Here's what goes in my pocket:
We haven't played marbles yet this year, but the kids like the top, and the buzz saw (button on a string) that spins. It was really fun pretending that the helicopter looking thing was a lie detector (I'll find out its name)! The button on the really long string is for Button-button, Who's Got the Button? That's fun to use when there's a group of kids standing around and everyone takes a piece of the string, then you pass the button from hand to hand while one person tries to guess who's hand it's under. I picked up the ball & cup toy yesterday at the Museum of Church History & Art. I could have also bought several other things, and easily spent $30 on childrens' games.
While we were at the museum store, I saw this little book:
I had to have it! I don't HAVE to have a lot of stuff, but I needed this! The book explains Tug of War, Button on a String, Card Games, Cat's Cradle, Cup & Ball, Dice Games, Dominoes, Checkers, Fox & Geese, Graces (my mom has one of these from Williamsburg and we LOVE it!), Hoop & Roll, Hopscotch, Hornbook, Battledore & Shuttlecock, Jacks, Jump Rope (with some rhymes), Marbles, Nine-Men's Morris, Nine Pins, Pick-Up Sticks, Quoits, Shinny, Solitaire, Thaumatrope, Tit-tat-toe, Twirling a Plate, Tops, and Yo-yo. The booklet is 28 pages long.
The Museum also had many activities & games for children:
Stitching Sampler & Cross-Stitch
Harmonica
Assorted Dolls
Buzz Saw
Tatting/Button Lover's
Hooey Stick/Jacob's Ladder
Chalk Board Set/Jump Rope Set
Loom
Quilt Set
Marbles
Triangle (not sure what that was)
Cup & Ball
Weaving/Cat's Cradle
Pick-Up Sticks
Hopscotch/Penny Whistle
It looked like most of the games were from Historical Folk Toys, and a lot of the information about the toys is on the web site, including the history.
