Vacation Bible School 4

As I review my earliest memories of Vacation Bible School in Pine Village, Indiana, I recall that, after the lesson, we kids were invited to go outside to play games. Many of the games were the same ones that our grandparents played when they were children. Approximately thirty kids were split into two groups to form circles for Drop the Handkerchief. Nearly always, one of the boys had a white handkerchief or one of the girls had an embroidered hankie that could be borrowed. The kids faced toward the center of the circle while the one holding the handkerchief slowly stalked around their backs. Sometimes, the circle chanted “A tisket, a tasket, a green and yellow basket; I wrote a letter to my love, and on the way I dropped it.” At the end of the rhyme, stealthily, the handkerchief was dropped behind one of the kids. Unless it made a sound in falling, the handkerchief might well go unnoticed at first. The one who had dropped the handkerchief began walking faster around the circle: a sign that the handkerchief had drifted to the ground. Becoming suspicious because of the looks, gestures, and comments of the other kids, a member of the circle suddenly turned around to find the handkerchief lying in the grass behind him or her. He or she grabbed it and chased after the one who had dropped it. Now the dropper ran as fast as possible so as not to be tagged with the handkerchief before coming around to the spot in the circle where the chaser had been standing. If tagged, the dropper had to try again. When the dropper avoided being tagged and reached the chaser’s spot, the dropper was safe, and the chaser became the next dropper. Such fun!

Drop the Handkerchief

In Land of Play

New York: Cupples & Leon Co., 1911

Our recreation most often took place in the small yard on the east side of the Methodist Church where the mid-morning sunshine streamed down between the branches of the trees. Occasionally, everyone met on the west side of the church where the lawn was larger but the shadow cast by the church was definitely cooler if not, in fact, a bit too cool. A variation on the handkerchief game was Duck, Duck, Goose. We kids sat in a circle while the one designated as “It” strode around the perimeter, tapping each kid on the head and saying, “Duck.” Eventually, It said “Goose,” and that kid had to jump to his or her feet to chase It around the circle. The object was for It to reach the Goose’s spot and to sit down in the grass before being tagged.

While sitting in the grass, we occasionally played a game where we patted our legs and snapped our fingers in time to a chant that went “Who took the cookie from the (pause) cookie jar? Susan (or the name of another kid) took the cookie from the cookie jar.” Susan said (in rhythm), “Who, me?” “Yes, you!” came the response from everyone else. “Not me,” Susan replied. “Then who?” … and the rhyme repeated until everyone had been named.

Such games offered wholesome ways to relax after a Bible lesson and before the much anticipated break for cookies.