Filipino Kid's Play, Plaything and Playground
Photo from images.google.com.ph
"If you carry your childhood with you, you never become older." - Tom Stoppard
Filipino youngsters just like their counterparts elsewhere in our planet indeed have a deep penchant for play, plaything and playground. Sociable in nature, Filipino kids exhibits friendliness at a very young age. Filipino kids are usually full of vigor, and are creative and resourceful. Although most of them may not be privileged to have expensive, and sophisticated toys no thanks to the difficulties their parents is going through in making both ends meet, better still, they will find ways to create their own toys and they do it real good.
Some toys Filipino children loves to play with.
The "sipa" or hackey sack in Western term. Photo from: tagaloglang.com
The "sungka" or the mancala. Picture from tagaloglang.com
Just two of the many games played by young Filipino kids.
The "luksong tinik" a traditional street jumping game. Picture from filipinolifeinpictures.blogspot.com
Traditional hand game played by little girls. Picture from filipinolifeinpictures.blogspot.com
Toy vendor in the Philippines. Picture from filipinolifeinpictures.blogspot.com
The Philippine Toy Top (Trumpo)
Like an inventor they will exhaust their vivid and prolific imagination, energy and time to the hilt in crafting their own toys using limited resources they can find around them, like for instance, empty cans and spare wood which they will use to make vehicles, lanterns that maybe use as a flashlight complete with a handle and candle inside it (during the Halloween) or any musical instruments like drums (perfect for the Christmas Season), worn out flip-flops or slippers which they transform into boats during rainy days, plastic or sheet of papers, strings and spare bamboo to make their kites that could soar like a majestic Philippine Eagle (the second largest in the world), and unused papers to create their own Origami versions of assorted planes, boats, spaceships, boxes and the likes, and uses other indigenous materials to make their own toys that they will certainly enjoy. If they have spare money, these kids would surely buy cheap toys (like wooden tops, yoyos, and sipa for boys and jack stones, hula hoops, and rubber-bands used as jumping ropes for girls), Filipino kids' arsenal in making some fun doesn't stop there, deep as it is, they are indeed inclined to play a lot of games, and in fact, they have a lot of them to choose from. Filipino games could number to few hundreds, and these kids will never run out of pulling tricks from their hats to dish out excitement, enthusiasm and unending fun in playing rain or shine, day or afternoon, during weekdays or not. Indeed. Filipino childhood exudes zest and with this I consider it as one of the best in the world. Playing with friends is indeed filled with fun and surprises as if they have all the time on earth. But oftentimes things will not go okay, for jealousies and petty quarrels will surely enter in the scene and creates division within them, but sooner or later things will be alright as enemies will eventually turn friends. This cycle keeps on going and going until they outgrow their childhood days and eventually reach young adolescence where time in playing may sharply decrease.
My childhood was also memorable and I will cherished it while I live, and that is expected since growing in a group of your compatriots with different moods, tastes and temperaments in carving out ways to have some fun is truly invaluable. I experienced going to remote areas to find spiders with my friends (my favorite creatures then, hehehe) and later use them for spider fight ala cockfight. My deep sense of care for nature and her creatures, is evident at this stage of my life since it weakens me to see my spider being wrapped up with cobwebs losing or winning the battle at the expense of the other spider of my friends. I rarely pit my spider with other's and what I do often then is to shun away from spider fight but will rather release them in my room and watch them being bewildered with how they create their spider houses with precision and sheer diligence, and after few days I will release them in nearby trees. I tried to play wooden toy top, flying kites and played with my childhood friends the different traditional Filipino games.
One of the most unforgettable moments I had during my early days in life is to see my friend falling from a Macapuno tree (a small variety of coconut tree that can grow to about as high as 12 feet to 15 feet) not only once, but twice, LOL, he survived both of them, although the second fall leave him unconscious for few minutes but thank God he was okay, and he only sustained bruises and minor bone injuries on both falls, though.
The fond memories of our childhood are indeed a treasure for it is not only been part of our lives it also helped in molding us to what we are now. A as we travel back in time reminiscing the younger years we had, we will surely recall our favorite toys, games, and playmates in various sanctuary, that is, playgrounds filled with tons of memorable joys and fun.
Princessa I hope you read this, I hope this will still be counted, although I fall short in posting this in HubMob technically.
My amiable third hub in the HubChallenge.
Happy New Year Everybody!!!
Related links:
Filipino Online Game Making Waves
Play, Plaything, and Playground Good For Your Children
Believed to be used as a deadly weapon by Filipinos' ancestors, yoyo is a well-loved toy here played mostly by boys and male adults. Video from YouTube..
The spider fighting in the Philippines. Video from YouTube.
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Reasons Why We Need to Study Mathematics Subjects
Inspirational
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A Tribute to Instructors and Teachers
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Filipino Kid's Play, Plaything and Playground
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Comments
Gener Geminiano (author) from Land of Salt, Philippines on January 21, 2010:
Thanks a lot too for the visit...
lea on January 18, 2010:
thanks for featuring all the philippine cultural games specially those games for kids. thanks a lot
Gener Geminiano (author) from Land of Salt, Philippines on January 03, 2010:
@febriedethan - thanks a lot febriedethan. Southeast Asians indeed have lots of similarities.
@Ladybird33 - thanks a lot for the visit, I hope you can show this to him though...
Ladybird33 from Fabulous USA on January 03, 2010:
My son is Filipino and this hub is beautiful and very helpful. Gosh, wonderful pictures of children in this article. Thank you for sharing.
febriedethan from Indonesia on January 01, 2010:
I found many similar plaything, like the sungka, in my languange, we call it congklak. Thank you for sharing and Happy New Year.
Gener Geminiano (author) from Land of Salt, Philippines on December 31, 2009:
Lao and Filipinos shares a lot in common dohn from the food to culture...
Nice observation...
Happy New Year Dohn!
dohn121 from Hudson Valley, New York on December 31, 2009:
One of the best things we can do as people from varying races is to find similarities rather than differences in our cultures. Lao and Filipino culture really isn't that much different! Thanks, GH! My brothers fell from many coconut trees, lol. I hope you have a wonderful New Year's!
Dohn
Gener Geminiano (author) from Land of Salt, Philippines on December 31, 2009:
Yeah you too my dear pdh, rock 'em all pdh!
Happy New Year its past 12 am already here...
prettydarkhorse from US on December 31, 2009:
hey GH, thank you for featuring what Filipino children play, Happy New year Prof. continue to rock, Maita
