 Celebrate Children’s Day With Games From Around the
WorldMany families around the world don’t have money to buy toys. So children become good at making up their own toys and games out of whatever they can find. Used bottle caps become the markers for a game of checkers. A scrap of plastic and some string can be made into a makeshift kite. Many children learn to play baseball using broomsticks as bats and hollow coconuts for bases. Here are a few of the games common to different parts of the world, thanks to Food for the Hungry. Visit their site at: http://www.fh.org or call them toll free to learn more at (800-248-6437) Thanks also to Jan Holland ( ebonie@4kz.com.au ) in Australia for alerting us to this international treasure chest. Takraw: The National Game of Thailand Takraw is similar to the U.S. game hackeysack. A takraw is a ball about the size of a grapefruit, and it’s quite hard. (Hackeysack balls aren’t so hard.) The Takraw is made from woven rattan. Players stand in a circle and pass the ball around, using their heads, feet, legs, and shoulders. They can’t use their hands. Thais love to play this game. Takraw games often break out on the street among strangers waiting for a boat or a bus. The game might draw 40 or 50 people before the boat or bus arrives to take away some of the players. Dung Guli: A Bangladeshi Child’s Game Dung Guli is a typical game played by rural children in Bangladesh. It’s like a combination of golf and softball. Two people play the game. The winner is the person who reaches 50 points first. Materials Needed 18-inch long wooden stick (called the dung) Egg-size piece of wood (called the guli) Determining Batter and Pitcher 1. Make a one-inch shallow dent in the ground and place the guli in it. 2. Player One uses the dung to flick the guli out of the dent (as if playing golf). 3. Player One puts down the dung over the dent in the ground. 4. Player Two picks up the guli. Standing at the point where the guli landed on the ground, Player Two throws the guli at the dung, attempting to hit it. 5. If Player Two hits it, he or she now flicks the guli out of the dent as in steps 2 and 3, and Player One takes a turn throwing the guli at the dung. This continues until one player misses hitting the dung with the guli. The player who misses first becomes the Batter, and the other person is the Pitcher. Playing the Game 1. Batter stands next to the dent in the ground and holds the dung like a softball bat. 2. Pitcher slow pitches the guli to Batter, who attempts to hit the guli with the dung. 3. If Batter successfully hits the guli, Batter uses the dung to measure how far the guli flew after it was hit. The Batter scores points according to however many dung lengths the guli flew. For example, if the guli was hit a distance equal to five dung lengths, Batter scores five points. 4. Whether or not Batter scored, Batter now becomes Pitcher (and vice versa). 5. Repeat steps 1-3, adding to the players’ scores as they hit the guli. The first to reach 50 points wins. Stick and Tire Race: From the Dominican Republic The objective of this game is to race your opponent to cross the finish line. (Dominican children use a row of banana trees, or "over where the vendor is selling coconut water," as a finish line.) Materials needed Two or more old rubber tires, depending on how many people play. These can be bicycle, motor-cycle, or car tires, depending on skill level. Two sticks, 3 to 4 feet long Plastic Coke or mineral water bottles Scissors Playing the Game 1. For each player, cut bottom off a plastic bottle. 2. Then cut the body of the bottle in half, leaving the bottle’s neck whole. 3. Insert a stick through the neck of the bottle. 4. When each stick and tire is ready, players line up at the starting line. They lay their bottles gently against their tires. 5. At the shout of "Go," players push the tires with their hands to get them moving. They use the sticks to push and guide the tires, keeping them in a straight line while hurrying to the finish line. Multicultural Activity Resources The Teachers.Net Lesson Exchange ( http://teachers.net/lessons/ ) Provides teachers a medium to exchange lesson plans and curriculum development ideas. Teachers.Net actively encourages educators from around the world to contribute their unique ideas, approaches, and lesson plans to the Exchange. Transforming the Curriculum for Multicultural Understandings: A Practitioner’s Handbook by James B. Boyer & H. Prentice Baptiste, Jr. (1996) Caddo Gap Press, 3145 Geary Boulevard, Suite 275. San Francisco, CA 94118 $19.95 Chapter titles include: Institutionalization a Multicultural Curriculum; Cross-Racial, Cross-Ethnic Teaching and Learning; Relationships of Poverty and Learning; Diversity Issues in Educational Research; and Instruction with a Multicultural Philosophy The following three resources are from: Pact Publications, 777 United Nations Plaza Global Celebrations — Authentic Music from Festivals and Celebrations Around the World compiled by Ellipsis Arts This collection is a 54-country musical tour of festivals on Earth. The breadth of music is impressive and the content is often moving. #ELL004 CD/CT (CD’s $44.95 CT’s $29.95) with 32 pp booklet detailing the music and celebrations. El Niņo Cocinero Latinoamericano Coedicion Latinoamericana; Kane/Miller, for ages 6+. #K0N027SPA; $7.95; 64 pp (Spanish only) This cookbook features recipes and illustrations from Agentina, Brazil, Colombia, Cost Rica, Chile, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Uruguay, and Venezuela. Understanding Cross-Cultural Child Development and Designing Programs for Children by Nancy Donohue Colletta; Christian Children’s Fund/Pact Publications Each chapter begins with general or cross-cultural statements about children, moves to observations on a situation-specific level, and then makes suggestions on how to apply these observations to the local designs of programs to meet children’s needs. |