Every child has the right to play
In times of conflict and emergency, sport and play can provide children with a sense of hope and normality.
Play helps traumatised children recover from pain, fear and loss. In all our work, particularly in emergencies, UNICEF recognises that all children have the same rights. Amongst these rights is the child's right to play.
©UNICEF/ HQ04-0632/Giacomo Pirozzi
DJIBOUTI: Two girls from competing primary
schools play in the finals of a first-ever girls'
football tournament.
Click here for more information on Children's Rights and Responsibilities and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The simplest materials - water, sand, cardboard, wooden blocks, pots and lids - can be used for sport or playing to help develop skills as well as create hours of entertainment.
The following games are simple yet fun. They show how children play in different circumstances with limited resources.
BOKWELE - Democratic Republic of Congo
A team game which originated in the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire).
Equipment:
- Two hula hoops + 4 scarves
- Define a playing area, with a halfway line mark (ie: netball court)
The Game:
- Define boundaries of the game.
- Place a hula hoop at either end of the court and inside each hoop place 2 scarves.
- Divide the group into 2 teams.
- Each team has to guard their own scarves in the hoop, while trying to capture the scarves of the opposing team.
- Nominate one person who is the 'guard' and who can tag opposing team members.
- If an opposing team member is tagged they are out of the game.
- When a player 'steals' a scarf, they need to yell 'Bokwele'.
- If a player who has a stolen scarf drops the scarf or is tagged in their half of the court, the hoop is shifted to this spot.
- A team wins when it has all the scarves or all opposing team members have been tagged.
Photo: © UNICEF/ HQ98-0901/Giacomo Pirozzi
AMESHI NE MPUKU - Africa
Attributed to the 'Luba' tribe in the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire). Many tribes in Africa play different versions of it. No equipment is required for this game.
The Game:
- There are four rows of people holding hands and standing parallel to each other forming a rectangle.
- One player is chosen to be the 'rat' and one player is chosen to be the 'cat'.
- The cat's job is to chase the rat and catch it by tagging it.
- The rat must run up and down the rows trying to avoid the cat.
- The 'caller' will call out 'mpuke ekali!' which means 'let the rat stop'. At this stage the people holding hands will turn and join hands with the row which was beside them, e.g. switching rows from North/South to East/West. At this point the rat must still be able to adjust quickly to escape the cat.
GATO DOENTE - Brazil
Gato Doente ('sick cat') is a game for six to thirty players with plenty of room to run around.
The Game:
- One player is chosen to be the Gato (cat).
- The other players are scattered around the playing field.
- At a signal, the Gato chases the others.
- Each player the Gato touches becomes a Gato Doente (sick cat) and must hold his/her left hand over the part touched by the Gato.
- The sick cats chase the untouched players, who then become sick cats themselves.
- The last person untouched is the winner.
DOORKEEPER - Afghanistan
Materials: a soft small ball.
After school, children in Afghanistan play this game in the street. Any number of children can play.
The Game:
- Players stand in a circle with their legs apart, touching the legs of the players on either side.
- One player is chosen to stand in the middle and must attempt to get the ball through the legs of the other players.
- The players in the circle must try to stop the ball from getting through by moving their legs together.
- A player is out if they let the ball through.
- The last player in is the winner.
Photo: ©UNICEF/ HQ01-0504/Shehzad Noorani
THE TRIP - Croatia
Materials: chairs for all but one player.
The Game:
- Two rows of chairs are placed back to back.
- Everyone sits down except the person who is chosen to be the traveller.
- The traveller then assigns to each player the name of an item used for travel: ticket, suitcase, overcoat, money, passport, and so on.
- The traveller walks around the seated group saying: 'I am travelling to Belgrade, and I need my ticket.... suitcase... etc'.
- As each item is called out, the person gets up and follows the traveller. When everyone is following the traveller, the traveller suddenly shouts 'I have reached Belgrade!'.
- Everyone must rush to a chair. The person left standing is the new traveller.
© UNICEF/HQ02-0508/Ami Vitale
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