AMERICAN GAMES Games played by American children fall into two classes, the formal and the informal game. The formal game is given to the children "ready-made," and they play it as someone else has planned it with certain definite form, rules, regulations or words and music. The traditional games discussed above fall into the class of formal games and are used to some extent in American schools and playgrounds, or wherever large groups of children are playing games under direction. The United States is cosmopolitan and the traditional games played are therefore not from any one country. Educators and physical training directors have selected the best of these games and we find in use games from England such as "London Bridge" as well as games from many other countries. These games, however, have lost their traditional sig nifican:e and the American children play them merely for pleas ure in the activity. While there are some formal games such as baseball which are typically American there are no traditional games which reflect the customs and history of the country as do the games of England, France and Germany.
This does not mean that the play life of American children is limited or that there is no play which reflects the national spirit. A study of the spontaneous play of American children has shown that in their unsupervised play they show less interest in formal, traditional games than they do in their own informally organized games. An informally organized game is one in which the organ ization is developed by the players themselves as the need for it arises. The rules are made by the children and changed to fit the situation. An illustration of a game of this type may clarify this definition : Several children are playing with a ball, throwing it to each other, running after it, bouncing it. A low wall near by suggests a game. One child says, "Now all stand on the wall and I'll throw the ball to you." As the game progresses the organiza tion grows. One child suggests bouncing the ball, which they do for a time, but it does not seem to work. So they return to the original plan of throwing it. A child happens to miss the ball and there must be a decision as to what is to be done in this situation. The children decide that anyone who misses the ball must get off the wall.
There are endless possibilities in a game of this kind and the children will add to it and vary it according to their age, in terests, experience and organizing ability. In this way they learn to direct themselves and others, to keep self-made rules and to meet and think through situations as they arise. Educators and those who have made a study of children's games realize that this development of a game is more valuable than always following the directions and organization of an adult or being bound by rules and regulations made by someone else in another situation. The games children play in America are being influenced by the careful studies that have been made of unsupervised play, and more and more in schools and playgrounds children are being given opportunity to play their own informal games.
Games, whether formal or informal, grow out of certain definite interests and may be classified accordingly : Games of Physical Activity.—An interest in games involv ing physical activity persists through life and there is a different form of game for each stage of development. Very little children make a game of climbing up steps and down again, jumping from a wall, running from one tree to another and so forth. Interest in this simple form of activity persists until the age of five or six years. A little later on this activity may be organized into a simple game of tag, or a race game with definite rules. As the children grow older and develop more skill the element of com petition enters in, and with older children most of the games of physical activity involve competition and have quite a high de gree of organization. They tend to use the more formal games that have been worked out by adults or other groups of children. We find them playing "prisoner's base," football, basketball and base ball. The older children, however, still show great ingenuity in making their own games and adaptations of games.
Some of the most popular of the traditional singing games are "Ring-around-a-rosy," "Looby Loo," "London Bridge," "Oats, Peas, Beans and Barley Grow," "Farmer in the Dell" and "Drop the Handkerchief." Hiding and Finding Games.—Interest in this type of game also persists through life with a different form for each stage of development from the "peek-a-boo" interest of the baby to the adult interest in cross-word puzzles (an intellectual form of hiding and finding) . The hiding and finding game of the very young child is purely a guessing game, "Which hand is it in?" "But ton, button who has the button?" Later children begin to use their senses to help in the finding and we have games in which a child uses his eyes or ears to help him find a hidden object or child. There are many ways of working out this kind of game. "Hide the Thimble," "I Spy" and "Hide and Seek" are typical forms. Here again we find that while older children tend to use an established form they make their own adaptations. For exam ple, the signals in the game "Run Sheep Run" (Games for the Playground, Home, School and Gymnasium, by J. H. Bancroft) varied according to locality and were determined by the environ ment and experience of the children. In a Minnesota town the signals were colours, in the city environment of New York the signals had become pickles, tomatoes and other articles strongly suggestive of a delicatessen store.
There is another way in which this hiding and finding interest manifests itself. This is in the playing of a more intellectual type of game such as "I am thinking of something red," "I am think ing of something that grows on a farm" and so forth. The chil dren show great ingenuity in developing these games and in making them more and more difficult. Finally we find them evolv ing games which require a knowledge of history, as guessing a historical character by the initials of the character's name; or a knowledge of science, geography and other studies.
Little children the world over have certain experiences in com mon such as eating, sleeping, doctors and sick children. These interests are reflected in the dramatic play of all young children. As their experience is widened their play becomes more varied and we find them playing circus, train and so forth. Literature adds to this experience, and fairies, dragons, kings and queens enter into the play. As the children grow older their dramatic play takes more definite form and has a beginning, a climax, an end. Finally we have a play, made by the children, which calls for costumes, a stage and an audience.