October 21, 2020

It rained the whole morning today, gladly, the rain has stopped this afternoon. The birds are singing together with the melody of the wind. The sun shines late this afternoon, and all I can hear was the sound of the blowing wind and the chirping of birds. This weather is perfect for outdoor activity and games, make me recalled my memories of when I was a kid.

In the late 2000s where gadgets and technologies were not much in use, children used to enjoy classic outdoor games. And I'm one of those kids who enjoyed it a lot.

And our playground? — the street.

Here's the street where we played especially during summer and weekends. This street witnessed our happiness, loud laughter, and childish quarrels.

I made an article about this street. If you haven't read it you can read it here.

What are the classic outdoor games?

Classic outdoor games are games where children are playing no-tech games, some can be done by yourself with just one friend. However, most of them are best done with a group of playmates. Also, each game has its own rules, yet you can set new rules in most of these games using your wide imagination.

Hide and Seek (Tagu-Taguan)

I know everyone is familiar with this game. We loved to play this when we were young. Hiding and finding your playmates were exciting in a way every child wants.

How to play this game:

One person closes his or her eyes and counts to a certain number (1-10 or so on) without looking and then he or she tries to find the others. Sometimes there is a home base that you can run to and tag and shout the word safe if you reached the home base.

Langit-Lupa

Langit means (heaven) and Lupa means (land), however, this game is supposed to be “Heaven and Earth”. We played this game countless times before.

How to play this game:

It is where we must find high surfaces such as benches, huge rocks to clamber over which means we are in heaven. The “Taya” or “it” may tag players who remain on the ground (Lupa), but not those who are standing in the "langit" (heaven). The tagged player then becomes "It" and the game continues.

Patintero

This game is one of the most well-known traditional games in the Philippines. Here in Iloilo, we called this “Ens”

How to play this game:

Each member of the group who's “it” stands on the water lines. The perpendicular line in the middle allows it designated on that line to intersect the lines occupied by the “it” that the parallel line intersects, thus increasing the chances of the runners to be trapped. However, even only one(1) member of a group is tagged, the whole group will be the "it".

Piko

Often the girls are the ones who loved to play this game. This is also called as hopscotch.

How to play this game:

The players stand behind the edge of a box, it can be in a cross in shape, or “simbahan” (church) and a lot more kind of drawn boxes/shapes in the ground, and each should toss their cue ball. The first to play is determined depending on the players' agreement. Whoever wins in throwing the cue ball nearest to the place that they have agreed upon will play first. The next nearest is second, and so on.

Slipper Game

This one's my favorite game before. I consider myself a varsity of this game. 😅

This is like a baseball game, with no baseball and bat, instead, slippers are the main equipment.

How to play this game:

Four slippers are placed in a square or diamond base and players need to kick the slipper tossed by the tag players. If the slipper is kicked, tag players should catch before it falls to the ground or gets the kicked slipper as fast as he could so that the players won't get a home run. If players were hit by the slipper before they stepped on the base-slipper, he'll be out of the game. Players should kick the slipper in a far distance to make a home run.

Dodge ball

This is our most played games when we're young. Playing this game requires a group of players. The more the merrier.

How to play this game:

Needed equipment: a softball (but we usually make our ball for this game, it was made from paper formed into a ball and covered with plastic)

Players must divide themselves into two groups. Players will toss a coin (head or tail) to know if who will play first. Opponents must hit the players with the ball to eliminate each player from the game. If the players caught the ball successfully, they will regain their eliminated teammates.

There are a lot of games to be played before and what I mentioned above were the games I used to play the most. Those were the times were children enjoyed their childhood without the help of technologies. We may watch television shows, however, the shows played were mostly educational unlike in today's generation.

“There is a garden in every childhood, an enchanted place where colors are brighter, the air softer, and the morning more fragrant than ever again.” —Anonymous

I'm blessed despite the hard times when I was young, I enjoyed my childhood with the help of these classic outdoor games we've played. And I told myself to let my children enjoy these games as they grow.

🖼️ Images from Unsplash 🖼️

@eommaZel ✍🏻