Don’t stay too long outside and waste your time playing. Come back home by 6 pm sharp. You need to finish your home work.” “You only want to play all the time. When will you take time out for studies?” “There is no need to go outside to play. You can play games on your computer.”

These are common phrases we hear in our surroundings where physical activity play is usually considered non-productive for children. Time spent playing is compared to time spent studying and more often than not, children are reprimanded for ‘wasting time’ playing outside. It is common observation that parents praise studious children and are ticked off by those indulging in sports and play. Parents are heard raising such concerns as, ‘Why do kids always want to play? Do they realize how adversely it would affect their grades?” Owing to little awareness about the developmental benefits of play, it is often disregarded by parents and caregivers as aimless leisure.

Research endorses that play is the best form of physical activity for children and through traditional game playing children learn about the rules and values of their culture. Many early childhood practitioners also consider play as an activity which promotes learning. Yet play is only considered relevant to some areas of the curriculum and still has not received a secure place in delivering the curriculum (Bruce, 2004).

With the gradual increase in awareness about the importance of play, early childhood practitioners started considering only those games that are either given in the reference books and teachers’ guide for kindergarten schools. While talking about kinds of play, most literature depicts children’s play with objects, pretend play and socio-dramatic play that are mainly focused by Piaget and Smilansky (Moyles, 2005). These kinds of play caught the interest of teachers and educators as well since they carry benefits and functions for learning different skills in classrooms. Physical activity play was evidently ignored.
Through this article I wish to highlight some of the common traditional games and their developmental benefits in the hope that awareness may restore the legacy of physical games that I grew up playing and enjoying.

Traditional games including Pitto Garam, Aankh Macholi, Baraf Pani, Oonch Neech, Gilli Danda etc. carry immense benefits for healthy development of children such as sharpened gross and fine motor skills, improved control and balance, enhanced hand-eye coordination, increased spatial awareness, and greater social skills.

Let us look at how some of the traditional games are played and their associated benefits.

To play this game two teams of relatively equal weight are chosen. A rope is taken and a flag is tied midway along the length and a line is drawn infront of the team. Both the teams position at either end and upon signal of a referee. The teams start pulling the rope in their respective directions. The objective is to pull the flag over the neutral line and on the team’s own side. Through participating in this game children learn the importance of team play as well as enhance their gross motor skills and improve balance and coordination.

This game is played between two teams. Player from one team uses a ball to hit a pile of stones and the other team members try and rebuild the pile while team two players try to tag by hitting the members of the first team with the ball. The next turn comes if the pile is rebuilt or the ball hits any of the team one players while rebuilding the pile. This is a very popular local game. It helps children to work as a team, support each other and at the same time, take steps for their defence. While hitting the pile, children learn better hand and eye coordination, and the process of rebuilding the pile sharpens fine motor skills, sequencing and sizing skills.