlier in 1931 the Danish landscape architect, Carl Theodor Sørenson (1893-1979) had published Park Politics in Town and Country, a book that would be highly influential for European urban landscape planning but has now been largely forgotten. In it he coined the phrase ‘Junk Playground’ from his observations of children playing on empty building sites. He decided to integrate this idea into the designs for the open spaces he and his colleagues were designing for the new Danish housing associations and parks. In a later article he describes his idea: “Finally we should probably at some point experiment with what one could call a junk playground". "I am thinking in terms of an area, not too small in size, well closed off from its surroundings by thick greenery, where we should gather, for the amusement of bigger children, all sorts of old scrap that the children from the apartment blocks could be allowed to work with, as the children in the countryside and in the suburbs already have". "There could be branches and waste from tree polling and bushes, old cardboard boxes, planks and boards", “dead cars, old tyres and lots of other things". 2Of course it would look terrible.” By now children's lives had changed a great deal, there were huge queues at the cinemas to watch the new popular talkies and everyone wanted to travel by train whilst millions of school children were now receiving free school milk daily.
Football on the streets POOLE DORSET in 1937 video. http://www.youtube.com/v/CMdKutRINP In country areas the fields were still the child's playground, here village children played at making paper dollies, daisy chains, buttercup chains, and whistles from alder trees. Small boys made a variety of trucks using wheels of old prams, boxes and nails, then they went collecting manure to sell in the nearby town. Film of a village life in 1944. www.youtube.com/v/6QbHhm4620I&feature Childhood on the streets of London http://www.age-exchange.org.uk/eastend/childhoodstreets/index.html STEVENSONS DAYS.
Next to the bathroom at the top of the stairs i remember as children we all said our prayers the lines of the tables and verse oh so neat the manners of gentlefolk we all learned to speak there was food on the table though morsels were meek we were strong in our culture and our language was weak we learnt from our masters and held back our tears as we curtsied and frolicked throughout our play years
the poets were sound then with lines oh so sweet there were hawkers and pedlar's all run down the streets the air it was cold and the hares they did run the farmland was plentiful by the roar of the gun
the fables and stories we were all told our heroes were wise men and the hills made of gold the church bells they rang and the congregation grew there was laughter abroad then and boats sailed from Poole.
The first real attempt to provide a family community orientated play centre was undertaken in in Peckham south east London in 1935, this was known as The Peckham Experiment. H, Pearce and Lucy A Crocket 1945 . In their account they state that, "The child has no wish to be relegated to a world of its own, the world of its parents of grown ups, is a place of mystery and enticement to it and as it grows it longs to share in it more and more".
The Streets were their playgrounds. . BBC 4 FILM click pic .
This century had heralded in new children's rights, reforms and social recreations and was therefore to be remembered by many historians as being, " The Century of the Child".
 Empire Day celebration 1935 Memories of childhood http://www.speakingvolumesonline.org.uk/editorial.asp?ia_id=606#anchor328 For an interesting look back at street play visit. http://holyname.wordpress.com/2008/11/19/street-games.
An enchanting video of kids at play in 1934. /. A nostalgic look back to earlier times in Tottenham London. http://www.geocities.com/summerhillroad2002/streetgames.htm CHILDHOOD IN THE WAR YEARS 1939/45
 St Pauls in London during the Blitz
Children evacuated during the war years.
Link for children evacuated The War years of 1939-45 held many horrors for british children who lived through the bombings of the cities. A great many children were evacuated to country areas. Children were to witness loss of family members either fathers killed in the war or relatives friends and neighbours killed in the air raids. The whole of the city became areas of bombed sites or houses left vacant and in rubble. Children would play on these wastelands throughout these years and into the fifties and throughout the sixties. For many children they held adventure and a means of creating good from bad. Here they played chase,sang their street rhymes or built inpromtu dens out of discarded rubble,wood planking and tin sheeting. So sprung up junk playgrounds throughout Europe,which in later years became the Adventure Playgrounds of today. VIDEO http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abLgfmzTO64 A look at the war years in the cities a childs perspective http://www.macksites.com/light.htm
THE NINETEEN FIFTIES.
During the early 1950s Lady Marjorie Allen was promoting play streets which were designated streets for children’s play in city areas. These were closed to the traffic at specific times; they were overlooked and supervised by the parents of local children. One of the most prominent and successful play streets was at Paddington in 1953
Adventure Playground emerged from movements in the 1950s/60s Europe,that worked to reclaim derelict urban spaces, many caused by the devastation of World War II. These were filled with trash and debris, the sites were considered unfit even for parking cars and were therefore abandoned by developers. However, children had no qualms about these forbidden sites, often playing happily in rubble heaps. They seemed to prefer the informality of dirt and scraps to formal jungle gyms. that in ten years of experiment there was not one serious accident on any adventure playground whereas by contrast the architect designed play area in Camden claimed weekly accounts of broken bones, fractures cuts and bruises". "The cost of one adventure playground leader’s salary who supervised up to 100 children at a time is less than the cost of one child in Borstal".
The growth of adventure playgrounds was another area where Lady Allen spoke out. The planners and architects of the city saw these sites as distasteful untidy and dangerous; hence they dubbed them “Steptoe playgrounds” in response to the popular rag and bone man TV series of that time Steptoe and son.
Lady Allen stated"
Brilliant film of Kids playing their rhyming verse in London wastelands in the 50s. Click the link. http://www.youtube.com/v/9DrGijdmBqU "Even in Dorset in the mid fifties I recall us kids built our own adventure junk playground on wastelands alongside the Wareham lady st marys church" ."Here we created dens out of wood ,iron,linoleum and grass sods of earth,here we spent a whole summer playing battles and soldiers". "Then in later teenage years in the early sixties we created a woodland hideout at bovington camp out of discarded galvanised pig houses,spending whole summers living in the woodlands". "See my childhood days section on this site.
Eventually parents and park designers realized that these non-traditional materials inspired creative, thoughtful play. The adults and children worked together to construct the kinds of play spaces the children wanted. The playgrounds they built were not just play spaces; they were fodder for studies by child psychologists.
Proponents for Adventure Playgrounds claimed that the play environment they provided would help kids retain resilient and positive world-views. Adventure Playgrounds continually proved the value of learning experiences outside of school. Children could use the playground for exploring many real-life activities. (and even the imagined ones). Many of the constructions were clubhouse-type buildings that fostered elaborate games of pretend. Other equipment was designed for children to create multi-media art projects. Landscape design innovator and father of the Adventure Playground, M. Paul Friedberg confirms, “Our problem is that", "We want the child to be living in a padded box". "But a child has to have the real world, fraught with challenges to overcome.”
Friedberg’s conviction seems to have held true in England, as full-time employees staffed each adventure playground to oversee creative activities and aid in the general upkeep of the materials.
 A look into Adventure Playgrounds History. FABULOUS SITE OF EARLY DAYS DEVELOPMENT OF ADVENTURE PLAYGROUNDS WITH ORIGINAL PHOTOS
Playgrounds-Roy Kozlo...
ADVENTURE PLAYGROUNDS
http://www.londonplay.org.uk/redirect.php?title=adventureplaygroundsnewspaperprint&url=file/1140.pdf .
THE HISTORY OF CHILDHOOD
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/childhood/
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| pla PLAY TIMES MEMORIES ON FILM.
Lets Play outside. http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/greenballoonclub/music/letsgoplayoutside.shtml
My own experience of involvement in films of children playing has been limited to just a few occassions. When W.D &H. O .WILLS the tobacco company sponsored the Film "Children Waiting" at Stevenage about Adventure Playgrounds for the national campaign Fair Play For Children. Along with a Pathe news item of Pin Green Adventure Playgrounds Handi camp with the U.N.A. which was through The Central Office of Information and the film was put out to the the Lebanon and Middle East newsreels. In this section of the site I present a variety of film clips of children playing which I have recently discovered searching the internet.
I have searched for footage of children at play throughout the years and discovered some fascinating glimpses into their world of childhood. Hope you enjoy.
On bombed sites
CHILDS PLAY MEMORIES. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjdVOfnYkyA More glimpses of children playing from the past on film and videos.
Click and enjoy.
Kids playing cricket on streets and wastelands. http://holyname.wordpress.com2008/11/19/ street-games
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jff123/2422899001/
http://www.fidella.com/trmg/index.
Adventure Playgrounds.
http://www.adventureplay.org.uk/RK%Adventure%Playground.pdf FABULOUS ACCOUNT OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF ADVENTURE PLAYGROUNDS/ WITH PICTURES
http://threatnyouth.pbworks.com/f/Junk Playgrounds-Roy Kozlo...
THE INVENTION OF CHILDHOOD http://open2.net/theinventionofchildhood/meetthepresenter.html
http://kaboom.org/FunStuff/KaBOOMVideos/tabid/629/Default.aspx?PageContentID=246
Present day children playing all over the world |
| CHI CHILDRENS GAMES TOYS AND PASTIMES THROUGHOUT HISTORY. In this section I take a look into the facinating world of childrens games toys and pastimes throughout history. From the middle ages then up to our present day.I look at the range and variety of activities and functions as well as the social enviroment and the manufacture of toys and their popularity at the time. Before the regency period relationships between parents and offspring were rather formal and remote. Obediannce was regarded as being essential and children were expected to know their place. In many ways they were treated like small adults and play was regarded with little reverence. Then by the late 18th century attitudes started to change rapidly as part of general shift in the values and virtues of British society, A new warmth of feeling grew up in family circles and many of the old formalities and constraints were cast away. Children for the very first time began to call their parents Mama and Papa. The new spirit was reinforced by contemporise ideas about the virtues of naturalness and liberty. These were too led to an appreciation of childhood as being a separate stage of development. As well as the need for children to have specific rights and with it a wide measure of freedom. Therfore the importance of their playtime was at last recognised and consequently many children were supplied with a wealth of new toys and games along with their own books for pleasure rather than for instruction. Children now had their nursery where they played, this was usually at the top of the house so as not to disturb the grown ups. As in earlier times parents tried to turn their children’s pastimes to educational advantage though many more toys and games were bought for their amusement. The old tradition of swaddling clothes whereby babies were wrapped up tight in clothes in which they couldn’t move was finally abandoned in favour of loose fitting clothes.
LATEST FINDINGS 2009
CHILDS FAVOURITE TOYS CAN PROVIDE CLUES TO FUTURE CAREER (- 99% of architects played with LEGO®bricks -)
New research* from LEGO® UK reveals how children’s future careers can start to becarved out in their early years through play preferences - with architects having preferredconstruction toys, nurses most likely to have chosen dolls and IT workers having opted forcomputer games. Architects were the professionals that were most likely to be influenced at an early stageThrough their preferred toys - construction sets.
The research showed that 54% of architectshad decided on their future vocation before the age of 16, compared to the British averageof 15% - highlighting that toys such as LEGO bricks can help develop creativity and life skills. The study of more than 2,000 adults found parallels across a number of professions:- Those in caring and people professions – such as nursing, teaching and recruitment -were most likely to favour dolls and action figures- ‘Problem solvers’ in banking or accountancy were most likely to enjoy board gamesand puzzles- Marketing and advertising professionals were most likely to play with creative setssuch as painting kits and Play-Doh- IT workers preferred playing with computer consoles and gamesConstruction toys such as LEGO bricks were found to be instrumental in forming buddingarchitects’ ambitions, with 99 per cent** of architects, including Royal Academy President,Sir Nicholas Grimshaw (architect of the Eden Project), and David Chipperfield, winner of the2007 RIBA Stirling Prize, having played with the toy bricks when growing up. Dr Nicola Pitchford, a Developmental Psychologist at the University of Nottingham says,“The toys that children gravitate towards help promote the skills they may draw on in theirfuture careers. Architects use a very clear set of logical skills which can be linked to thecognitive skills children learn and develop when playing with construction or building toyssuch as LEGO bricks. These sorts of toys also encourage the creativity that is key to theprofession as the number of constructions children can build is endless.” Rory McCoy, an architect with the award winning firm, Gareth Hoskins Architects says, “Iloved playing with construction sets and other building toys when growing up. I can stillremember my excitement at the sudden realisation that I could make buildings structurallysound with my LEGO bricks – I couldn’t wait to find my next big architectural discovery!” Notes:*LEGO UK polled 2000 British people through One Poll in January 2009**LEGO UK polled 235 architects through the architectural website www.bdonline.co.uk in January 2009 
HISTORY TOYS
http://www.geocities.com/traditions_uk/play.html http://www.history.com/content/toys GAMES http://rmc.library.cornell.edu/games/index.html Past Games http://www.pennridge.org/p/p-pastgames.html
Toys and Games. Games. http://www.literacycommunity.com/grade3/pioneercontent/games.html Pastimes games. Trail end playground fun http://www.playgroundfun.org.uk/ The Museum of Childs Play http://www.museumofplay.org/things_to_see/index.html
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