Tag Archives: children’s game

Cheese Touch

Context: The Cheese Touch game was popularized shortly after the publishing of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series and corresponding movies. The Bone Touch was one group’s variation of this popular game, instead altered to fit a rural ranch setting, replacing the forbidden cheese with a cow hide being displayed as decor.

A.F. : Okay. The Cheese Touch is, so, um, typically if someone touched cheese in elementary school they would have the Cheese Touch and the only way to get rid of it is to pass it on to someone else.
P.Z. : Yeah, I know that we played that at my elementary school, but we had also, because we were in rural San Diego, we went to a ranch and there was a cow hide, and it still had a bone attached to it, so that started the Bone Touch, but yeah, the Cheese Touch.
A.F. : Yeah
P.Z. : That was really popular, what, late two-thousands? Early two-thousands?
A.F. : Late two-thousands, early twenty-tens.

Thoughts: I had read the books that this game was based on, so the game made perfect sense to me when it began gaining popularity. This seemed to be extremely popular for a number of years, and seemed just a variation on the ‘cooties’ game that children often also play.

Thumper

Context: This is usually played as a theatre student or children’s game and is chanted while alternating between clapping your hands and slapping your thighs.

A.F. : It’s called Thumper, which—
P.Z. : Thumper?
A.F. : Which, it is played two ways, like the main two
P.Z. : Okay
A.F. : So it’s like “Thumper, thumper, this is how you play, one, two, three, four,” and then you can say like, say we can play the name way. So like “[name], [name], [collector’s name], [collector’s name], and then when it’s passed to you you have to say “[collector’s name], [collector’s name],” then someone else’s name and if you mess up then you’re out.
P.Z. : So if you mess up, as in..?
A.F. : Like, you’re off beat, or you forgot to say a name, so say if I say “[name], [name],” then I forget to say the next name then I’d be out
P.Z. : Okay, so you want to be the last person?
A.F. : Yeah. And then the other ways you can play are like, you’re an animal, or have a sign, like you can be like, a llama, a narwhal, a unicorn, like, you have to do your sign and then the other person’s animal. So that’s the two ways we typically would play.
P.Z. : And there’s two versions of that one?
A.F. : Yeah, one about names and—
P.Z. : And was that another camp game, or..?
A.F. : Thumper’s just a childhood game.
P.Z. : Childhood? Like elementary school?
A.F. : Yeah, I’d say elementary/middle school

Thoughts: I’ve heard of numerous theatre-style games from my friends who are acting majors or simply took an acting class. Some other examples include the game Zip Zap Zop. It seems the purpose of these games, traditionally played with children from elementary school to high school age, is to have players focus on memorizing multiple requirements and keeping track of a number of rules and names simultaneously.

ABC Game

Context: This game was played primarily in camp settings, where two players would grip hands, as in a thumb war, and take turns extending and bending their elbows in time with the rhyme. The goal of the game was to be the one with their arm/elbow extended when the last line of the rhyme was spoken.

H.I. : Yeah, okay. So, it’s kinda like a childhood song, like a game. And I think it originally started like at summer camp? Um, but it’s just like, I guess it’s like, you know like, a hand game
P.Z. : Like lemonade? Sort of?
Kind of. Yeah, it’s like, should I do it? (singing) It’s like A, B, C, it’s easy as a 1, 2, 3, my momma’s take care of me, my daddy said do re mi, ooh, aah, I wanna piece of pie, pie too sweet, I wanna piece of meat, meat too tough, I want my money back, coming back to, wait, money back too green, I want a jelly bean, jelly bean not cooked, I wanna read a book, book not read, I wanna go to bed, bed not made, I want some lemonade, lemonade too sour, I wanna take a shower, shower too cold, I wanna piece of gold, gold too shiny, I wanna kiss my heiny, heiny too dirty, I wanna count to thirty, thirty too high, I wanna say bye, bye too sad, I wanna talk to dad, dad too dull, I wanna go to mall, mall too cheap, I wanna buy a Jeep, a Jeep is a car that goes beep beep
P.Z. : Okay, and did it normally go that fast?
H.I. : Yeah.
P.Z. : Okay and what were like the hand motions?
H.I. : It’s just, you do that (grab opposite hands of other player, making an X with left hand grabbing left, and right grabbing right)
P.Z. : Just like criss cross the whole time?
H.I. : Yeah, just like criss cross.
P.Z. : Patty cake style?
H.I. : Or, like, yes.
P.Z. : It’s just back and forth.
H.I. : Exactly.
P.Z. : Alright. And was this only done with one other person?
H.I. : Yeah, just one other person, and it was like the fastest you go is like better. Usually what you’re trying to do is the last one the jeep jeep you’re trying to like hit the person.
P.Z. : Oh, okay, but push them backwards.
H.I. : Yeah.

Thoughts: I also went to summer camps growing up, so while I had never personally heard of this game, I knew of many similar ones. The more that we discussed how the game was played and the lyrics of the song, the more similarities I was able to see between numerous other childhood songs and games from my own time as I had been growing up.

Eyelash wishing game – Arabic Children’s Folk Game

Nationality: Jordanian
Age: 47
Occupation: Architectural Drafter
Residence: Long Beach
Performance Date: 5/1/2021
Primary Language: Arabic
Language: English, French

Context:

She was in an all-girls elementary school in Jordan when she learned this game. She thought that it was silly, and did not pay much mind to it, saying that “girls, usually teenagers, like to make wishes.” There are two versions of this game that she remembers.

Game (Version 1):

The game involves two people (P1 and P2), and one of their eyelashes. P1, after noticing a fallen eyelash near one of P2’s eyes, immediately tells P2 to make a wish, and guess an eye (left or right). If P2 guesses the eye that the eyelash is near, their wish is supposed to come true. If they don’t, nothing happens.

Game (Version 2):

The game involves two people (P1 and P2), and one of their eyelashes. P1, after noticing a fallen eyelash near one of P2’s eyes, immediately grabs the eyelash and squeezes it between their thumb and index finger. P1 then tells P2 to make a wish, and guess which finger the eyelash will stick to. After the guess, P1 separates their fingers to see which finger the eyelash is stuck to. If P2 guesses the finger that the eyelash is stuck to, their wish is supposed to come true. If they don’t, nothing happens.

(I added the P1 and P2 distinctions to the original explanation for the sake of clarity)

Thoughts:

I remember my informant playing this game with me when I was in elementary school, and it reminded me of how people at that time would also blow on the dandelion seed puffs and make a wish. At its core, when one makes a wish, they are hoping that something is accomplished that they themselves do not have the power to do. Jay Mechling, in Chapter 5 of Elliot Oring’s Folk Groups and Folklore Genres: An Introduction, notes that a “theme [pervading children’s folklore] is power, something children generally do not have in their institutional settings. So they take power, or play at taking power, through their folklore.”* This aligns with the idea of making a wish when an eyelash comes loose and the child guesses the right eye or finger; they earned a wish (an instance of unlimited power) that they can use as they please.

*Jay Mechling. “Children’s Folklore.” Folk Groups and Folklore Genres: An Introduction, edited by E. Oring, 91-120. Logan: Utah State University Press, 1986.

Children’s Clapping Game: Candy on a Stick

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Scottsdale, AZ
Performance Date: February 11, 2021
Primary Language: English

Main Piece: 

“Candy on a stick that makes me sick, 

It makes my tummy go two-forty-six, 

Not because you’re dirty, not because you’re clean, 

Not because you kissed a boy behind a magazine. 

Hey boys do you wanna fight 

I see a guy with his pants on tight 

He can wibble he can wobble he can even do the splits, 

But I bet ya ten bucks that he can’t do this. 

Close your eyes and count to ten, and if you mess up start over again”

Background:

The informant used to perform this song as part of clapping game in pre-school and elementary school in Arizona. She described it as an activity kids would do while lining up, such as when they were leaving the playground. She interpreted it as a distraction and time-passer, as well as something you got the joy of passing on/teaching. This was a regular activity for her and her classmates that those in her circle all knew. This was one of a few clapping games, rather than the only one they played.

Thoughts:

This recitation seems similar to other childhood clapping games such as “patty-cake”, but with different lyrics and rhythm. This clapping game also seems more based in gender than the clapping games I’m familiar with, which, though normally performed by young girls, did not stake boys so firmly as another entity. This may be an example of defiant/experimental lyrics in schoolchildren with its fighting, kissing, and tight pants. Jay Mechling explains that children tend to experiment with “inappropriate” lyrics as a way to rebel against the dominant adult figures and explore adult themes that they’re marginally aware of safely. This activity seems to be a definitively gendered form of adolescent expression. The purpose would be to explore kissing, fighting, and tight pants in a low-stakes context. For another version of this game, see Tucker, Elizabeth. “Children’s Folklore: A Handbook.” United States: ABC-CLIO, 2008. 18.