Native American children from tribes across the United States learned the skill of quiet stalking in part from the game Keeper of the Fire. Seat the entire class of third grade students in a circle on the floor. One student volunteer will need to be blindfolded and seated in the center of the circle with his hands in his lap. Tie three bundles of sticks or Popsicle sticks together with yarn and place the wood in front of the blindfolded student. When the class is quiet, point to one student. This child must walk up to the center of the circle and try to steal one bundle of wood. The blindfolded student may can only reach out his hand in an attempt to tag the stalker. If successfully tagged, the blindfold is removed and placed on the tagged student. If one bundle of wood is successfully stolen, quietly indicate the next stalker. When all three bundles of wood have been stolen, assign a new keeper of the fire. Play the game until four or five students have had the opportunity to be the keeper of the fire.
Many games children played long ago are were designed using simple objects. Pit Toss was a game played with five cleaned plumpits from inside plums. For the classroom, you can play this game with pits or cleaned milk jug caps. Divide the class into partnerships. Each team will need five pits or caps. Instruct the students to use markers or, more to be more authentic, have your students use paintsauthentically paints, to decorate only one side of the pit. The other side must be left blank. Each team must also be given a bowl in which to hold and toss the pits with. A cleaned margarine tub works well. Students will toss the pits into the air and, based on the arrangement they the pits fall inland, add their points. ?
Zero decorated faces up = 1 point.?
One decorated face up = 0 points.?
Two decorated faces up = 3 points.?
Three decorated faces up = 3 points.?
Four decorated faces up = 1 point.?
All decorated faces up = 8 points?The first player to reach 25 points is the winner.
The current generation of children is the first who may might never experience playing the game of marbles. Marbles have been played for centuries across the world with stones or clay balls. Only relatively recently with has the game been played with glass marbles. Divide the class into partnerships. If playing in a carpeted classroom, use chalk to draw a circle lines on the floor as tape will leave a sticky ring of dirt on the floor. Draw the circle three to nine feet across on a flat playing surface. Students set up 13 marbles in the shape of a plus sign on the inside of the circle. The first player holds a larger shooter marble in her hand, places her knuckle on the ground and flicks the shooter toward a smaller marble. If the shooter marble pushes a marble outside of the circle but stays within the circle itself, the player gets to keep the smaller marble for one point. The player shoots again from the spot the shooter marble landed. If no marble was shot out of the ring or the shooter marble rolls out-of-bounds itself, play moves to the opponent. The game continues until all marbles have been cleared from the ring. The player with the most points wins the game.
Jacks is a game that was frequently played by children in the colonial period. Divide the class into partnerships. Ten jacks must be tossed onto a flat playing surface such as the floor or a table. The first player tosses the ball into the air, picks up one jack and catches the ball before it bounces. The first player continues until all ten jacks have been removed one at a time. The Next, the jacks are again tossed onto the playing surface and, as this time as the ball is in the air, two jacks are removed at a time. The first player continues rounds of play, increasing the number of jacks removed by one at each round, until he misses the correct number. Play then shifts to the other student. The player who makes it to through all 10 levels and clears ten jacks in one swipe wins the game.