Lost Your Marbles?

Ring Taw and Keepsies
How lucky we are to have an interest in searching antique shops for artifacts that enhance our country schools. When  we visit schoolhouse museums we often zone in on objects that we'd like to add to our own school collections. We make a mental wish list..."Uh...roll down maps, an American flag made of cotton, another bakelite inkwell, a metronome, a hanging globe, a piece of Holbrook's Apparatus....ahh, what a treasure!"
I began a search a few years ago when I spied in a country school, a cluster of clay marbles among the rough hewn toys of another era....shades of tan, handmade, perfectly round, and age appropriate. I had to find some.  It didn't take long and our school was rewarded with a whole glass jar of them for a mere $14. They generate a lot of questions each time we discuss clay marbles, the first being, "How did they make them so perfectly round?"  The answer:

                                                       Hand-Rolled Clay Marbles 
How were the earliest clay marbles made by hand?
Steps:

1. Prepare the clay
   • Natural clay was dug from the ground.
   • It was cleaned of stones and mixed with water until workable.
2. Roll into small balls
   • A small pinch of clay was rolled between the palms or fingers.
   • Makers tried to make them about ½–¾ inch in diameter.
3. Smooth the surface
   • Some were rolled on a flat board to make them rounder.
   • Many early clay marbles still show finger marks or seams.
4. Dry the marbles
   • They were left to air-dry so they wouldn’t crack in the kiln.
5. Fire them
   • The marbles were baked in the fireplace, a kiln, or pottery oven.
   • Firing hardened them like pottery.
6. Optional glazing
   • Some were dipped in colored glaze before firing.
   • Others were painted afterward.

Handmade marbles often look slightly uneven, which collectors actually like because it proves they were hand-made. They were cheap to make, durable, and easy to create in quantity.

Clay marbles offer the perfect opportunity to talk to children about simpler days that required resourcefulness and the value of using your skills and your imagination to create your own playthings....and your own games. "Ring Taw" and "Keepsies" were the most common  games played int he schoolyard. Both girls and boys played with marbles.

Notes:
*Today you can use Crayola Air-Dried Clay found online and in craft stores to make your handmade marbles.
​
*Children today are familiar with beautiful glass marbles of every color and size, but they know they're manufactured. They are easily found online today. Amazon, Hobby Lobby, The House of Marbles, or the Moon Marble Company offer oodles of them. 

*See the attachments below for rules Ring Taw and Keepsies, and a complimentary folder called The Game of Marbles from the Tyngsboro-Dunstable Historical Society in Massachusetts.

---

Click on this picture to access a printable PDF about MARBLES!