Tudor Playtime

Left: © Woodblock and Stencil Playing Cards by Simon Wintle, 1987.

Games were a very popular pastime in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, in the midst of the mayhem abounding in religious and political circles.

Backgammon, skittles, bowls, hopscotch, football and card games were all the rage. It's not for nothing that the royals on modern playing cards are still depicted in Tudor dress.

(Check out www.wopc.co.uk for the lowdown on playing cards through the ages.)

The aim of this project is to encourage the children to investigate the history behind the games themselves, to focus on game rules and descriptions, to expand their knowledge of Tudor life and to have fun actually playing the games.

Project Outline

• Divide children into teams, with each team assigned a game.
• Let the children find out as much as they can about the Tudor version of their game, from a variety of resources.
• Have the children imagine that they are writing up a set of rules for someone who has never heard of their game before. The above games provide lots of scope for differentiation within the class, with backgammon being the most complicated and skittles the least.
• Have a games session, where the children play each other's games, following each other's rules. Perhaps a few Tudor refreshments at half-time would be appreciated.
• As a follow-up the children could create a Tudor games book for playtime, or on the school website. It's a good way of practising instructional writing as well as honing historical skills.