Traditional Games In The UAE
Traditional Games
In the past there were no Nintendo or Sega games, there were no jet skis or dune buggies in the UAE. The people were very poor and couldn’t afford to buy toys for their children. There were only palm trees, seashells and pebbles. However, children in the past were very creative in inventing their own games and making their own toys from the materials they found. Usually girls and boys played separately and the boy’s games tended to be more active. Often the games echoed the type of jobs the girls and boys would do when they were older. At sunset, or Al Maghreb as it is called in Arabic, the games would all end and the children would return to their homes.
Games
Al Saqlah
This game is played by girls only. The number of players are not more than four girls. They make a shallow hole in the ground and put a number of shells or pebbles in the hole. One of them throws the key stone upwards, extracts as many stones as she can from the hole and then catches the key stone before it hits the ground. She repeats this action for as long as she can catch the key stone. When she fails to catch the key stone, she must return the last lot of stones to the hole and the turn moves to the next player. This continues until there are no more stones in the hole. The winner is the player who collects the highest number of stones.
Al Meryeihana
A strong rope is tied to a tree branch. Two girls sit on two facing ropes and two other girls push them to make them swing. It can be played by one girl on her own too.
Al Qarahief
Al Qarhaf is made from an empty circular tin. Two tins are pierced in the middle and a string is passed through the holes and fixed inside each tin. The player puts one of his feet into each of the tins and then tries to move forward without falling over.