Let us play!

When I was a child, I remember that my favorite game was luto-lutuan. My mother bought me those miniature clay pots and pans.  

I will get leaves from our garden, cut it into pieces and mix them with water and I will cook my own meal.  I played with my brother (well, we were both young then) and we were very happy!  

That was 25 years ago, when for kids like us, having fun is playing with one another, picking flowers, laughing and sharing.  

I also remembered that we used to make bubbles out of Gumamela flowers; made bracelets and necklaces out of Santan flowers. It was just amazing how we can make things out of what we see in our environment. We used to play "Luksong Tinik" and "Luksong Baka" how fun to jump and hop. It was a lot of fun!

Now that we are at Generation Z a lot of internet gaming and gadgets are being introduced not only for adults but for kids as well.  Examples may include Laptop / Net-book, PSP, iPhone, iPad, Xbox and a whole lot more.  

Kids no longer play luto-lutuan, it has been replaced with Diner Dash or Restaurant City.  They might not also enjoy tree planting activities together with their parents because they just want to stay at home and play FarmVille.  Or maybe Farm Town, does not want to go out to sweat under the sun play because they'd rather play Tennis and baseball with their Nintendo Wii.

A lot about games has evolved but how are we "adults" are catching up?

* First, we need to accept that we are at the time of our lives where toy trains and barbie dolls are not that "in" anymore.  Where kids are more savvy with gadgets than us. 

 * Second, we need to learn how they did it! 

Personally, I am not into gaming, I do social networking but hardly play games online or via FB, iPhone or iPad.  Recently, I had all the time in my hands and had a very good opportunity to play not only one but three games (and many others on the side).


It all started when I was introduced to "The SIMS Social" one game in Facebook that made me interesting because I will be making my own home and socialize with friends.  I can create rooms and fill them with furniture and appliances and it will increase my house value, how cool!

I know this is kind of late, but I was also introduced to FarmVille!  I just do it for fun but I am not in a hurry to widen my farm yet.


Then another one is the "Bug Village", I play this one via iPad and I find it really cute because I am growing my own Village full of ants and bees.

Generally speaking, there are a lot of online games that we have right now.  No age required, for as long as you have the resources and the interest then you can go ahead and play them. One can stay at home all day and just play them all (no kidding! there are people who plays the entire day and night), in short, its sort of addictive.


There is nothing wrong with online games, I am not against it but we just need to remember that there might be negative impacts of being so engrossed with online gaming.  For kids, this lessens the interaction that they should be enjoying with other kids by playing hide and seek or running.  With this, kids should be guided by their parents or guardians in limiting the use of technology for playing.


Technology for learning is a different story all together.. :)