Time passes for everyone. Children become adults with unusual speed. When you are a father or mother, you realize the true meaning of time fliesa Latin expression that can be freely translated as “time flies”. Children who go to school enter a cycle of routines that involve their parents and then we realize how “time flies”, because in the blink of an eye they are going to university or entering the job market. This reality for many parents can promote some nostalgia, remembering the time when they were children. At that time, it seemed like time was moving slowly. His daily life was filled with games that no longer existed, at least with the regularity and importance they had at the time. So, time was occupied with old street games that made us happy.
Remember 10 old street games…
The fact that there are now many more buildings is an important fact, as these constructions make people more isolated. Therefore, children no longer go out to play. At least in big cities it is no longer as common as in the past.
Nowadays, children are hostage to technology to have fun. Cell phones, tablets, consoles, computers and televisions occupy a prominent place in your daily life. In the past, children played differently.
Wouldn’t these games from the old days bring the same joy to today’s children as they did to us?
Chinese monkey
This is one of the old street games that made us happy. To carry out this activity, all you need is a wall. One player must stand next to the wall, facing it. Therefore,
with their backs facing the other elements. The player has to say “one, two, three, Chinese monkey”
Do you remember what should happen at this moment? The other elements move as quickly as possible to the wall, while the sentence is uttered by the player on the wall.
He turns to the other participants in the game when he finishes the sentence and, when he identifies someone who is still moving, that element(s) has to return to the starting point. The first child to touch the wall without being seen wins the game.
Mesh
Despite being old, this game maintains its ability to delight the children who play it. Since Roman times, something similar to this game has been played. At that time, they resorted to shoeing the army’s horses.
At the time, soldiers threw these horseshoes to knock down or get close to a stick. Playing mesh is one of the old street games that made us happy. In Portugal, this game is also called “chinquilho” in some parts of the country. This designation comes from the verb achincalhar, that is, to ridicule. Now, this game was seen as a game more aimed at the disadvantaged classes.
In Berlin
Marbles were one of the activities that provided one of the most pleasurable moments in many people’s childhood. There are several games that can be played with marbles. Placing the balls in holes and attacking your colleagues’ balls was exciting and allowed you to keep your friends’ balls as a reward for good aim.
The best players had large collections of marbles. Remember playing marbles? It would be impossible not to include this activity as one of the old street games that made us happy, right?
spinning top
Those who liked to collect spinning tops could present models of various colors and patterns.
Tops could also generate great emotions. Nowadays, it is rare to see a child with this toy. However, in the past, children had hours of fun with this toy.
The game could be played in different ways, namely by drawing a circle on the floor made with chalk. Subsequently, the objective was to wrap the top in a rope and make it release quickly, but with the intention of respecting the limits of the circle.
Although some mastery was required, it was possible to make others
Colleagues’ spinning tops were pushed out of this space to guarantee victory.
Macaque
To play monkey, all you need is chalk to draw on the floor the squares (rectangles) that are used to jump (generally, there were 10). Later, a stone was used to throw at one of these houses. Afterwards, the player had to go get the stone by jumping over the stone.
After picking up the stone, the player should return to the starting point. You could only put both feet on houses that were side by side. Playing monkey guaranteed hours of fun. That’s why it’s on the list of old street games that made us happy.
human rope
A player was destined to hunt down colleagues who were tasked with trying to escape in a relatively limited space. Whenever the player caught someone, that person entered the human rope, holding the hand of the player who caught them.
Subsequently, the elements that were on the human rope tried to hunt the other elements, these being added to the rope as they were caught. The caught child always remained as the last element of the human rope. At the other end, there was the starting player who started hunting his teammates. The last child to be touched won the game.
Remember the fun you had when playing Human Rope? Therefore, this is one of the old street games that made us happy.
Jump to the Axis
This traditional game was very popular in the past. It was possible to have several players having fun for hours with the Axis Jump Game.
No specific material was needed to guarantee this fun. Players should be approximately 3 m apart. Ideally, the game should take place on a circular terrain.
The game consists of being able to jump over a colleague with your legs apart. At this moment, the jumping player should place his hands on the back of his teammate who should be bent over himself.
After making the jump, it was one of the remaining players’ turn to do the same, with a line of other colleagues representing the same challenge. Those that were larger represented a more demanding challenge. The game guaranteed a lot of time in a good mood, because it always continues until you want to stop.
Yo-yo
Who has never used this toy of very ancient origins to entertain themselves? Despite its age, yo-yo is one of the old street games that made us happy.
Whether you are with friends or alone, the yo-yo is a faithful companion that allows you to have a good time, especially when you learn some tricks, such as the “doggy walk” and the “fall and come”, for example.
Hidden
This is one of the old street games that made us happy and children still love to play hide and seek, but they don’t do it as often.
Parents who maintain their more youthful spirit take the opportunity to return to playing hide and seek when their children need an activity. However, doing it at home with your parents is not the same as doing it on the street with friends…
Elastic
Remember playing with rubber bands? This is definitely one of the old street games that made us happy. Let us remember the activity. Surely you have played or seen other children have fun playing with rubber bands.
This game requires a rubber band about 5 meters long. First, you need to tie a knot in the ends of the elastic to prepare for the activity. Two elements that serve as supports must
stay a considerable distance away (at least 1.5 m).
The elastic must be placed at ankle height on these supports, which must spread the legs so that the elastic presents a rectangle drawn, parallel to the floor.
The objective is for the kids to jump over and into the space created, without touching the elastic or tripping over it, being able to follow certain choreographies already defined. The rubber band must go up one level after all players have finished jumping. It passes to the height of the knees and, subsequently, to the thighs and hips.
Parents want their children to be happy. Well, for this to happen, it’s important to let them play, preferably on the street and outdoors. These old street games that made us happy remind us of our childhood and the late afternoons when we played with friends outside our homes.
This freedom, the spirit of adventure that was experienced and the happiness that was felt can also bring benefits to today’s children, who are increasingly separated from this environment, staying confined at home, with children.
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