Russian Games

On Wednesday,  Sept. 24, the first and second graders came to the CHS Museum where they learned about biographies and how people age by viewing the Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn exhibit. They were fortunate to have his son Ignat on hand to answer questions. How could it be that the picture of the cute baby could be Ignat’s father?

While one group of children were inside the Museum, the rest learned to play a variety of Russian games. Below are the rules for Caraway and Wizard.

Caraway: One child is in the middle and the rest of the students join hands and form a circle. As they start walking in a circle, they say:

Caraway, Caraway

You can go anyway.

You can go left (the circle moves to the left)

You can go right (the circle moves to the right)

You can stand tall (joined hands are raised over head)

You can stand small (with hands still joined, squat down).

The child in the middle tries to break through the joined hands at any time.  Once they've broken through, the child to their left stands in the middle and the game continues. 

Wizard: One child is picked as the "wizard." It's best to define a play area, the smaller the better. The Wizard says "go" and the children start running. As the Wizard touches a player, they must stop and freeze. They yell, "help me" and other children can come by and unfreeze them. The game continues until everyone is frozen or they reach a set time. A minute at a time is best for young children. 

Thank you to Carolyn and Ignat Solzhenitsyn and Svetlana Phillips for help with this program.