Halloween games of yesteryear have much to teach tech-loving children
HALLOWEEN will be celebrated on Wednesday. We Irish have taken to carving out the menacing face of Jack-O’-Lantern on a pumpkin on Halloween night, placing a lit candle inside it and putting it on the window sill to spook passers-by.
Bonfires are lit and children dress up in costumes to go “trick or treat”.
And, traditionally, each family member is given a slice of barmbrack with the evening meal.
Great interest is taken in the outcome because there is a pea, a coin and a ring wrapped in baking paper in each cake, which respectively predict an uncertain financial future, a prosperous year and a good marriage.
Families enjoy a variety of nuts and fruit.
Children’s games such as blind man’s bluff and snap apple are played.
Halloween week was also a time for children to enjoy outdoor activity in the winter sun.
Children derived hours of pleasure, exercise and fresh air from games like cracking conkers, skipping rope, hop scotch and glass marbles.
Traditional children’s games developed life skills such as creativity, co-operation, physical movement, strategy, imagination, mobility, competitiveness and social interaction in many past generations of children.
Today’s children are growing up in the indoor world of virtual games and are a tech savvy generation.
But traditional children’s games still have a lot to offer. Billy Ryle Tralee, Co Kerry