Games We Played
as Children
Paper Dolls, Cards, Pencil
and Paper Games
Often children invent their
own games and toys. Children worldwide cut out paper dolls and make clothes
for them, then happily play with them for hours.
Elementary school children
often invent pencil and paper games that allow them to interact with friends,
drawing grids on sheets of paper in order to keep score. Card games also
are a favorite with young children.
International students from
Taiwan and Mexico describe games they enjoyed playing as children.
Paper Dolls and
Ang-Aa-Biao
Eliza Wang from Taiwan
When I was a child, I played
lots of games with my friends. Most of them didn't cost anything and were
creative. We used natural materials such as chopsticks and leaves to create
our own games or toys. They cost little and we had a lot of fun. I think
we also learned how to get along with people in the games. There were two
games I liked most--paper dolls and a kind of card game.
My favorite game to play
with my girlfriends was paper dolls. We drew paper dolls and all kinds
of clothes such as jeans, shirts, or skirts on paper and then cut them
out. The clothes fit the dolls and had tabs so that we could fold the tabs
back and hang the clothes on the dolls. We made more than one doll when
we played together.
We copied adult life with
the paper dolls. When we played with them, it seemed like we were adults,
too. Sometimes the dolls were classmates, colleagues or sisters, but they
never had children or were mothers. We would admire a girl if she could
draw beautiful dolls or clothes. Therefore, every girl worked hard at it.
We used our hands and brains when we created the dolls.
With the boys, I played a
kind of card game called Ang-Aa-Biao. There was a picture on one side of
each card. You need at least two persons to play this game.
We collected cards from
each player, then put them on the ground picture- side face down. To decide
who was first, we played "scissors, paper, stone" with our fingers. We
used one card to hit other cards on the ground. A player won when he turned
the pictures face up. He could win respect from the other children if he
was the best player. It was fun to play this game, and at the same time
we developed hand-eye coordination when we played it.
Stop!
Miriam Mostkoff from Mexico
When I was in elementary school,
we used to play different games. We had a 30-minute break after lunch but
for us it was too short. So, when we were in the classroom, we would sit
at the end of the room, and there where the teacher couldn't see us we
played a quiet game that we called Stop!
This game allowed as many
players as you wanted, and you only needed a sheet of paper and a pen or
a pencil. We divided the sheet into categories such as animals, flowers,
movies, T'V shows, colors, fruits, last names, whatever you wanted. You
had to draw a vertical line between each word like this:
|
Color
|
Flower
|
Fruit
|
TV show
|
Movie
|
Total
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
When each player had their
own sheet ready, it was time to start. One of the players started the game,
saying aloud the letters of the alphabet in order--A, B, C, D, E, F, and
so on. The player next to him had to say "Stop!" as loud as he could. As
you can imagine, in the middle of the classroom, we had to say it as quietly
as we could because we didn't want to get caught.
When that player said stop,
the one who was saying the letters of the alphabet had to stop right there,
and it was the moment for all the players to start writing a word with
that consonant or vowel. You needed to write a word for each category,
and you only had time to write until the first player finished.
When the first player finished,
he said "Stop!" again, and it was time to review the answers. Each player
had to say the word that he or she wrote, and if two players had the same
word, they received only 50 points; for example, let's say you had to write
with the consonant "P".
|
Color
|
Flower
|
Fruit
|
TV show
|
Movie
|
Total
|
|
purple
|
|
pear
|
Poltergeist
|
Paulli
|
|
|
100
|
0
|
100
|
50
|
100
|
350
|
The last column on the sheet
was the total, and you wrote down the points that you had, and then you
had to do the same with all the players. Each time you wrote a different
letter.
At the end of the sheet,
the game ended and the winner was the one with the highest score. This
game was really fun for us, and we loved to play it often, so I hope you
enjoy it the way I did.
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