Traditional Children's Games in Modern Times

In this article from The Hindu ("India's National Newspaper"), we find one more still, small voice, championing the ways children used to play:

"In the harum-scarum world of the 21st Century, it is interesting to see how many of these traditional games are relevant. By virtue of their origin these games were inexpensive and environment friendly. Most of them were played using easily available materials. In fact they were household items like tamarind seeds, or stones and shells and sticks, which were often found lying around. The board was often scrawled in the dust or drawn on the floor with chalk. Some old homes even had the board drawn into the floor while the cement was still wet. While some games needed special equipment or pieces, these were often developed into a village craft....The 21st century has brought technology to the fore. Children today are computer literate. But basic skills are critical for growth and development. Perhaps we need to look to our traditions to discover new ways to play for, after all, games are much more than just child's play."

See also, from the same publication, The Politics of Children's Games, a well-informed perspective on the history of children's play ("Childhood did not really penetrate the great masses of the lower and lower-middle classes until very late in the 19th and early 20th centuries."), which concludes

"But while school playgrounds may look like chaotic places, playtime is one of the few moments in children's lives when they can just be themselves. As some educational consultants are beginning to suggest, playtime constitutes a kind of 'informal curriculum' and needs as much sensitive nurturing as the subjects taught formally indoors. Sadly, in recent decades, this has come to receive less and less emphasis."

from Bernie DeKoven's FunLog