Children’s Games

Children’s Games

EE1 What games do children play around here, in which they form a ring, and either sing or recite a rhyme?

EE2 Games that have one extra player—when a signal is given, the players change places, and the extra one tries to get a place:

EE3a Games in which you hide an object and then look for it:

EE3b When you see a car with one headlight out, you say ___________. Use the comment box to explain any ritual associated with it.

EE4 Games in which one player’s eyes are covered and she has to catch the others and guess who they are:

EE5 Games where you try to make a jackknife stick in the ground:

EE6a Names for different kinds of marbles—the big one that’s used to knock others out of the ring:

EE6b Small marbles:

EE6c Cheap marbles:

EE6d Special marbles:

EE7 What kinds of marble games are played or used to be played around here?

EE8 The line toward which the players roll their marbles before beginning a game, to determine the order of shooting:

EE9a What do you call it when a child puts her head on the ground, tucks her body, and rolls forward on the ground?

EE9b A gymnastic move where a child jumps forward, lands on his hands, and turns over with his legs straight:

EE9c A gymnastic move where a child spreads her arms and turns her whole body over sideways:

EE11 Bat-and-ball games for just a few players (when there aren’t enough for a regular game):

EE12 Games in which one captain hides his team and the other team tries to find it:

EE13a Games in which every player hides except one, and that one must try to find the others:

EE14 What do you call the place where the player who is ‘it’ has to wait and count while the others hide?

EE15 When she has caught the first of those that were hiding, what does the player who is ‘it’ call out to the others?

EE17 In a game of tag, if a player wants to withdraw from the game for a minute or two, what does he call out so that he can’t be tagged?

EE18 Games in which the players set up a stone, a tin can, or something similar, and then try to knock it down:

EE19 The game in which children mark with chalk a pattern of rectangles on the ground or sidewalk, throw a flat stone into one section, then go on one foot and try to kick it or carry it out:

EE20 When two boys are fighting, and the one who is losing wants to stop, he calls out, “________.”

EE24a When there’s snow, children go down the hill on a(n) ________.

EE24b When children go downhill on a sled, they say they’re ________.

EE25 When a child picks up her sled, runs with it, and then throws herself down on it, that’s a(n) ________.

EE26a What games do children play in the snow around here?

EE26b What games do people play on the lawn at picnics or parties?

EE27 Games played on the ice:

EE28 Games played in the water:

EE29 When swimmers are diving and one comes down flat onto the water, that’s a(n) ________.

EE30a Throwing a flat stone over the surface of water so that it jumps several times is called ________.

EE30b Names used around here for a slingshot:

EE31a What do you call the piece of playground equipment with a long board for two children to sit on and go up and down in turn?

EE31b What do you call the playground structure that has bars for children to climb on?

EE31c What do you call the playground structure with an inclined surface that children slide down?

EE31d When you push a child on a swing by running all the way underneath the child, you call it a(n) ________.

EE32 What do you call a homemade merry-go-round?

EE33a What informal outdoor games do children play now? Feel free to use comment box.

EE33b What informal outdoor games did children play in the past? Feel free to use comment box.

EE33c What informal outdoor sports or games are played by teenagers around here in the summertime? Feel free to use the comment box to describe.

EE33d What informal outdoor sports or games are played by teenagers around here in the wintertime? Feel free to use the comment box to describe.

EE34 If children have lots of things to play with, you might say, “They certainly have lots of ________.”

EE35a What do you call long wooden poles with a footpiece that children, and often circus performers, walk around on to make themselves tall?

EE35b If two children want to go somewhere and they have to share one bicycle, one of the children _________ the other one.

EE35c What do you call a bicycle (not a tandem bike) with two people riding on it?

EE36 To climb the trunk of a tree by holding on with your legs while you pull yourself up with your hands:

EE37 The game where you try to throw metal rings or half-rings over a stake in the ground:

EE38a A game played with pencil and paper where the players try to get three X’s or three O’s in a row:

EE38b If the game of tick-tack-toe comes out so that neither X nor O wins, you call that ________.

EE39 Other games played on paper by two people:

EE40a What table games are played around here, using dice?

EE40b When you play all the way through a video game, you might say, “I _______ the game.”

EE41a A hobgoblin that is used to threaten children and make them behave:

EE41b When children stay overnight at another child’s house, they’re having a(n) __________.

DARE Data Summary by Dictionary of American Regional English (DARE) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.