Hand games are
game
A game is a structured type of play usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or video games) or art ...
s played using only the
hands
A hand is a prehensile, multi-fingered appendage located at the end of the forearm or forelimb of primates such as humans, chimpanzees, monkeys, and lemurs. A few other vertebrates such as the koala (which has two opposable thumbs on each "han ...
of the players.
Hand games exist in a variety of cultures internationally, and are of interest to academic studies in
ethnomusicology
Ethnomusicology is the multidisciplinary study of music in its cultural context. The discipline investigates social, cognitive, biological, comparative, and other dimensions. Ethnomusicologists study music as a reflection of culture and investiga ...
and
music education
Music education is a field of practice in which educators are trained for careers as primary education, elementary or secondary education, secondary music teachers, school or music conservatory ensemble directors. Music education is also a rese ...
.
Hand games are used to teach music literacy skills and socio-emotional learning in elementary music classrooms internationally.
Examples of hand games
*
Chopsticks (sticks)
*
Clapping games
*
Mercy
Mercy (Middle English, from Anglo-French , from Medieval Latin , "price paid, wages", from Latin , "merchandise") is benevolence, forgiveness, and kindness in a variety of ethical, religious, social, and legal contexts.
In the social and le ...
*
Morra (finger counting)
*
Odds and evens
*
Pat-a-cake and variations:
**
Mary Mack
*
Red hands (or hand-slap game)
*
Rock paper scissors
Rock, Paper, Scissors (also known by #Names, several other names and word orders) is an Intransitive game, intransitive hand game, usually played between two people, in which each player simultaneously forms one of three shapes with an outstret ...
*
Thumb war (or thumb wrestling)
* "
Where are your keys?" (language acquisition game)
Less strictly, the following may be considered hand games:
*
Bloody knuckles
*
Fingers
A finger is a prominent digit on the forelimbs of most tetrapod vertebrate animals, especially those with prehensile extremities (i.e. hands) such as humans and other primates. Most tetrapods have five digits (pentadactyly), Chambers 1998 p. 60 ...
(drinking game)
*
Jacks
*
Knife game
*
Spellbinder
*
Stick gambling
*
String games, such as
cat's cradle
''Cat's Cradle'' is a satirical postmodern novel, with science fiction elements, by American writer Kurt Vonnegut. Vonnegut's fourth novel, it was first published on March 18, 1963, exploring and satirizing issues of science, technology, the p ...
References
*
{{Game-stub