Traditional Arabic Games...

Hi Grandies I thought you might like to learn a little bit about one of the traditional games that is played here in the UAE. Jasmine & Tamika you'll be able to understand this easier than the younger ones so why don't you try playing this game......for the little ones, Lucian, Angus, Isaac and Talia maybe mummy and Daddy can show you what to do.

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.  At sunset, or Al Maghreb as it is called in Arabic, the games would all end and the children would return to their homes.

The "Al Saqlah" Game  = Marbles 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. http://www.emirates.org/traditions/games.html