By Elizabeth McQuillan
The primary school playground was, as I remember it, a place with a great many games going on. Now kids appear to huddle around their mobile phones and play with the most recent app. Aside from the odd game of footie, chasey or girls-stealing-the-ball-from-the-boys, the kids don’t seem to do much.
Back in the heady days of 1970s playground life at St Peter’s School in Edinburgh, coming up with – and instigating – a game was as much fun as playing it. The first play break would be spent wandering around the playground, arm-in-arm with your best pal, chanting "Who wants a game of [whatever]…?" School friends who wanted to play simply looped their arm around the people at either end and joined the line of kids.
By then, you had a large line of enthusiastic players all chanting at the top of their voices as they marched around the playground calling others to the game. The fact that the short playtime was over before you actually played anything was fine. At lunchtime, the same people would reconvene and the bossier kids would decide who was who in the game, and the rules of how it was to be played.
Role-playing was popular, with the themes of cowboys and injuns, pirates, horses and families being as attractive as ever to young boys and girls. Each child would describe at length the looks and strengths of their alter ego, as well as that of their horse – black stallion with flowing mane and tail for me.
Skipping while singing was popular with the girls. One ditty that was very much of its time was: "Georgie Best. Superstar. Walks like a lady and he wears a bra." Or there was "bumps", where you would whirr the rope round at ankle-breaking speed and doing a suspended high jump at the required lyric.
Another popular game was skipping with two people either side turning the rope, and one person jumping in from the side – "On a mountain stands a castle and the owner’s Frankenstein, and his daughter Pansy Potter, she's my only Valentine. I call in xxx, dear xxx dear xxx [dear xxx jumps in at this point], oh I call in xxx dear”, and both jump out together.
Then there were the hand-clapping games (which I admit I found a bit dull) that could get very complicated and fast. They were useful for an indoor play day when it was lashing with rain outside – "A sailor went to sea, sea, sea to see what he could see, see, see…".
British Bulldogs was a good violent game, popular with everyone but the teachers and parents, where school jumpers and shorts got ripped. When that was banned, it was reinvented as Red Rover. The appointed catcher would chant "Red Rover! Red Rover! I call xxxx over", and xxx would have to run past to escape. If caught, they joined the catching team and the team would then link hands to call the next person over, and the next person had to break through the hands using maximum force.
In and Out the Dusty Bluebells was a more sedate option where everyone had to stand in a circle holding hands and raising their arms to make a series of arches. One person was "it", and skipped in and out of the arches. At the same time, the circle sang:
In and out of the dusty bluebells,
In and out of the dusty bluebells,
In and out of the dusty bluebells,
I am your master.
Then, the person who is "it" stopped behind a member of the circle and the circle sang:
Give a little pit-a-pat on her shoulder,
Give a little pit-a-pat on her shoulder,
Give a little pit-a-pat on her shoulder,
I am your master.
Whoever had been patted on the shoulder stood behind "it" and held on to their waist. They skipped in and out of the arches together while the circle sang, with the person behind holding on to the leader’s waist. The chain became longer and longer until there were not enough people to form the circle.
From staving a finger playing conkers to causing a head injury with Clackers, the school playground had a bit of a buzz. Perhaps the weenies of today could be encouraged to substitute their "Angry Birds" or "Cupcake Maker" apps in favour of something a little more interactive?
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