Child’s Play

Location: India
Camera Info: Fuji Finepix A303 • Automatic Point & Shoot
ISO 100 • f 2.8 • 1/85 sec

“Pattycake, pattycake, baker’s man…” Who knew that when our group hung out with street kids in India, that this game would be so popular? The girls especially were lining up to play a round of pattycake with us. While the kids here didn’t sing the same rhyme we did, they still knew the game. I’ve also found similar clapping games in other countries I’ve traveled to.

I’m amazed at how some things can travel cross-culturally so easily! For example:

• Soccer is played throughout most of the world. All kids need is a ball and enough people to form a team.
• “Rock, Paper, Scissors” is used in many kinds of decision-making in Japan, and kids in Somalia play Semut, Orang, Gajah (Ant, Man, Elephant).
• India has a game that’s similar to capture the flag (or the first round of dodgeball, depending on how you play), called “dog and bone.”
• In Japan, the kids loved to play “Duck, Duck, Goose” with our group. Chile has a version of this game as well, played with a handkerchief.
• Most cultures have some form of Tag, but Pakistan puts a fun twist on it by designating safe zones on the ground or above it (“The floor is lava!”).
• Kids in Korea play jacks, using small stones instead.
• In the USA, we have marbles and cornhole. In Israel, they have Gogo’Im (apricot seeds).
• There are also many more, including jump rope and hide-and-seek.

Have you ever played games with kids from other countries? What was the same or different?

June 22, 2012 | Categories: India, Many Countries, People, Photography, Travel | Tags: cross-cultural, dog and bone, duck duck goose, games, gogo'im, jacks, kids, marbles, pattycake, rock paper scissors, semut orang gajah, soccer | Leave a comment