Game using bamboo sticks

They don't even look down at their feet - I am truly impressed by their dexterity. Cyberswede, how old we're you when you did this? As Rachel would say, this is the best new thing in the world today even though it's not new.

I was probably 7 or 8, and my sisters were 13 or We would just tap on the ground twice, then clap them together twice, over and over - no fancy rhythms or anything. Whoever was "dancing" would mostly just jump on one foot or both feet between or outside the sticks - and we definitely watched our feet!

I don't know what it is called but I was very good at it. We grew bamboo just so we could play that. I remember it because I got my leg clobbered by one of the bamboo sticks. I started to cry and ran inside the church to my classroom so no one could see me cry. My teacher came and put Bactine on my leg. It was scraped from my knee to my ankle and it really hurt. Then she gave me red Kool Aid and a sugar cookie, which cures just about anything and I was able to get ahold of myself.

I was just a little girl, but I was very embarrassed about getting hurt and crying. I also remember we sang "Kumbayah" many times that summer. Red Kool Aid but, sugar cookies have magic powers. Some of the children hopped over poles on the ground, while others tested their jumping skills by raising a pole a few inches off the ground and then jumping over it. Throughout the year, the excitement of lifting something big and toting it around never wore off. We observed the children as they explored, staying nearby in case they needed help.

The children found many ways to use the bamboo. Some created train tracks by laying pieces end to end, in two parallel rows. They moved along inside the tracks, pulling wagons and making train noises. This group effort showed that they shared a common idea of what train tracks look like and how they are used. Other groups used the train tracks as roads, and some walked on stilts inside the bamboo lines. Stalks fell over in their early attempts—the children learned that they had to plant them deeper to secure them.

By interacting with the environment and adapting their play to solve problems, they were able to realize their ideas successfully. One day, the children decided to lean all of the long pieces against a tree on the playground—forming a teepee-like structure. To create a campfire setup, they added a pine needle floor and rolled in logs to sit on. The final structure was big enough for multiple children to play inside.

The bamboo teepee mirrored earlier stick structures the children had created. Teachers tied some longer poles to play structures to add visual interest and height.

During the months that followed, we introduced other materials to extend the bamboo play, including pieces of gauzy fabric, hay bales, and recycled Christmas trees. The gauzy fabric was tied to the teepee to make it look different. Children played with the hay bales and later took the bales apart to make a soft hay floor for the teepee.

The children poked bamboo poles through the middle of the Christmas trees, watching as the poles came out the other side. Children used the bamboo in many other ways—writing in the dirt, putting long pieces on top of the playhouse roof, getting stuck Frisbees out of tall trees, reaching through the fence to poke ice-crusted puddles, sitting and bouncing on big slanted pieces, pretending to saw stalks with play chain saws, making spyglasses, and tapping on logs.

A girl on each end clicked the poles apart on the ground twice, then slide them together. The 3rd girl puts her foot in and out and then jumps in and out. Advertisement We did it around Much cooler than Chinese jumprope! We played this game in in Balboa, a city in the Canal Zone in Panama. We simply called it sticks. It required 2 feet bamboo poles. A girl would hold the poles at each end.

Then they would move them rhythmically, tapping the ground twice and then bringing them together in the center. Another child would jump between the sticks. It reminded me of "Chinese jump rope," another game girls played in the '60's. I was thrilled to see this information. I remember playing this and want to do it with granddaughters. Thank you, ol' Girl Scouts! I learned this in PhysEd in grade school!

You miss, your ankles get knocked!