Indonesian Traditional Children’s Activities

Kelereng: Boys love this game. In a westernized society, this game is known as “marbles.” A player must draw a circle on the ground, and every player has to put one of their marbles inside of the circle. Then, all of the players must drop another marble on a point outside of the circle. The player that has the marble the farthest away from the circle gets to go first. The marble that was used outside of the circle is the marble the player will use to try and strike the other marbles inside of the circle. The striker marble must go outside of the circle every time it is used to strike another marble, because if it stays inside of the circle then it cannot leave the circle and that player must let the next farthest marble outside of the circle go. This game continues as long as the players like.

Lompat Tali: This game is extremely common among elementary school girls, and is almost like jumping rope except the rope is made of hundreds of elastic bands that are looped together to form a ring. While two girls hold the rope at each end, the other girls will try to jump over the rope at every turn. It is made from rubber bands, and thus makes the turns a lot less painful.

Kuda Lumping: Colorful, sequenced, and embroidered toy horses made from bamboo is used to boost the imaginations of the children of Indonesia. It is also used for decoration during holidays.