Street Games: Renaissance Play

Four hundred fifty years ago the Flemish painter Pieter Bruegel collected a prefect record of children at play. They have taken over a village Green. There is not an adult in sight. Look closely at the picture. You know many of the games these children enjoy: leapfrog, marbles, blindman's bluff, swings and tiddlywinks for example. But you will find 80 more. Construct and spin hoops, hats and tops in new forms. Build and tame stilts, a hobbyhorse, bugs with a net, birds with a basket hat (no birds or bugs will be harmed!) Squirt water, blow artful bubbles. Bake and eat a raisin bread man. Spend a week discovering how little the joys of play have changed…