We all have games and activities that shaped our childhoods.
If you’re a 2000s kid like me, you probably spent your time watching Looney Toons and playing four-square. If you grew up during the 80s or 90s, the movie theater and arcade were likely popular hangout spots. If the 60s and 70s were your childhood years, your parents probably sent you outside for most of the day to play with your siblings or friends.
We all have unique childhood experiences based on when and where we grew up — and the same is true for sponsored children!
Here are some ways children around the world like to have fun:
Zambia
Children in Zambia spend most of their free time outside playing games!
Zambia is an African country located just below the equator. The weather is warm almost year-round, so Zambian children love spending lots of time outside.
They enjoy playing traditional games that are variations of British or American games, like hopscotch and marbles. They’re also very resourceful, using whatever materials they can find.
Incidunu is one common sport most young children like to play. In this version of hide-and-seek, one of the players throws or kicks a ball, and the seeker must retrieve it before they can start looking for the other players.
Another Zambian game is a variation of marbles called sojo. Instead of marbles, players use bottlecaps, which they try to flick into holes made in the ground. Then, they can begin attacking their opponent’s bottlecaps to prevent them from making it into their holes. The winner of the game earns bragging rights and the nickname “the king” — that is, until the next person wins!
India
Boys and girls in India are always ready to play a game of cricket
One of the most popular sports in India is cricket, a game similar to baseball. In fact, cricket has become India’s unofficial national sport. No matter where you go, you’ll undoubtedly encounter a cricket match in a nearby field or park.
Board games are also a popular pastime for Indian children. Pachisi is an ancient board game dating back to around 500 B.C. It involves two to four players strategically moving their pawns around on a cross-shaped piece of cloth. The first person to move all their pawns to the center wins. If you’ve ever played Parcheesi, the Western adaptation, or Sorry!, a popular board game with very similar rules, you know how much fun it is!
Honduras
Honduran children enjoy staying active through activities like baseball and cycling
In Honduras, children grow up in a family-oriented environment, so it’s no surprise that they love spending their free time with family members. But they always make time to get together with friends for some fun.
Honduras has a hot and tropical climate, so children spend much of their time together outdoors. They enjoy staying active through popular sports like fútbol (what you might know as soccer), basketball, and volleyball. Sandlot baseball is also a favorite for boys and girls to play during sunny afternoons and weekends. Most Hondurans call the game bate — the Spanish word for “bat.”
Many Honduran children also pass the time riding their bikes around the neighborhood, flying kites, and playing pick-up fútbol games.
Thailand
Kids in Thailand enjoy filling their afternoons with extracurricular activities
Thai children grow up in a culture that emphasizes hard work and education, but that doesn’t mean they don’t know how to have fun!
Many children in Thailand have responsibilities like homework and chores, but once those are finished, there’s still plenty of time for fun activities with family and friends. Some favorites include traditional children’s games like tag, hide-and-seek, and catch.
Other boys and girls may join one of their school’s extra-curricular activities, where they can participate in choirs, dance performances, sports, and much more. Children in our child sponsorship program in Thailand often enjoy activities like embroidery and arts and crafts.
Jordan
Children all across Jordan love playing soccer!
If you ask almost any Jordanian child what their favorite sport is, you’d probably get one answer: soccer!
Football — or soccer, to us — is the most popular sport in Jordan by far. No matter where you go, you’ll probably run into both kids and adults kicking around a ball. The sport is so popular that kids who don’t own the necessary equipment often play with empty soda cans for balls and use stones to mark out the goals.
Of course, football isn’t the only thing Jordanian kids do for fun. Many children living in populated areas enjoy playing other sports, like badminton, basketball, volleyball, and tennis.
Children all around the world love having fun! The games and activities they do help shape their young lives and create long-lasting memories.
Unfortunately, countless children in countries like Zambia, Peru, Nepal, and India are living with little access to essentials like food, education, and healthcare — and without their basic needs met, having fun is secondary. Their childhoods are being shaped by poverty, but you can help change that.
When you become a child sponsor, you’ll provide a boy or girl living in poverty with essentials like nutritious food, clean water, medical care, and educational opportunities to help them break the cycle of poverty. Most of all, you’ll give them the chance to learn about Jesus.
Click the button below to learn how to change a child’s life through sponsorship.