Welcome to my 2019 Blogging A-Z Challenge. Each day in the the month of April (except Sundays), I will bring you a memory of games and a song. Do you recognize the chant? It is similar to the classic jump rope chant A My Name Is... A world of children skip through the alphabet alliterating their name, a friend’s name, and their home city. They also state their country, the language they speak, and their favorite game. Descriptions of the games are included. I chose games that are played on playgrounds or streets where children negotiate their teams and terms. You may recognize your favorite games that differ only in name. As the alphabet progresses, it becomes apparent that the pursuit of laughter and fun are universal.
Hello Friends!
A my name is Amy
I live in Akron USA
My friend’s name is Arthur
We like to play Red Rover
We speak English
And now we’ll say “Good-bye!”
Red Rover
This is a great game for large groups of neighborhood kids. Children organize into two even teams. Each team member interlocks their arms together forming a line. The teams face each other and are spaced a fair distance apart. The first team calls, “Red Rover, Red Rover, send (child’s name) on over.” The child who has been called runs as fast as he/she can toward the other group and tries to break through the line. If that player breaks through, he/she takes a player from the broken line back to his/her team. If the child doesn’t break through, he/she must join the opposing team.
When only one player is left on a team, he/she is left to break through a link on the opposite side. If successful, a player may go back to his/her team. If unsuccessful, the opposing team wins. Red Rover has been known to continue well past dusk.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Rover
http://redtri.com/old-school-yard-games/
Antoinette Truglio Martin is the author of Hug Everyone You Know: A Year of Community, Courage, and Cancer. The memoir is a wimpy patient’s journey through her first year of breast cancer treatment.
Stories Served 
Loved playing Red Rover… May I come over! We also played kick the can, mother May I and Horse
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Thanks a bunch. I’m adding your favorites to my master list.
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Let me know if you bake any!
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This is an interesting theme! Be back to see more soon.
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Great theme. I remember jumping rope. J, my name is Janet…
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I love your theme! I’ll link to it on my A-Z blog. There is an alphabet book called A My Name is Alice. The illustrations are hilarious!
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I loved Hopscotch, especially the prep work when we drew out our own pastel-colored boards on the sidewalk with chalk. My other favorite was ”Stoopball,“ a NYC favorite. We played this as well as ”A My Name Is…” using a “penny pinkie,” the famous palm-sized, pink ,rubber bouncy ball. If you have no clue what I’m talking about, I guess you had be there growing up. Those were fun days when kids played outside every minute they could until their mothers called them in for supper.
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Correction….I meant to type “pency pinkie” but auto-correct got in the way. 🙂
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I know exactly what you are taliking about and played those games regularly.
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