Cat's Cradle Game History

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.

Cat's cradle game history. CATS CRADLE is one of the worlds simplest string games. 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. Haddon has pointed out the familiar game of cats-cradle probably had its origin in Asia whence it was introduced into Europe.

Is a chamber orchestra that takes its name from one of the oldest games in recorded human history - the cats cradle. Cup and Saucer The Witchs Broom Cats Cradle and Jacobs Ladder as well as a brief history of string games. Whale and fox.

In a literal sense a cats cradle is a game played with string in which each player must maneuver their fingers to create different images one of which is the cats cradle. It is probably one of the oldest games. In the American colonies Cats Cradle or Cratch Cradle was one of the earliest and most popular of all known string games.

Along with its cousins -- Jacobs ladder cup and saucer crows feet -- it is played by schoolchildren everywhere. 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. According to Edward Tregear in The Maori race 1904 the Cats Cradle whai huhi or maui was known to the Maoris as to almost all the inhabitants of the Malay Archipelago and South SeasIt was played with the two hands and a piece of string assuming very complicated forms.

Included are directions for four classic string games. Variations of the game have been found in cultures across the world including Eastern Asia Africa the Americas and even the Arctic giving the game a significant amount of interest among anthropologists and ethnologists. Cats Cradle String Games by Camilla Gryski 1983.

It is well known in China Korea Japan the Philippines and Borneo. Cats Cradle is one of the oldest games in human history. String figures are a storytelling tradition in many cultures around the world including among Arctic Indigenous Peoples Aboriginal.