Games for Everybody | Page 9

to each other one at a time saying, "Here, puss, puss," and run and change places with the one who is called.
Puss tries to get one of the vacant places. If she succeeds, the child who is left out is "Puss," until she manages to obtain a place.

I HAVE A BASKET.
One child begins by saying: "I have a basket." The one to his left says: "What is in it?" The first one replies with the name of some article beginning with "a," as "apples."
No. 2 says: "I have a basket," and the next one to him says: "What is in it?" No. 2 replies: "Apples and bananas," (or some other word beginning with "b").
No. 3 says: "I have a basket." No. 4 asks the same question as before and No. 3 responds with "Apples, bananas, and cats," and so on, each in turn repeating what the others have said, and adding another article, which commences with the next letter of the alphabet. Whoever forgets what the other articles were must pay a forfeit. Thus it continues until the last one has named all the articles in order, and ended with "z".

STILL POND, NO MORE MOVING.
All the children form a circle, joining hands. One is blindfolded, given a cane, and stands in the middle of the circle.
The children march around her, going fast or slowly until she taps on the floor three times with the cane and says: "Still pond, no more moving." The children drop hands, and remain perfectly still, right where they are.
The one in the middle feels her way toward the children, holding the cane in front of her. The first child who is touched with the cane must take hold of it. The blindfolded one says, "Grunt like a pig," and the one holding the cane must grunt, disguising her voice if possible. If the blindfolded one guesses who she is, they exchange places, and the game goes on as before, but if she fails, she has another turn and may tell the player to "Bark like a dog" or "Mew like a cat" until she guesses the right one.

RING ON A STRING.
Slip a ring on a long piece of string having the ends knotted together. The players stand in a circle and the string passes through their closed hands. Each makes the motions of passing something.
The ring circulates from one to another, while a player in the middle tries to find it. As soon as the ring is found, the person in whose hands it was takes his place, and the ring is passed as before.

HUNT THE SLIPPER.
All the children except one sit on the floor in a circle, with their knees raised. The one left out brings a slipper, and handing it to one child says:
"Cobbler, cobbler, mend my shoe, Get it done by quarter-past two."
He walks to the other side of the room and in a minute comes back and asks if the shoe is done. In the meantime the slipper is being passed from one to the other, under their knees.
The child who is asked if the slipper is done says she thinks her neighbor has it, the neighbor is asked and receiving the same answer the one hunting it goes from one to the other until the slipper is found. If it takes too long for him to find it, the slipper may be tossed across the circle, so it will be easy to follow it up.

WHAT IS MY THOUGHT LIKE?
All the children except one sit in a circle. This one thinks of something and, standing in the middle of the circle, asks each one in turn: "What is my thought like?"
Each one names some object, and when all have been asked, the leader announces what her thought was and each in turn must prove the resemblance between his answer and the thought. Whoever fails must pay a forfeit.
Suppose the thought is a stove, and No. 1 says: "Like the sun." No. 2, "Like silver," then the second time around No. 1 can say: "A stove is like the sun because they both give heat;" No. 2 can say: "A stove is like silver because they both shine when well polished," and so on.

ORANGES AND LEMONS.
The two tallest children, one named "Orange," the other "Lemon," join hands and form an arch for the other children to pass under. The children, holding on to each other's dresses, march in single file and sing:
"'Oranges and lemons,' say the bells of St. Clement's, 'Brickbats and tiles,' say the bells of St. Giles, 'You owe me five farthing,' say the bells of St. Martin's, 'When will you pay me?' say the bells of old Bailey, 'When I grow rich,' say the bells of Shoreditch, 'When will that be?' say the bells of Stepney, 'I do not