Chinese Games for Kids

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Chinese Games for Kids

Chinese Yo-Yo

Yo-Yo is a popular kids game in the world. We will introduce Chinese Yo-Yo in this feature. This is the second game in the series of Chinese Games for Kids.

Chinese yo-yo is also called Pull-Bell, which has a long history as described in literature from the Ming dynasty (1386-1644 AD). There are two forms of Chinese yo-yo, the single-bell and the double-bell. Kids usually play the double-bell yo-yo.

The double-bell yo-yo looks just like two wheels on an axle. The Chinese yo-yo is played in the string, and the two ends of the string are attached to two sticks. So the player moves the two sticks to control the yo-yo .

The Eagle and the Chicks
There is an old Chinese game called 'The Eagle and the Chicks', which is a fun, easy to play and a perfect outdoor game for kids. This is the third game in this series of Chinese Games for kids.

This game needs at least five kids to start, and the more kids participating, the more fun it would be. Choose a kid as the eagle and another kid as the mother hen. The rest of the kids will be the chicks. In the game, the eagle tries to catch one of the chicks so he will be no longer the eagle, and the mother hen tries to protect the chicks from the eagle.

The chicks will line behind the mother hen one by one. The first chick behind the mother hen will hold on to her waist or cloth, the one behind the first chick will hold on the first, and so on. The eagle can catch the chick by tagging the chick, and the mother hen can protect the chicks by spreading her arms shoulder high. When the chasing begins, the eagle is free to run anywhere to catch the chick. The mother hen will try to be in front of the eagle to protect the chicks.

The eagle has to go around the mother hen to catch the chick and he will try to avoid any contact with the mother hen. To help the mother hen, the chicks will try to run out of the way of the eagle. The chicks don't have to be in the line all the time. They may run out of the line and play tag with the eagle.

If the eagle catches a chick, this game will be over and that chick will be the eagle in the next game. Check out the following links for more Chinese games.

Piaji
Piaji is a popular game for kids in Heilongjang Province, China. I played the game when I were a kid. The origin of the game is unknown.

Making Piaji
A piaji is made up with hard paperboard (the paper box used for Nike shoes will be perfect for this). A piaji is round with a diameter of 1.5 - 3 inches, which has a picture on one side or a different picture on each side. See the following picture for an example.

Monkey King
Traditionally, a round piaji seal is used to print pictures on the hard paperboard, then a piaji is

cut out around the picture on the board. The paiji seal carving is a Chinese folk art itself, which makes a piaji collectable. Unfortunately, the paperboard with pictures already printed is now available in stores, so the traditional paiji seal is no longer used to make a piaji. The quality of the printing is rather poor so piaji collecting is almost worthless.

Playing the game
The game needs two kids to play. Each kid should have at least ten piajies. Just toss a coin to decide who plays first. Let us say kid A wins the toss. Kid B has to place a piaji on the ground at start (a little rough surface will make the game easier). Kid A will use a piaji to hit the piaji on the ground and try to make it turn over. If the piaji turns over, kid A wins the piaji of kid B, and kid B has to place another piaji on the ground and kid A will hit it again. If the piaji keeps the same side on the ground, it will be kid B turn. The piaji of kid A will keep the position after hitting and kid B will pick up the piaji on the ground and use it to hit the piaji of kid A. This game can go on like this as long as both kids have piajies in hand.

Techniques of the game
Hold a part of a piaji using your thumb and your second finger. Your thumb is on top of the piaji and your second finger is under the piaji. Fold your second finger like a 9. Hold the rest of your fingers together in your hand. Move your hand down quickly to give the piaji some speed before it leaves your hand to hit the piaji on the ground. The trick is to turn your hand a little bit just before you let the piaji go.

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