Games children played during the Great Depression. Dd is having a "Kit"American Girl

[fairymommy]

party and we cannot find any game ideas for the Great Depression era.
We've googled, too. :confused:
Any ideas are much appreciated!
Thanks! fairymommy

[Jean in Newcastle]

My Dad played marbles and tiddly-winks. I can't remember exactly how to play tiddly-winks except that it involved flipping a coin.

My Mom played jacks and hop-scotch.

They also played "snap the whip" - where you all hang on to each others arms and run, trying to change directions often. The idea was to break the chain by "snapping" the kids at the end so much that they would go flying loose! I'm not sure I would recommend playing that one!!!

[Mrs. Readsalot]

I found this cute website with games of the depression
http://1930.mrdonn.org/Chapter11.html
Just of hand I would say jacks, hopscotch, hide and seek, card games, jump rope etc.

[mcconnellboys]

Here's a link to one:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ringolevio

Baseball was very popular by this time. I agree that marbles and tiddly winks were popular, too.

Regena

[mcconnellboys]

And here are some more: jacks, as someone else already mentioned; bobbing for applies; ring toss.

Regena

[Shelly in MD]

Hoop rolling - roll a large wooden hoop along by means of a stick. It is harder than it sounds to keep the hoop upright! After some practice, the kids can race and try tricks with their hoops. We played this at a fall festival at an old restored school house a few years ago; you could recreate the game using hula hoops that the kids had to roll along with a stick.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

party and we cannot find any game ideas for the Great Depression era.
We've googled, too. :confused:
Any ideas are much appreciated!
Thanks! fairymommy

How about checkers or cribbage? Is pinochle in this era? Maybe bridge (although I associate that with the 1950s and an older crowd). Ludo or parchesi. Snakes and ladders. Monopoly was invented in the 1930s.

[Amy in Orlando]

My grandma used to tell great stories of her playing basketball and volleyball - though they were quite lunike what we play today. She was tall for the times (5'10") & according to her stories, they did not have inflated balls to play with on a regular basis, so they played with what were essentially medicine balls - in long skirts, boots and buttoned up, long-sleeved blouses. It was horrible from what she described because most girls only had one outfit and it had to be washed each night.

I know that none of us (me or my 15+ cousins) ever messed with grandma. My dad is 6'4" but around my grandma he was maybe 5'1". I remember Grandma picking up my teen-aged cousin (he was maybe 15 to my 10 yrs of age) by one arm and crushing details out of him. And, I don't think he'd really done anything THAT terrible. But he confessed to every crime ever committed.

Thanks for this thread. I'm getting ready now to email my cousins and my sister and brother. I'd forgotten about so much of this. Grandma could be mean, but she also played a killer game of jacks. The card game Hearts is another one we played at my grandma's house. Not sure of when Hearts originated, but we had a lot of fun playing.

[Lorna]

This is actually a UK toy shop but they sell toys that children played with during the depression in the UK. I imagine they would be pretty much the same in the USA.
http://www.toypost.co.uk/product.php?productid=479&cat=1&bestseller

My father-in-law was born in 1922 in Liverpool. He collected treasures (discarded things like bottle tops etc) and traded them with children in his street. He also played games like jacks.
He made many toys when he was older for other children in his street. In fact he got so good at it he began to sell them and became a successful business man.

[shougmom]

Hi!
I don't know if this is really what you are looking for, but the American Girl site has a "Kit Mystery Party Game" on sale for $8, regularly $16.95. They also have a free shipping code (A382024) so you could get it for $8 shipped.

http://store.americangirl.com/agshop/html/ProductPage.jsf/itemId/87205/itemType/FG/webTemplateId/3/uniqueId/543/saleGroupId/718

:) Linda

[Lorna]

I hope this link isn't too late for you.
I discovered this wonderful site (http://www.vam.ac.uk/moc/kids/things_to_make/index.html) with a printable toy theatre, Victorian model village, tumbling acrobat, paper dolls (1920s style), thaumatrope and more besides.