In most of the western
world when you say the word 'games' you either think of
outdoor sports or getting curled up on the sofa playing your
favourite video games on the computer or online. Some
African games are played in the same way with football being
the continent's favourite game with the skill and
determination of footballers from there now being snapped up
by league clubs across the world including the UK's Premier
League. And the reason for its
popularity? Simple, its free and easy to play and even for the
poorest kids they can bundle together plastic bags into a ball
and kick it around.
But in rural Africa outside
the major towns and cities there are no computer or internet
games. In fact there's no electricity even if such games were
affordable. Instead kids and children play games like Mancala
and Ayo where all is needed are some pebbles and holes in the
ground as
shown in the picture above. In fact stones and pebbles
feature highly in African games for kids and most are very
simple such as Kudoda, a popular children's game in Zimbabwe
where a pebble is thrown in the air and children take it in
turns to pick up as many other pebbles as possible from a bowl
before the thrown pebble is caught. When all the pebbles have
been collected the winner is the child who has the most. Other
popular games include Mbube Mbube from South Africa and Ampe
from Ghana.
We used to have a selection of traditional African games for
kids here on this site however recently launched them at a new
dedicated African games. There you can play many traditional African board and cultural games online together
with a selection of the best African animals games. There's
also a section of African games for younger children
introducing them to Africa, its people, countries and culture.
The site
also includes videos and pictures of children playing games in
their streets and communities together with further background
information.
You can
play some traditional African games below or visit our sister
site to play a wider African games collection here.
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African Kids Dancing
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