{{Short description|Game played using the hands}} {{About|games played with the hands|the feature in card games|Hand game (cards)|Native American guessing game|Handgame}} [[File:Mushi-ken (虫拳), Japanese rock-paper-scissors variant, from the Kensarae sumai zue (1809).jpg|thumb|300px|Mushi-ken, a Japanese hand game (1809)]]
'''Hand games''' are games played using only the hands of the players.<ref name="Norbeck">{{cite journal|title=Forms of play of native North Americans |editor=Edward Norbeck, Claire R. Farrer|work=Proceedings of the American Ethnological Society|year=1977|location=St. Paul, Minnesota|publisher=West}}</ref> Hand games exist in a variety of cultures internationally, and are of interest to academic studies in ethnomusicology and music education.<ref name="Norbeck"/><ref>{{cite journal|author=Catherine McLaughlin|year=2009|title=Cultural hand games inspire students|journal=Alberta Sweetgrass|issue=16|volume=4|page=8}}</ref> Hand games are used to teach music literacy skills and socio-emotional learning in elementary music classrooms internationally.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Gluschankof |first1=Claudia |last2=Kenney |first2=Susan Hobson|title=Music Literacy in an Israeli Kindergarten|journal=General Music Today|year=2011 |volume=25|issue=1|pages=45–49|doi=10.1177/1048371311414880 |s2cid=144182018 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author=Jacobi, Bonnie S|work=Music Educators Journal|title=Opportunities for Socioemotional Learning in Music Classrooms|date=December 1, 2012|volume=99|issue=2|pages=68–74}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Twentieth-century school music literature in China: a departure from tradition|author=Lau, Wai-Tong|work=Journal of Historical Research in Music Education|date=October 1, 2005|volume=17|issue=1|page=33}}</ref>
==Examples of hand games== * Arm wrestling * Bloody knuckles * Chopsticks (sticks) * The circle game * Clapping games (Pat-a-cake and variations like Mary Mack) * Fingerhakeln * Hand cricket * Mercy * Morra (finger counting) * Odds and evens * Red hands (or hand-slap game) * Rock paper scissors * Sansukumi-ken * Thumb war (or thumb wrestling) * "Where are your keys?" (language acquisition game)
Less strictly, the following may be considered hand games:{{cn|date=October 2025}} * Fingers (drinking game, but debatable since game can be played without the drink) * Jacks (uses jacks) * Knife game (uses knife) * Spellbinder (uses paper and pencil) * Stick gambling (uses a stick) * String games, such as cat's cradle
==See also== * Fingerboarding * Fingerplay * Hand jive * Hand Shadows * Thumb twiddling
==References== {{reflist}} {{Hand games}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Hand Game}}
Category:Hand games
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