Amusements in Colonial New England

Like most colonists, Noah Webster lived on a farm. A lot of hard work had to be done on farms, and children had to help out as much as they could. Even very young children had to help with some chores around the farm. Usually, adults left the simplest and most boring chores for the children to do. Children did many jobs like carrying wood, husking corn, gathering berries, leading oxen, carding wool, gathering eggs, and churning butter. When children weren't doing chores, their parents sent them to school.

Many times children turned their work into games to make the time pass more quickly or to make it seem like fun. Two children might have a contest to see who could card wool faster or better. Two boys might challenge each other to see who could carry the most wood; or a group of children might sing their multiplication tables out loud to make the task seem less dull.

When children had time to play, they enjoyed the same games that their parents and grandparents had played when they were young. We still play many of the games, like tag, hide-and-seek, and hopscotch. These games helped children learn skills that they would need later in life as farmers and parents. Games taught children how to aim and throw, how to solve problems, how to do things with their hands and how to follow directions and rules. They also learned how to be fair, how to wait turns, and how to use their imaginations.

Colonial children also learned how to make do with what they had. There were no factories for making toys. Toys had to be found in nature or in the house, or adults and children had to make them. They made dolls from corn husks and rags. Leftover wood and string were used to make spinning tops. Many times, they made up games at the spur of the moment and needed no equipment at all.

Since many families had five or six children, brothers and sisters always had playmates nearby. If neighbors lived close by, even more children could share the fun and join in the games. Since adults did not have time to watch their children closely, they were often left alone to play in the gardens, fields, and the house when their chores were done.

On winter days many colonial families gathered around their kitchen fireplaces to stay warm. Fathers fixed tools, mothers spun and if the children did not have to card wool or churn butter, they played board games or did tongue twisters. When it was warm, children played outside with marbles, hoops, battledores, and other toys.

Life was filled with work, but life wasn't always hard or boring. Early Americans knew how to turn work into fun by singing or telling stories, having contests, and spinning and quilting bees. They also liked to dance to fiddle and fife music

Even Noah Webster liked to dance, sing and play the fife!