Children's games

Children’s games

 

There are a lot of children here, and since they don’t have video games like kids in the states, they have to entertain themselves in other ways.  They do watch TV when there is electricity, but most of the time they are outside playing.  They tend to make a lot of their own toys. 

Kites are very popular.  They make the kite out of sticks and plastic bags.   The kite string they make by taking apart rice bags that are made of little strands of plastic about three feet long.  They then tie these strands together to make a long string for the kite.

Another popular toy for the younger children is an old motorcycle wheel and a stick.  They cut the bottom off a plastic container and nail it on to the stick and use it to better steer the wheel and then run around pushing/steering the wheel with the stick. 

Kids also make a million different types of toys out of sticks, string and anything that resembles a wheel.  They run around pushing or pulling these toys everywhere.   One such toy is a “guagau” (bus).  They take an old water bottle, flatten it, fold over the top of it and wedge a stick inside the opening.  They then walk around pushing the flattened bottle around like a sled runner.

            Lately a lot of kids have been playing with tops they make themselves out of wood and a nail, they then wind sting around the bottom and throw it, hanging on to the end of the string to send it spinning. 

February is the month of Carinival, with the biggest celebration on the 27^th.  In preparation, kids have been making whips by weaving the strands from the rice bags and tying this on to a stick.  They then walk around cracking the whips everywhere.

            Of course this is the Dominican Republic and Baseball is king.  Kids play baseball with any kind of stick they can find and they make balls out of whatever they have at hand.  The other day kids were using an old doll head as a ball.

Kids also play dominoes, swim, fish, or just walk around.