TIMELESS GAMES, OPEN-AIR FUN

Timeless Games, Open-Air Fun

One thing is certain, our kids spend a lot of time behind a PC monitor, with a tablet in their hands or in front of the television rather than in the open air in company of their friends. So our guys are undoubtedly children of another generation, another world: the digital/virtual world. They are born and grow up in the name of speed and change.

Technology, which certainly facilitates the life of each us, becomes part of their life from an early age. Our children learn to click on the icons, to enlarge or reduce the images before holding a pencil, goodbye to the cars that deceive the waiting of the baby food, replaced by the mum’s martphone, goodbye to the grandmother’s lullaby in favor of youtube…

But it would be nice to share with them the emotion of the so called “games of the past” side by side with videogames and APPs that help them to develop their cognitive abilities.

THE GAMES OF THE PAST IN THE OPEN AIR, PERFECT ALSO ON THE BEACH

• Witch commands color! A witch is named who has to choose a color by shouting “witch commands color…. RED! “. All the children have to run to find the color named by the witch and touch it.
  Whoever fails to find it is eliminated, naturally the child who remains last wins.

• The game of the week! It is a very ancient game, symbol of the games in the yard. A sort of chessboard is drawn with a piece of chalk by alternating the rectangular squares with two numbers and one. Then a stone is thrown. Each child must first jump on two feet and where there is a stone, jump only with one foot. The last box is in a semicircle, and there, instead, you have to turn around to complete the path by doing it backwards.
  The goal is to get to the end of the bell and get out without making a mistake by jumping.
• Shooting with caps! To play you need to be at least four. So, start in pairs, facing each other about four meters apart. Four hats and a long wooden spoon must be obtained. One child takes the hats and the other the spoon. The first throws one hat after the other to his partner who will have to try to catch them with a spoon.
  The pair with the most hats wins. To complicate the game, you can also keep time.
• The glasses race! A starting line and a finish line are established. The children arrange themselves along the starting line and each one takes a glass full of water. When the “go” takes place, the children will have to leave towards the finish line trying not to spill even a drop of water.
  Upon arrival everyone will be rewarded, even those who spilled all the water.

• Sand castles! A classic and always up-to-date game that can be also propose to the older children. To build a sand castle it is only necessary to have a bucket, a spade and a lot of imagination. The sandy beach of Alassio is perfect to create wonderful castles because thin, golden and without stones. You can also decorate your building with small stones and shells, that you can find most in autumn and spring.
  
  Except for contraindications, over time Alassio has also become famous for an amazing and unique event that takes place during the first week of August: the competition of Castles of Sand, real and true works of art, thought and created by the young bathers, helped by the adults, on the shore of each bathing establishment.
  Competition that names the most original and well created work, which win the award of the most beautiful castle.

THE UNIVERSAL GAME OF THE MARBLES (or balls) IN ALL ITS VARIATIONS

In the past the universal game of the marbles (or balls) was played with little balls made of earthenware painted in bright colours. The children built themselves their balls baking the clay into the oven at home. From XVIII untile the XX century, Germany was the world center of marble factory, that orinally were made of marble. Recently steel balls are used or also big marbles made of coloured glass in wedges. Plastic balls, in used since the 1970’s, are the most common. But what can you do with simple balls?

• Pitted marble: several holes are dug in the ground. Each player has a defined number of marbles at his disposal. The total is distributed in the holes, in calculated and memorized quantities. In turn, each player throws a ball towards the holes, standing on the starting line which is drawn at a certain distance from the holes. If the player manages to get the ball into the pocket, he takes the balls that are in it, and takes his own again. If this does not happen you loose the ball that will be placed in the hole where it stopped closest.
  Whoever accumulates the most marbles wins.

• Marbles in the pile: a circle is drawn with a diameter of approximately 30 cm. All players place a marble in the circle to form a pile. Each player in turn stands next to the pile and drops another marble on top of it. If he hits the target and the marbles in the pile move and fall from it, the player who threw them takes them.
  The player who has collected the most marbles when there is only one final marble left in the pile wins.
• Track for the marbles: the first thing to do is to build a track for the marbles in the sand, so that it has “pitfalls”, such as unexpected curves or steep ups and downs. The players will have to put their own marble on the track and take turns rolling them with squash strokes (a quick movement of the hand that is performed by snapping the index finger on the thumb).
  The winner is the one who manages to do the lap three times in the shortest possible time.

In autumn have a look to the event website of Alassio because from some years “THE GAMES OF THE PAST” event takes place and it is really loved both by the children, who appreciate their parents’ games, and by the adults, who become again children for a whole day.

At this point, children and parents, you just have to put down your smartphones, tablets and video games, free your mind and give vent to your imagination and memory to become all children again and fully enjoy your holiday at the Hotel Ligure an in Alassio.
And don’t forget… Sometimes pausing thoughts can only make you feel good.

Have fun!