Childhood games that died and those that survive

Have you heard of tin block, booler or stoolball? A new exhibition recalls the children's street games that have disappeared, along with others that have endured down generations.

Playgrounds to Pixels: A Journey Through Play, gathers historical photographs and literature, as well as the memories of people who grew up in Beverley in the 1950s and 60s, to explore how childhood play has evolved in the town and around the world.

It will open at Beverley Guildhall on 7 October and runs until February 2027.

Curator Fiona Jenkinson says there has been a general shift over time from playing outside to playing inside.

"There were a lot of memories of spending the whole day [outside], whereas now, even in the more structured play, it's indoors," she adds.

This has affected the popularity of street games such as relievio, orringolevio, a game combining tag and hide-and-seek, which relies on large groups of children being readily available.

The players form two teams who take turns hiding and seeking until everyone is found.

A similar, once-popular game, called tin block or kick the can, involves a can being placed in the middle of a square, which is known as the block. A child is then picked as the keeper and has to catch the other players one by one.

Those who are caught are imprisoned in the block, but can be rescued if other players evade the keeper and kick the can down the street.

Relievio and games like it were commonly played until relatively recently.

Others, such as booler, which involves using a stick to roll a wooden hoop or bike wheel along the ground, are fading from memory.

Games now lost include stoolball, a version of cricket thought to date back to medieval England, in which players defend wooden stools – the wickets – with their hands, while another player attempts to hit them.

Not all street games have fallen by the way side. Tag (or tig), leapfrog and hopscotch are among those still regularly played today.

And if it snows on Beverley Westwood this winter, children will be seen sledging down the hills there, just as they would have done generations ago.

The exhibition tracks the development of playgrounds, toys and digital technology. But for Jenkinson, it also shows how playing is "key to who we are".

"We try and create as many opportunities for play as we can for [children] because we remember how much we enjoyed it as a child," she adds.

"I think that's one of the things that the exhibition tries to draw out, how important play is to everybody."

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