This story captures photographs and articles on Māori string games, also known as whai, hūhi, huhu, or māui. Whai is also short for Te Whai Wawewawe a Maui. Suggestions for activities, including videos on making string figures, are also listed. 

STRing Patterns

The following photos bring back memories of when our mother showed us string figure games that she had learnt as a student at Whangamarino School which overlooks Lake Rotoiti near Rotorua. She began with a length of string, the end of which she tied in a knot to form a circle. When laid across each palm between the thumb and little finger and pulled taut, a rectangular loop formed that created the basic pattern whai (see Diagram: First position). Then she followed the steps in Diagram: Opening A. You can add extra steps to create specific shapes that represent a story, an object or star path. The game can be played solo or with two or more people.

Types of materials

Flax (harakeke) was traditionally used for string games. You can also use string, wool, nylon and braid.  How long a piece of string?  - that will depend on the design. Some games use a two metre length of string (e.g. Cup and saucer), whilst some games need shorter or longer string. 

Various designs

To get you started on creating various designs, The Ministry of Education's Tāhūrangi - New Zealand Curriculum online for Health and Education lists the following four activities under Whai – String games: Activity Collection: 

> Te kapu me te hoiha - Cup and saucer

> Ngā heketau te tauira - Parachute pattern

> Ngā taimana e rua - Two of diamonds

> Tānga mahi whai - Mahi whai relay

For lessons from various cultures, see String Figures and How to Make Them: A study of Cat's Cradle in Many Lands by Caroline Furness Jayne (1906), which has detailed diagrams.   

WORDS RECITED DURING STRING GAMES

According to Edward Tregear in The Maori race (1904),  "Cat's Cradle” (whai, huhi, or maui) was known to the Maoris as to almost all the inhabitants of the Malay Archipelago and South Seas. It was played with the two hands and a piece of string, assuming very complicated forms; sometimes a whole drama was played by means of the changing shapes. Two of the favourites were the ascent of Tawhaki the Lightning god, to heaven, and the fishing up of the land by the hero Maui. There were proper songs chanted as accompaniments to the movements of the players' hands." (See: NZETC: Edgar Tregear (1904), The Maori race, (Wanganui: Archibald Dudingston Willis, pp.58-59)

HistOrical photographs of Traditional DESIGNS 

Dominion Museum's ethnographic expeditions, 1919-1923

During 1919-1923, the Dominion Museum in Wellington held four ethnographic expeditions to record the songs and oratory of Māori and to photograph and film aspects of their culture and everyday lives. Visits were made to Gisborne (2–16 April 1919); Rotorua (12 April - 8 May 1920); Whanganui River (17 March - 18 April 1921); and Te Tairāwhiti/East Coast (18 March - 12 April 1923).

Each expedition included the Museum's ethnologist Elsdon Best and photographer/cinematographer James McDonald. Johannes Andersen, Chief Librarian at the Alexander Turnbull Library, was also invited because of his knowledge of music and studies of verse and prose. They were also accompanied to the Whanganui River by Te Rangi Hīroa also known as Te Rangihīroa (Peter Henry Buck) and to Tairāwhiti/East Coast by Te Rangihīroa and Āpirana Ngata. An article about the Gisborne expedition has been written by Natalie Roberston in the Journal of the Polynesian Society (March 2019), which schools can access online via the EPIC database Gale: Global issues in context.

Photographs, films and written accounts of string games were taken by James McDonald and can viewed on Te Papa's website. A special screening of McDonald's films was shown at the Whakaahua Māori Exhibition held in 1986 (see Papers Past: Tu Tangata, no. 28, 1 Feb 1986). You can also see a summary of the scenes McDonald filmed listed on Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision: Gisborne (1919); Rotorua (1920); and Whanganui River (1921).

Other photographers, 1930s & 1940s

You can view historical photographs of Ngāi Tūhoe playing string games at Whakatāne taken by Werner Kissling in 1939 - see British Museum's Online Collection. Photographer H. R. Vine also captured photographs of string games during visits to Northland during the 1930s and 1940s, during which he visited the Kaikohe Native School which had opened on 18 June 1938.

String figureS studied by Johannes Andersen 

Johannes Andersen had been invited to join the Dominion Museum's ethnographic expeditions due to his having written and published poetry and verse. He had also written Māori life in Ao-tea, a compendium of Māori mythology drawn from publications, which was published in 1907. Andersen had been appointed as an assistant in the General Assembly Library in 1915; then became the first Chief Librarian at the Alexander Turnbull Library from 1919-1937. 

During the Dominion Museum's four expeditions, Andersen made recordings of Māori music on wax cylinders, including songs sung when string games were played. He also studied the various string figures created and became an expert himself. As he met with different iwi, Andersen came across similar and new forms of string figures, some of which had differing names. He published papers on string games and delivered lectures to various groups.

Source: P. J. Gibbons. 'Andersen, Johannes Carl', Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, first published in 1996. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/3a15/andersen-johannes-carl 

WriTten accounts of Traditional string games

Various accounts of string games observed during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries can be read online at the New Zealand Electronic Text Centre (NZETC) and by University of Auckland's staff and students at  Early New Zealand Books (ENZB). 

Information sharing about string games

Various lectures were held following the ethnographic expeditions, and courses were developed for schools. Here is a sampling:

Further Activities

• Ministry of Education's Tāhūrangi - New Zealand Curriculum online for Health and Education lists the following four activities under Whai – String games: Activity Collection

• TKI Literacy Online: Whai: String games) by Kiwa Hammond (Ready to Read) PDF & Audio

• Alysion: Kid's guide to easy string figures

• Kidspot: 5 Top String Games: Fun String Figures for Kids

• String Figures and How to Make Them: A Study of Cat's Cradle in Many Lands, by Caroline Furness Jayne 

• Wikihow: How to do cat's cradle and similar string designs

A range of YouTube videos are available on string games from around the world, including:

• Mahi wai

• Maori String Figures: Kopu (Venus) #1

• Solo cat's cradle - how to play with only one person! Step by step

• TKSST: Cat's cradle: How to play with two people

• String figures by WhyKnot

This DigitalNZ story was updated in June 2025