Arts and Crafts

Lutheran Church in Singapore

Children in Singapore make and play a game, similar to Jacks, called Five Stones. Use the directions below to make and play your own game.

Five Stones

Materials needed:

Strips of cotton fabric 3-1/2" wide in two different prints
Thread
Needles
Dry rice
Sewing machine

For quick and easy assembly of the "stones," have one person at the sewing machine. Long strips can be folded in half and sewn ahead of time.

The playing pieces for this game are cloth tetrahedrons (pyramid with three, rather than four sides) filled with dry rice. To make the tetrahedrons, fold over a strip of fabric, right sides together, and sew lengthwise with a 1/4" seam. This will form a long tube. Now sew an end shut with a 1/4" seam.

Measure two inches from the end of the tube and cut it off. Turn right sides out. You should have a small square piece with one side open. Fill this piece with dry rice, but leave enough room to fold the raw edges under and hand sew together.

To sew closed, tuck raw edges under and pinch shut in the opposite direction of the bottom seam. This should give you a four-sided triangle shaped piece. Whip-stitch shut with small stitches.

Continue to follow the directions above to form more pieces. For each game, you will need four matching pieces, and one of a different fabric.

To play Five Stones: The game is similar to jacks. The four "stones" of the same color are tossed on the ground in front of the player. Then the player throws the "stone" of a different color into the air, and picks up one of the stones from the ground, then catches the stone that was thrown up. The player continues to do this until she or he has grabbed each of the stones one at a time. After the player has grabbed the last one and the one thrown up into her or his hand, she/he tosses them back in the air and catches them on the back of his/her hand.

The second round gets more difficult. This time, the odd color stone is thrown up, and two of the other stones are grabbed at a time. The second time, when the player has grabbed to stones and caught the one tossed up, all three are tossed in the air and caught on the back of the hand. Tip: Spread fingers out for ease in catching.

The third round: Pick up three, then one which is again tossed and caught on the back of the hand.

Fourth round: Throw the odd stone into the air, grab all four stones, catch other stone. Then toss them all in the air and catch them on the back of the hand. Good luck and have fun!