# 41 - Let's play the games..Is fun

When I see the children now, it reminds me of my childhood. I think my childhood is happier and healthier. Nowadays kids just play with smartphones, iPad or laptops. They rarely move, run, jump and so on. What they play now is just holding a hand phone, sitting or lie down while watching youtube, or playing games on the phone. In my childhood there is no smartphone, iPad or computer. I only have a smartphone in year 2015. When I was a kid my parents rarely buy toys for me to play also. I'm sure many kids now have never seen or played games that I play in my childhood. I will share the game I played in my childhood to all of you here.

Marble Game : If the first shooter hits a marble outside of the circle, he picks up the marble and keeps it, for one point. He can now shoot again from the spot where his shooter landed. You can play this game for fun or for "keepsies," which means at the end of the game everyone gets to keep the marbles they knock out. Is very fun, but this game mostly played by boys...I played also :)

Zero Point ( rubber band skipping ) : Zero point is a simple yet lively game that has been enjoyed by generations of children living in Malaysia. The game requires players to complete a sequence of jumps over a long rope made of rubber bands, which is held by their opponents. Each jump in the sequence is more challenging than the last and only the most agile win.

Eagle Catches Chicks : This is a chinese traditional game. Children playing the game pretend they are an eagle, a hen and some chicks. All the chicks stand behind the hen in a row, and the hen tries her best to protect her babies. When the game starts, the eagle tries to catch the chicks. If a chick is caught by the eagle, then the eagle wins the game, and the chick who is caught is the eagle in the next game. This game is suitable for playing in a group. This game is very popular in the school. Most of the children like to play this game, is very fun.

Pulling Palm Fronds : This game is more popular in the Malay villages because of abundance of palm or coconut fronds. Pinang tree frond is more suitable than coconut tree frond if you can find them in your place. I played this traditional game too when I was a child but I used coconut tree frond because around my house there is lots of coconut tree. A team is consist of two players, usually the stronger player pulls the frond. The rule is simple, the teams who drag their partner who is sitting on a palm frond, the first one crossing the finish line will be the winner. The playground must be dry, no rocky and flat. Children learn the teamwork and improve their muscle strength and balancing coordination from the game.

Selambut Game : Selambut is a reference to the north and east coast of Peninsular, while on the west coast of Peninsular is called Seremban game. It is usually played by girls individually or in groups of two to five people. Selambut games only need a few pieces of fruit. Rubber seeds, pebbles or small stones, chunks of other objects commonly used round, often as much as five seeds. In addition, the cloth bag sewn and filled with saga seeds, sand, etc. are also used. The game is often played at leisure, on the porch of the house, in the house, in the park or anywhere else that there is a clean, flat surface. The players sit on the floor, and play in turns.
Playing the game is as simple as reading the steps below. Anyone can pick up the game and everyone is welcomed to play it!
Step 1:
Throw all 5 stones. Whilst throwing a stone, pick up 1 stone and catch the stone in the air before it falls to the ground. Do this for each of the stones on the ground.
Step 2:
Repeat step 1 but pick up 2 stones at a time.
Step 3:
Repeat step 1 but pick up a combination of 3 stones and 1.
Step 4:
Throw all 5 stones. Pick up 4 stones whilst 1 stone is in the air and catch the later before it falls to the ground.
Step 5:
Whilst throwing 1 stone, place the 4 on the ground. Throw 1 stone up again and catch it whilst picking all 4 stones on the ground.
Step 6:
Throw all 5 stones on the ground. The opponent selects a stone to be thrown in the air. The player has to pick this stone without moving any others. The player throws the stone in the air and picks the remaining on the ground in one clean sweep. I like this game because you can play it no matter where you are as long as you can find stones.

Jianzi (shuttlecock) : This is chinese soccer game. Jianzi means the chinese shuttlecock. The Jianzi MUST not touch the ground. You don't use your hands but you can use any other body part. You must kick the Jianzi. There are many techniques to play Jianzi. Some of the techniques are powerful flat kick, flatkick and the overhead kick. These techniques also help some people become good soccer players.

Throwing Slipper : Throwing slipper is a physical game that needs two groups which consist of 5 people for each
group (depends). Before the game begins, the flip-flop slipper or sandal will be arranged in a pyramid form. Both groups must decide which group is going to start attacking first and which one to defend. The attacking group will destroy the arrangement of the slipper and then reconstruct the arrangement without the members being counter attack or killed by the defending group. The defending group will prevent the attacking group from reconstruct the slipper arrangement after the attacking group made their move by ‘killing’ each of the members of the attacking group. ‘Killing’ here means, the defending group will throw the slipper that being used for shooting the slipper arrangement to any of the attacking group, and the members which had been shoot by the slipper is eliminated from the round and cannot make any further move.

Hide-and-seek : This is an old and popular children’s game in which one player closes his or her eyes for a brief period (often counting to 100) while the other players hide. The seeker then opens his eyes and tries to find the hiders; the first one found is the next seeker, and the last is the winner of the round. In one of many forms of the game, the hiders try to run back to “home base” while the seeker is away looking for them; if all of the hiders return safely, the seeker repeats as seeker in the next round.

Hopscotch : Draw a hopscotch design on the ground. Chalk is the best drawing medium on asphalt, patio stones or concrete. The squares should be large enough to fit one foot and to make sure that a stone thrown into the square will not bounce out too easily. A hopscotch course typically looks like a series of numbered squares. The first player tosses a marker (rock, bottle lid) into the first square; it must land within the confines of the square without bouncing out or touching a line. The player then hops through the course, making sure to skip the square with the marker in it. Players hop in single squares with one foot (either foot is fine), and use two feet for the side by side squares, one in each square. Upon completion of the hop sequence, the player continues her turn, tossing the marker into square number two and repeating the pattern.

All these games made me remember and miss my childhood. Having fun and happy to play with my siblings and friends. Teach your kids to play these games , is more healthier than just playing with the smartphone or iPad.

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