THE playgrounds may not resound to the call of ‘British bulldog, one, two, three’, ‘red rover’ or the clinking of marbles any more, but the classics like skipping rhymes, elastics and hopscotch are still enjoyed by local school students.

Orange Public School is the first school in NSW to be visited by researchers from the Australian Research Council as they investigate ways that play has changed since the last study in 1954.

More than 50 years ago, an American scholar, Dr Dorothy Howard, came through Orange and spoke to students from Orange Public as part of her massive archival program looking at children’s lore and language.

Researchers Rob and Olya Willis have a long way to travel before they finish the project but already have noted substantial changes to children’s play and rhymes.

“Political correctness has changed some rhymes, such as ‘eeny meeny’ and safety concerns have seen the more rough and rugged games such as British bulldog or red rover banned,“ Mr Willis said.

Although skipping, elastics and hopscotch are still played at Orange Public, the way they are introduced has changed. Staff members, rather than family members, have introduced these games to the children.

“There is a greater tendency towards formal or structured learning,” Mr Willis said. “But the students have changed the skipping rhymes to something more modern and relevant.”

A selection of students are being video taped and voice recordings made with the resulting footage becoming part of the Museum Victoria and National Library of Australia heritage collections.

Despite concerns that electronic games are affecting the way children play, Mrs Willis sees no problem at Orange Public.

“This is a great school, the children are showing some real imaginative play.”