What are the kids playing today?

We were all children and a separate important place in our hearts and memories is occupied by games, because this is such a direct association with that distant warm childish carelessness. Are games as important today as they used to be? Are the kids playing with something unrelated to the phone?

After talking a little with adults and with modern children, you can tell a little about how much the current games of children differ from the games in the USSR or in the 2000s.

Vera Sergeevna, middle school teacher: “We played a lot of the simplest board games that came with children’s magazines, rolled the die and made moves, diluting the game with rich conversation. Of course, there were also many outdoor games: the simplest hide-and-seek or catch-up, and we also loved the games “Ali Baba how much is a servant” and leapfrog. In general, our games, by today’s standards, were quite traumatic, but the message of cruelty did not come from them, we played for our own pleasure, and not for the sake of victory.

In fact, children are happy to play at the present time. Ksyusha, 9 years old: “My friends and I often get together at breaks or after school, play hide and seek, coronavirus, spider-man, above the legs, stop the ground, catch up with me. From board games we like: drum, uno, monopoly. In general, I like outdoor games more than board games, because it’s more fun, but I like to play more outdoor games on my phone.”

Time has changed, and with it the content of the games, but one thing has remained the same – the love of children for such leisure. And there are some similarities in the games. For example, the coronavirus game is the zombie game of the 2000s: “the driver runs around and infects those playing on the court, so the number of drivers increases”. There used to be and is now a game of “stop the earth”, and, of course, it is still interesting to play the long-familiar blind man’s buff in everything. Also, the current generation still loves the patty game, everyone knows and remembers it, as if it carries a certain memory more than others.

In general, children have a very strong need for live interactive or just fun games. Thanks to games, children develop comprehensively, learn to contact the outside world and try on various social roles. But nowadays it is scary to let a child go out alone, especially in large and noisy cities, children have less freedom and free time from various activities. Peers do not have some kind of constant collective interaction, as it used to be. No one directs children to regular communication.

Vera Sergeevna, middle school teacher: “If I get my class together and offer them a game, they always choose live communication over the phone.”

In addition, in the modern cult of productivity, children more often fight for victory, they lose the simple pleasure of playing and spending time together. Children have become less socialized, because of this, communication problems and misunderstandings often arise.

If children are given more time and opportunities to play and communicate with friends, properly directed and provided with support, creating a strong friendly team, then games are important and interesting for them, as in any younger generation.

Daria Ilyicheva.