Cat's Cradle Game History
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.
Cat's cradle game history. CATS CRADLE is one of the worlds simplest string games. Cats Cradlegets its name from the childrens game. Using simply one string - alone in pairs or in groups - across times and cultures humans have created figures invented stories and let their imagination soar.
It is thought that this particular game traveled to Europe in the early seventeenth century with the tea trade from Asia. Sometimes a whole drama was played by means of the changing shapes. Hoenikker reportedly played it on the day the atomic bomb was droppedas opposed to expressing emotion about all of the people his invention had just killed.
In the American colonies Cats Cradle or Cratch Cradle was one of the earliest and most popular of all known 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. WORDS RECITED DURING STRING GAMES.
Its origin is unknown and it has been found in wildly diverse indigenous cultures from the Arctic to Europe to Indonesia. String games like this one have a rich and varied history. And it may be known in Java Celebes and Australia.
Cup and Saucer The Witchs Broom Cats Cradle and Jacobs Ladder as well as a brief history of string games. 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.
Included are directions for four classic string games. The art of making pictures or telling stories with string and your hands or sometimes feet. It is a type of string figure.