child's game
3
1.0
- noun
- /tʃaɪldz ɡeɪm/
- We spent the afternoon playing a classic children's game in the park.
- playing a child's game
- children's games and crafts
- arts and crafts, children's games
Examples
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We are playing the children's game with Julia while Marina is still busy.
Blog text (14) -
For example, most children's games, like building and painting or throwing and catching, call for fine-motor dexterity.
Academic text (2007) -
It's an old children's game.
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"Children's games become their career."
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The problem is that no one else knows how good this child's game is.
Blog text (23) -
Remember the children's game of telephone?
Academic text (1996) -
Plots that are a part of children's games.
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Tables 1 and 2 list traditional forms of children's games (gini).
Academic text (1995) -
A children's game, Cabren.
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John Dewey (1938, p. 52) mentions children's games as examples of social control that is binding but not coercive.
Academic text (1997)
Synonyms
∞
1.0
An activity with rules that people play for fun or competition
How Child-Friendly
Surface Forms
Morphology
child's + game
The meaning 'a game played and enjoyed by children' is directly and compositionally derived from 'child's' (the possessive of child) + 'game' (a recreational contest). This possessive + noun structure is regular and cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words will readily understand the phrase.
Etymology
Child's game comes from the simple idea of a child and a game: easy rules, small toys, and play that kids make, like hopscotch or tag. So it means 'a game played and enjoyed by children'.