In this period of sanitary emergency and lockdown, one of the most common problems in Italian families concerns the closure of schools and the difficulty of having to manage children at home. With the intensification of routine household activities and the work obligations of parents, that of keeping children busy, alternating learning moments with others of leisure, has become a real challenge. If the toys available, the readings, the audiobooks, the drawing and maybe some healthy activities to be carried out on the balcony in the open air are not enough, you can resort to some DIY games of the past. Here are some ideas from different past eras. These are simple but cheerful ideas which, in addition to entertaining the children, allow them to transmit their values ​​and habits of the past as well as the educational concept that you can have fun even with few means and a little imagination.

The figures with the rope

Let's start with a game popular in the 70s, a period in which a few colored balls, a bit of rope, an elastic band and a few other economic and household means were enough to spend time. Precisely in this era some historical pastimes were born, including hide and seek, tug of war, bell, a two three star, flag-stealer. A game called was very common among indoor games figures with rope, Or a very easy game for two, which today's grandparents certainly remember. To recreate it, you only need fifty centimeters of fine twine, even the kitchen one can be fine. The two challengers can place themselves in front of each other and, in turn, must weave the string between their fingers trying to create figures of any kind, for example a fish, a candy. The same game, done with the ecstatic and then widespread in many parts of the world, it is called Cat's Cradle or cradle of the cat.
For both, today's children can play with their siblings or parents, and if they live at home with their grandparents, let them tell you about it.

The top

Another legacy of the 70s is a game that we all know, or the spinning top. This toy can be easily made at home using recycled materials. In fact, a wooden skewer or pencil, sheets of paper or colored cardstock (also the one for pasta packs), scissors and glue or adhesive tape are enough to create a beautiful and functional top. The children, with the help of a coaster or a compass, can make a circle of paper quite often, color it to taste and then insert the skewer exactly in the center. To fix the top of the top, simply attach a plastic ball or a 1 cent coin to the tip of the stick. A fun idea can be to create comic or cartoon characters, colored patterns or educational on the card Newton's disc.

Origami

Many of the toys of the past had not only the advantage, as we have seen, of being created at home with poor materials, but also that of developing the manual skills and ingenuity of children. They are a perfect example of this paper origami, a fun pastime that requires only a few sheets of paper, perhaps colored, and some time. Among the great classics are theairplane and the small boat, but also more interactive and complex games such asorigami hell and paradise also called fortune teller or magic square. To build it, just take a sheet of A4 paper, fold it along the diagonals, take the corners and fold them internally until you have a square, then turn and repeat the same operation. Once folded, first in one direction and then in another, you're done! At this point you can decorate the sides of the origami with numbers and write something in the corresponding paper wedge. Parents can insert general answers, but also mathematical or general knowledge riddles and, of course, play together with their children. Fun for the whole family is guaranteed!

Camping inside the house

In this period, being forced within the walls of the home can have many repercussions on mood, including that of children. To give them a smile, a little bit of pri: the "camping inside the house". In the past, in fact, a little fabric, recycled materials and a little imagination were enough to build a camping tent, a small house or a fort in the living room or bedroom. An example of a do it yourself solution, in this sense, that is simple to implement is that of Indian hut. To build it, in fact, you can use three-five wooden sticks or broom handles to give life to the base of the tent, a rope to fix them and finally an old sheet or a blanket to cover the whole. To make the structure stable, you can also use clothespins, adhesive tape or nails, while to decorate the interior you can add rugs, cushions and Christmas lights. As an alternative to the Indian hut, and depending on what material you have at home, you can build one real cottage; in this case you can resort to a box, lifting and gluing the upper part so as to create the roof or, more simply, you can cover a table with an old sheet, in which to carve doors and windows. Finally, you can add decorative elements made with pannolenci, fabric or cardboard, and, of course, let children make a creative contribution to the project.

The treasure hunt

For creative parents, however, it may be interesting to brush up on a game from the past that can be a little more laborious at an organizational level, but that can be even more compelling. For those who did not remember the rules, the players were divided into two teams that, thanks to a series of scattered clues to guess containing instructions for discovering the next stage, had to get to find a mysterious object that consisted of the final prize. There home version and "lockdown" of the treasure hunt it can be thought of as a race between siblings or an adventurous challenge for just one child. For clues you may want to consider including some skill or memory test as well as some question or riddle concerning specific knowledge or subjects. The prize may perhaps consist of a sweet treat, a homemade toy or any other object that could represent a moment of joy and a small conquest. Of course, you can also choose to organize one treasure hunt that follows a themefor example that of pirates for boys and that of fairies or princesses for girls.

Whatever the chosen activity, the ideal is always to involve children in all stages of implementation, allowing them to make a significant artisan and creative contribution to the project and to feel useful and important. In the same way, parents and relatives can accompany the moment of the game to that of the sharing stories about one's childhood, so as to intrigue children and grandchildren and pass on what were their DIY pastimes.

Photos: games of the past_origami_peakpx.jpg
Photos: games of the past_origami carta_pxfuel.jpg

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