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• Chasing Game
• Forbidden Game
• Physical Play
• Play with Equipment/Props

Details

At School 11

Children played games on the swings when the fieldwrokers were there.

Players: 4
Girls
Age: 6
Playground swings.

The girls on the swings were being pushed by other girls to get them started. When I was talking to them, another girl came up and told me that the children used to play 'Taxis' on the swings but the teachers didn't allow them to play this any more as it was not safe, as the child on the lap could fall off.

The game 'Taxis' involved a child sitting on the lap of the child that was having a swing.

At School 01

Players: 4
Girls
Age: 11
Shelter pole.

Swinging with one arm around shelter poles while eating lunch with other hand. Outside school canteen.

Players: 5
Boys and Girls
Age: 5
Playground Equipment.

Game called 'Don't stand on the lava.' Certain colours on the play equipment are hot lava. Children move around equipment trying avoid stepping on the lava.

The same group of children also played a chasing style of game. Girls chase boys up, down and around the play equipment.

At School 02

Players: 1
Girls
Age: 11
Playground equipment.

Girl swinging from adventure playground near tuckshop just prior to class resuming.

And

Players: Many
Girls and Boys
Age: 6

Playground equipment.

Active play on the playground equipment

At School 04

Players: 20+
Boys
Age: 9
Playground equipment.

Active use with many forms of physical activity on the Adventure Playground equipment

A particular game called ''Have to hang on' was played. Boys swinging on three vertical barrier poles which are bolted to the road surface, and in a line (there are a number more - all used to restrict traffic). They are about 1 metre high x 60 cm diameter [approx]). The boys swing each other almost like a 'strip the willow' movement in folk dancing. (Map Ref: I2). The boys were progressing from the P and F oval at the end of lunch to the assembly area and the play was short-lived.

At School 08

Players: 4
Girls
Age: 10
Playground equipment.

Pole Sliding. There wasn't much to this game. They just took it in turns climbing up the play frame and sliding down the pole.

A sub-group of the players, about three of them, hinted that there was another part to the game but they weren't prepared to talk about it. I watched for a while but the other aspects weren't evident. When pressed gently, one of the three players mentioned, as thought it was another aspect again, a dimension to the game called 'monsters' and this is possibly what the other players were pretending was a secret. Although this player was reluctant to elaborate any further at the time, I noted that he was among a group of players of a different game called 'Doctor Who' included on another sheet of this project which they also referred to as 'Monsters' and which features 'Doctor Who' monster characters from the television series and movies of the same name.

Also

Players: 5
Girls and Boys
Age: 7-8
Playground equipment.

Another gorup played a game called Battlestar.

Played utilising the climbing frame and imagination where they were essentially playing the same game as the older children were playing on their climbing frame (PE2) but with the added concept of pretending they were stepping out into a rocket and being fired up into space when, in fact, they were sliding down the pole and running around to the beginning of the queue again.

Photograph of a game called 'Washing machine' no description.

Players: 3
Boys
Age: 7-8
Playground equipment.

They called the game Slide Monsters.
The monster element was never made clear, however the children would take it in turns to climb the ladder of the infant playframe and slide down the tubular slide. They would do this upside-down, right way up, sideways, on their tummies etc., with various squeals and exclamations.

At School 03

Players: 3
Girls
Age: 2

Swinging on equipment rings.

Also

Players: 4
Girls
Age: 11

Girls balancining on a horizontal pole and walking across

Also

Players: 4
Girls
Age: 10

Play equipment area. Limbo under parallel bars, singing 'Limbo, limbo, limbo.'

At School 18

Straddling and sliding down sloping bar. Called a 'wedgie'.

Players: 1
Girls
Age: 9-10

Also:

Players: 3
Girls
Age: 10

Swinging on roman rings.

Another girl also played a swinging game on the roman rings on her own - Age: 3.

Also:

Players: 3
Boys
Age: 8

3 boys on roller (on play equipment) try and knock each other off by running as fast as they can. PG2

At School 05

Players: 3
Girls
Age: 6
Sturdy tree trunk

Girls rotate clockwise around the trunk of shade tree with one hand on the trunk. They are standing on the tree guard/seat and remain on this as they rotate around the tree.

At School 05

Players: 6
Girls and boys
Age: 6
Students playing on playground equipment using deck and slide - Shade cloth area. AREA U.

Also, two girls (age undetermined) spent time swinging from branch on tree - under shade cloth area. AREA U

At School 13

Stepping on Muschrooms

Players: 4
Girls
Age: 8

The girls were stepping onto mushrooms, made out of cement and painted, balancing and walking around from mushroom to mushroom. This area is commonly known as the Fairy Corner.

At School 06

Children played games on the swings when the fieldwrokers were there.

Players: 3
Boys
Age: 10
Playground slide

'Slippery Slide'. Three boys on slippery slide together, contrary to school rules.

At School 12

Children played games on the swings when the fieldwrokers were there.

Players: 4
Girls
Age: 9-10

The girls do different actions on the play equipment. The actions have ascending levels of difficulty, and there are specific names for the actions:

'Connection' = two girls swing from opposite ends of the rings frame. When they have enough momentum, they lock feet and hang there.

'Gypsy Talk' or 'Chat Room' = a girl hangs upside down from the rings frame. Her dress goes over her head and another girl goes underneath and stands up inside her dress so they can talk.

'Washing Machine' = a girl hangs from two rings, and kicks her legs out so her body moves from side to side and around and around, like a washing machine agitator.

'See-saw' = two girls position themselves on top of a low bar facing opposite ways. They interlock their arms and legs and when they are both ready they let go and swing down, rocking back and forth like a see-saw, pivoting on the bar with their legs.

Also.

The school fire alarm went off this morning, and the school was evacuated. Everyone filed onto the tennis court and sat in their rows. When it became obvious that this was not a drill, the teachers moved the girls into the shade in the play area beside the tennis court. They were not allowed to play on the equipment, and had to sit quietly and wait until it was safe to go back inside the school. During this time they became bored, and filled in the time in various ways:

Year 5: Clapping

• A line of girls along the fence did 'Down by the Banks of the Hanky-Panky' as a group clapping game, with each girl in turn hitting the hand of the next girl until the rhyme ended, and the last girl's hand to be hit was out. (see separate sheet for description of this as a circle game)
• Two girls did a really fast, rhythmic clapping pattern with no rhyme. They called the different patterns 'breaks', and said they had made it up. They had a strict sequence of distinct clapping patterns, known as 'Break 1', Break 2', etc.
• Several girls did 'Tic Tac Toe' and 'Bullet'

Year 6:

• Guessing game: One girl used a piece of tanbark to draw letters on another girl's back, and the second girl had to guess what they were.
• Another girl did several movements on another girl's back, e.g. rubbing, poking, tickling, thumping. She seemed to be making up a story and doing movements to match. They were both enjoying it, even when the thumping was a bit hard.
• One of the girls said that the school was going to blow up, because her television had something wrong with it and it blew up. Some of the girls repeated this, and several others reassured them by reminding them that the girl had also said other things that had been ridiculous, e.g. if you lean on the fence around the tennis court it will break in two and kill you by stabbing into you.

All ages:

• Many of the girls played with the tanbark and leaves on the ground, running their hands through them, piling them up and making 'nests', putting them in each other's hair.
• One girl found an empty cicada shell, and put it onto the front of another girl's jumper to make her squeal. There were quite a few squeals from the group.
• The girls who were sitting around the play equipment managed to hang onto the vertical poles and swing their legs a bit, but there was no real play allowed on it.

COMMENTS: As we listened to the chants of the rhymes and the rhythm of the clapping, one of the male teachers caught my eye and remarked, 'It just comes out, doesn't it. It's there and it all just comes out.'

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