SLC S21W3 / Traditional games

Placing your hands on a line, you compete with your partner on who would get to the finish line first. It was demonstrated in the video I carried out with these children. I made them two pairs so that there could be a competition. If there's no competition, there's no game.

It would just be played for fun, to move the children. It won't be considered a game. The fun derived after these children did this human wheelbarrow is indescribable. They really had a good time. You can see that on their smiles. If you pay attention to my video, you'll hear the background music saying Adulthood na Scam.

This doesn't condemn adulthood but places on what childhood enjoys. As a child, you get to play all the types of games without being shy of age. You get to eat free food and get taken care of without having to do things yourself. I just miss my childhood days. So this was the nature of the traditional game...

The rules of the game are easy to follow. In fact, it's almost as if there are no rules because you're not using any material to play. In this human Wheelbarrow game, you must:

• Ensure your buttocks are not upwards as if you were standing to avoid compression or blood flow down the hand. Your legs are the body parts lifted to the waist level, not the body.

• Your fingers must be placed on the marked line where the competition is supposed to start properly. With the hands made to stand on the line, cheating is avoided. We want to avoid a situation whereby one feels the other left before him.

• The rider should avoid being rough with the wheelbarrow because of not being able to move faster. This avoids shifting of the waist, as the rider can be provoked to push the wheelbarrow with force from his legs to the waist.

• Sharp objects must not come in contact with the play to avoid injury of any sort since the hands are made to work bare on the ground. To protect the hands, the use of a slipper to cover the palms is necessary.

• Both pairs of multiple pairs must avoid entering the lane of his opponent, and the hands of the rider should be holding the legs firm.

These are the rules governing the play of the traditional game to ensure smooth running of the game play, preventing injury, fighting, or cheating. I didn't make any change in the rules to suit me. The game is straightforward and can be done by anyone. I followed the rules sequentially while playing this game with the children in my neighbourhood. The aftermath shows that nobody was hurt and that it was easy to do.

These are a few games I did coupling the main one, which I'm to talk about. The sack race and clapping game made the play consistent and less boring. You can see the smiles on the faces of the children.

Of all the characteristics involved in traditional games, the ones involved in the game I chose to play are listed below with explanations. Other games played that day and their characteristics are also mentioned in brief.

A characteristic of traditional games is that you don't need complicated materials to play, and if these materials are absent, there's no game. The human wheelbarrow I played with these children involved the use of hands and legs, which is, in fact, a form of exercise for the body and bones, as the case may be. You don't need sacks or rope when you've got your hands. It was as simple as a full-body play.

• Another characteristic is that the game I played has simple rules that are easy to follow. From the outline rules, you can tell that the rules are not difficult to follow. In fact, one can play effectively without the need to list the rules.

• The traditional game I played involved movement. This is very essential, as it also helps the body exercise vital body parts and organs. It is one that involves movement of the whole body and not being fixed to a particular position while your body becomes locomotive.

• The game encourages cooperation in the sense that pairs are involved, and in team work, if you don't cooperate, your team is bound to lose or fail. So there's a lot of cooperation between the wheelbarrow in human form and the rider. This teaches them a lot as to why cooperation is needed even in real life.

These are a few characteristics seen in the game I played. These characteristics are very vital in building up the individual healthwise and mentally. The game also promotes healthy competition to avoid envy of the other pair; that's why it's termed friendly.

The children did have fun, I must say. A subsequent video I'll drop will serve as evidence. Aside from the children having fun, I, the initiator, had much fun as well. I felt the happiness I was looking for throughout the week. Playing with children gives much joy even though it takes time. My experiences playing this traditional game with them are shown below.

Creating a common ground was what I did to encourage these children to play. When I called them from their house with the permission of their parents, they were eager to follow me. They actually thought it was going to be dance practice, but I changed the entertainment. It was a game. Our first game was Human Wheelbarrow.

Before playing this game, I developed their interest by playing the running game.... There's fire on the mountain. Run, run, run. Once their interest was there, I switched to the human Wheelbarrow game. I demonstrated how the game is going to be played and then made two pairs to carry out this task. It was funny to see how they were positioned.

When I chant, On your mark, set, they'll not just wait for me to say go; they'll start moving. So I corrected them, and they did it right.

The girl in the grey gown was just tickling my fancy throughout. She made the whole activity funny with her laughter. I must say she's such a comic relief person. She laughs every minute, even when something is not funny.

Her partner did her dirty, which annoyed her but was cheered up with her laughter. When the sound was made to move, her partner refused to move, which made her happily angry even though the other team won.

I was just laughing throughout because her partner was just carrying an innocent face. It was a game, Sha. Both teams cheered up and then moved on to the next game after the human wheelbarrow. Children don't like when games stop abruptly. So I moved to clapping games, sack race, and limping game. These games brought out the person in me and me in them.