Cat's Cradle Game History

Included are directions for four classic string games.

Cat's cradle game history. The cats cradle is a game played with string one of the oldest games in human history. Rather it was developed independently by many cultures around the same time. Cup and Saucer The Witchs Broom Cats Cradle and Jacobs Ladder as well as a brief history of string games.

The art of making pictures or telling stories with string and your hands or sometimes feet. In the American colonies Cats Cradle or Cratch Cradle was one of the earliest and most popular of all known string games. The cats cradle string game has been played since ancient times all over the world.

String figures are a storytelling tradition in many cultures around the world including among Arctic Indigenous Peoples Aboriginal. Im one of those people who like to have something to fiddle with in their hands and it was easy to carry a loop of string in my pocket. CATS CRADLE is one of the worlds simplest string games.

It has also spread to some extent among the Asiatic islands. Haddon has pointed out the familiar game of cats-cradle probably had its origin in Asia whence it was introduced into Europe. That certainly sounds far-fetched today but it was a commonly held superstition back in the 1600s and 1700s.

String games like this one have a rich and varied history. Cup and Saucer The Witchs Broom Cats Cradle and Jacobs Ladder as well as a brief history of string games. Known as fan sheng in China and Jack in the Pulpit in the UK its a simple game that requires teamwork and offers a great sense of satisfaction when mastered.

The question of who first played cats cradle the childrens game in which two players alternately take from each others fingers an intertwined cord so as always to produce a symmetrical figure is almost as contentious as the origin of its name. Along with its cousins -- Jacobs ladder cup and saucer crows feet -- it is played by schoolchildren everywhere. I had to look up the history of Cats Cradle and was surprised to find that this clever game is played by children EVERYWHERE.