Just So Stories

Did you play these as a child? My girls did and back then I had no idea they were an Aboriginal activity as well. I learned that later but have shared both the information and the how-to with kiddos in libraries for years.

Learn how to play string games

Many Aboriginal groups traditionally made patterns or designs on the hands with a loop of string. ‘Kamai’ was among the names applied to string figures in north Queensland, ‘meeroo-meeroo’ in one area of Western Australia and ‘wame’ is the word used for string figures in the Torres Strait.

Follow the instructions to create a ‘weitj djen’ (emu foot), ‘rlangga’ (billabong) and ‘karda’ (yam).