Cat's cradle

Cat's cradle

Playing the game

So here's another game we played when I was young- Cat's cradle. All you need for this one is a long piece of yarn or string which you form into patterns over your fingers to make different kinds of “string figures”. They all have different names, like Jacob's ladder , Eiffel tower and my favorite, French Lace which was one of the most complicated but I did manage to do it once in a while.

This is a very old game which originally was thought to have started in the far East in China or Japan and then spread throughout the world much to the delight of children although I think again this was probably a girl's game rather than a boy's game.

Here is the cats cradle

It is often played with 2 people using one piece of string and each in turn takes it off the other players hands until you can't go any further.

I thought I would remember how to do it as I remember playing it a lot when I was about 10 or 11 but apart from the first figure, the cat's cradle I couldn't get any further.

Youtube to the rescue, I found this excellent video of 2 young girls showing you how to play and they were great !. Here it is if you want to have a go!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAZhx5PKgl4