My Pins

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Knucklebones

Overhand ones, twos, threes, fours.....
Scatters....
Dumps.....
Clicks....No Clicks....
Little Jingles.....Big Jingles......
Juggles...
Horse in the Stable...
Over the Line....
Over the Jump....
Catching Flies.....

Do you remember knuckles?
We used to play with coloured plastic ones but we would also make our own from sheep's knuckles.
I extracted these from my stock making the other day and it did bring back memories. I think I will put together another set.
We would leave them outside in the weather for a couple of days and let the ants do all the final cleaning and then we would sit them in saucers of food colouring for a while letting the dye take up where the bone was a little porous. 
The effect was a lot more subtle than the bright plastic bought ones but it was a project that kept us amused for a few days.
Thinking back this was a wonderful game for developing hand/eye coordination and a good rainy day inside game. 
I seem to remember it being more of a girl's game at school.
The really amazing thing is that the game of knuckles has been around in one form or another for at least a couple of thousand years.
Do children still play knuckles?

5 comments:

  1. Wow! you did well to remember all those, I could only remember a few and yes it was a great game that I had forgot all about.
    I don't think kids play it thse days.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh yes I remember them well! They were definitely a girls game back then. My older kids used to play them at home and I'm sure we still have a couple of sets tucked away somewhere - I'm off to find them for the younger ones!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I've been catching up with your blog, Tanya.

    I played knucklebones with real knuckle bones and also lead ones (you didn't want to hit your own knuckle with one of those!).

    Yummy looking ricotta.

    I don't use tablecloths because the kids are far too messy - I just wipe the wooden table after use and use muslin facewipers for their grubby little paws ;)

    Your excerpts from the book were very interesting - and you have some lovely fabrics stashed away there.

    Enjoy your mutton! I'm expecting lambs from our ewes soon and they'll head to the freezer when they are big enough, mmmmmmm!

    ReplyDelete
  4. That brought back some memories. I used to love playing that game. I remember eagerly awaiting the Sunday lamb roast, so we could get another knuckle.

    I don't think I ever made it to all those on your list. I wonder if there is a You Tube on how to play as I can't remember them all.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm in my mid 30's and we played when I was at school, but I also suspect girls no longer play

    I think our sets might have been lead also, they were definitely some sort of metal and hurt like seven shades of hell if you hit your knuckle with one

    I also remember breaking a window with one when I was catching flies and didn't quite catch it....

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...