String Figures

What do the Navahos, Eskimos and Maoris, the Hawaiian and Easter Islanders, the Wai Wai and Wapishana have in common with most kids in Europe and America? Cats Cradle. Or something very much like it.

To start (or resume) your exploration of this worldwide phenomenon, take a look at the International String Figures Association's surprisingly extensive, annotated page of links. That's where I found this "WWW Collection of String Figures" with its Introduction to Easy String Figures" - which turns out to be not so easy, which further turns out to be a lot easier than the collection of "Fairly Easy String Figures" which, in turn, is still easier than your "Kind of Easy Sting Figures."

After going through some of these sources, you'll probably come to the conclusion that the study of string figures is reserved for children or folklorists. Let John Kean and Brian Cox show you how making string figures can be at least as much of an art as it is a game.