Children's Games in Street and Playground: Hunting, Racing, Duelling, Exerting, Daring, Guessing, Acting, Pretending (Paperback)

~ (Author), Peter Opie (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

'The Opies have compiled the most complete and the most sympathetic, also the most sensible account of what children prefer to do on their own.' -- Country Life 'It is a work of serious anthropology and sociology ... but unlike most works concerned with these disciplines, it is consistently readable, always humane, and sometimes very funny.' -- New Statesman 'A fascinating book, the product of many years' immensely detailed and original research, which is bound to become the standard work upon the history and modern practice of street games.' -- New Society 'Fascinating research ... I hope that the publication of this book will revive the debate about the kinds of games our children play.' -- David Lorimer, Scientific and Medical Network Review

Product Description

Perhaps this book should come with a warning to parents: within these pages, children deliberately scare each other, ritually hurt each other, take foolish risks, promote fights, and play ten against one. Yet throughout, they consistently observe their own sense of fair play. Through the 1960s, Iona and Peter Opie did an exhaustive survey of the rough-and-tumble games that children actually play--normally out of sight, as opposed to formal sports or games supervised by parents--between roughly six and twelve years.

The result was their classic work, Children's Games in Street and Playground. To aid a clear and lively presentation of their remarkable study, the original single book has here been divided into two volumes. Both record games played by 10,000 children from the Shetland Isles to the Channel Islands, though most come from big cities such as London, Bristol, and Glasgow.

The books include many favorites, such as "The Dreaded Lurgi"; "What's the Time Mr. Wolf?"; "Stuck in the Mud," and "British Bulldog." Each game--more than 125--is described in detail, including many rhymes and sayings, regional variations, and historical notes.

The children of the 1960s, the Opies noted, are often thought "to be incapable of self-organization, and to have become addicted to spectator amusements," to the extent that adults must be relied on to provide play materials, ideas, and time to play with them. The same attitudes are still widespread today, with our concerns about television and computer games and the middle-class parental impulse to fill children's days with organized classes and play dates. There are important lessons in this book about giving children the time and physical space they need to learn how to be themselves with other children.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 221 pages
• Publisher: Floris Books (January 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0863156673
• ISBN-13: 978-0863156670
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #403,462 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Actual observations of how real kids play, November 21, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Children's Games in Street and Playground: Chasing, Catching, Seeking, Hunting, Racing, Dueling, Exerting, Daring, Guessing, Acting, and Pretending. (Oxford Paperback Reference) (Paperback)

This book will help you regain your faith in children and respect for their games. It has been the cornerstone of my work for twenty years. It should not be out of print. Accurate, honest, direct observations of children at play, without the constraints of adult supervision, outside the boundaries of their playgrounds.