Three Outdoor "Pilgrim" Games

Early Pilgrim records tell us that on the first Thanksgiving, around 90 Native Americans from the Wampanoag tribe joined around 50 Pilgrims for three days of celebration, which included outdoor games.

Around your house, you may find yourself running around outdoors on Thanksgiving too—maybe because you’re making room for turkey and gravy, or maybe because you ate a big plate of it and you’re stuffed!

Your family may already have special traditions such as football or pick-up basketball, but if you’re interested in adding a historic theme, we’ve got three games that came from colonial times—but we think are still great fun today!

Catch the Ring

This game was played by Native Americans on the eastern seaboard, but was popular with Pilgrim kids as well! To play, you need to hike around a bit outdoors and find a small, straight stick between ¼” and ½” in diameter and 12-18” long. Then pick a sturdy piece of dry grass and twist it into a ring shape at least 2-3” in diameter (you can also use a metal ring if you have one--but do beware that your ancestors most likely didn't have such a luxury!). Cut a piece of twine about 14” long, attach one end to the end of your stick, and one end to the ring, like this:

To play, toss the ring in the air, and quickly see if you can get your stick to go through it. How many times can you do this in one minute? In five?

Hoops

In colonial days, this game was played with extra wagon wheel rims.

We don’t expect you to have many of them lying around your house, but do you, or one of your friends and relatives, have a hula hoop or two? This is a great time to pull them out! To play this traditional game, find a straight stick, at least 1” thick and about 20” long.