bouncy castle hire clitheroe, ball pool lancashire, children, party, children's, parties, face, bouncy castle hire clitheroe, painting, paint, karaoke, games, game, colne, treasure, hunt, bouncy castle hire clitheroe

Ghanaian children’s games

Kwaiara Franga ("Sunday’s Flag")

This game is similar to tick tack toe. The players draw a rectangle on the ground with chalk, with two lines diagonally unifying each corner point of the rectangle. Each child starts with three stones or marbles. The children start placing their stones until one of them wins the game by having three stones in a row.

Ahm Totre

This one is somewhat similar to duck duck goose. Everyone sits around a circle. A leader dances around a circle as everyone sings the "Ahm totre" song. When the song finishes the child behind whom the leader is standing has to get up and chase him or her around the circle, racing to sit down in the empty spot. The child who loses the race becomes the leader.

Ambe

Two children stand facing each other. One child is assigned to "ampale," the other to "oshwa." Each child hops then extends a leg. If the extended legs are crossing diagonally, "ampale" gets ten points, if they meet directly "oshwa" gets ten points.

Pombo

This is the Ghanain version of jacks, played with stones. There are seven stones. The child picks one up and tosses it in the air. While the stone is in the air s/he must pick up one stone from the ground then catch the one s/he has thrown. The next time a stone is thrown s/he must pick up two from the ground. This continues until the child has picked up all the stones and has caught the one s/he tossed.

Walae

This game of strategy is more for older children and adults than for younger children. There is a wooden game board with six holes dug out on each side. There are four stones in each hole. The players sit opposite each other. The first player picks up the stones from one of the holes and puts them one by one in each of the other holes around the board in order. When s/he has placed the last stone, s/he picks the stones from that hole and continues placing them all in order until s/he has placed a stone in a hole where there was none. The other player does the same. When one of the players puts a fourth stone into one of the holes, s/he is able to pick those stones and take them off the board. The player who ends the game with the most stones wins. People across West Africa play this game with the same board, though in each country there are different rules and the game is known by a different name.

Play is an essential part of the development of all children. They don't even need toys - watch any toddler unwrap her presents and watch what she plays with first! - and much of their play comes from using their imagination. Once a child reaches school age and begins to play with other children, play becomes a social occasion and games become elaborate ritual: these "playgound games" may have regional variations but there are often similarities in the basic games, which are handed down from generation to generation; essentially the same game may appear with entirely different names in different places.