During Jane Austen’s time, teetotums were common in social gatherings, especially around Christmas, when families played games together. They symbolize the lighthearted, domestic amusements of the period—contrasting with the more formal dances and card games often depicted in her novels.
Follow the instructions to make a teetotum and start playing!
Crafting Instructions
You will need:
- Teetotum template (download teetotum here)
- Token template (download tokens here)
- Scissors
- Glue
- Loom bands or rubber bands
- Colouring pens and pencils
Instructions:
- Print the teetotum and tokens templates.
- Colour in your teetotum template however you would like. Add designs and anything extra you would like.
- Colour in your tokens however you would like. You can add values to them too!
- Cut out your teetotum from the template.
- Fold along the guidelines.
- Take your lolly stick and slide it into the hole at the top. Fasten it in place with the loombands given.
- Use a glue stick on the tabs to connect it all together. Once your teetotum is secure you can play!
How to Play
Share the tokens equally among all players. Decide how many tokens each player will put into the pot to start. Each person takes a turn spinning the teetotum. After each spin, follow the instruction shown on the side facing up—either put tokens into the pot or take tokens from it. Continue taking turns until you have played the agreed number of rounds. At the end, the player with the most tokens wins.