Hand game

Hand games are games played using only the hands of the players. Hand games exist in a variety of cultures internationally, and are of interest to academic studies in ethnomusicology and music education. Hand games are used to teach music literacy skills and socio-emotional learning in elementary music classrooms internationally.

• Chopsticks (sticks)
• Clapping games
• Mercy
• Morra (finger counting)
• Odds and evens
• Pat-a-cake and variations:
  • Mary Mack
• Red hands (or hand-slap game)
• Rock paper scissors
• Thumb war (or thumb wrestling)
• "Where are your keys?" (language acquisition game)

Less strictly, the following may be considered hand games:

• Bloody knuckles
• Fingers (drinking game)
• Jacks
• Knife game
• Spellbinder
• Stick gambling
• String games, such as cat's cradle