S vacations were on… and I was not well… didn’t have the energy to go outdoors with him for playing/cycling or play at home bat ball etc…
Then I opened his one of the birthday gifts Ludo cum Carom board.
I always underestimated that game for his age and hence procrastinated opening it for him.
But to my surprise, S simply loved it. I found out that age old games have multiple benefits. And yes, thankfully these games give kids and our anxieties break from that monotonous cartoon channels and touch screen games.
Let me start with Ludo. It is a game in which the players race their four tokens from start to finish according to dice rolls. I see now S can read the number of dots on the dice so quickly that which number turned up on rolling it. And then how many steps to take on board to attain that required number. And when you are close to reaching your destination (so called ‘House’), you can actually reverse count on how many steps you need to reach the goal. Also when you get 6, you know you have one more chance to roll up the dice and you add up both numbers to take the required steps.
So its not just the game of rolling and taking steps… but also some minimal maths is involved in it.
And the best part of carrom is grandparents can gleefully participate in these games tirelessly.
Then comes Carom, where you have to strike the wooden coins to any of the four pocket holes using a striker. Though kids are a little young for the perfect game but still it instills some thought process in their tiny brains on which coin to aim for, which pocket hole to target and how to strike and at which angle for hitting the correct shot. And then the fun of finally counting out your coins you have pocketed.
Next to my list is Cards. They come with numbers, few alphabets (J, Q, K, A) and then symbols distinguishing spades, hearts, clubs and diamonds. For kids, you can start with basic game of card on card with same number/alphabet. S actually notices which number is running actually and what he needs to get the set. And at times, mischievously pull that card from his set to win the game.
All these games come with advantages of varied colors to bring more interest and charm to the game. And mostly you don’t need to buy these games. They are either already there from your childhood times or would have come to you through birthday gifts. And easily available at your grandparents house as they would treasure it as your childhood memory.
And for me, it is a life saver, you can even play these games laying down when you are out of energy and participate wholeheartedly in these games.
Definitely, there are more indoor games like some art-n-craft activity, painting and coloring, block building etc. I just want to bring attention to these age old indoor games which even we used to play in our times, but somehow I see less of these games down the line. Probably coz we have underestimated its usage or more advanced flashy games have caught kids attention.
Just try to bring back the charm of these games, pull it out and watch the wonders…
Originally posted on Parentous by me.
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