Recreational games played in Ghana by both males and females

Right from infancy, a child begins to play and enjoy playing especially with the mother. Whenever a baby is crying, anyone around has to keep the baby engaged with lullaby or some play. A number of childhood plays and games which every child is likely to have engaged in have been collected and presented in this article.

FOOTBALL

 Ghana is a hub of many sporting activities like football, beach soccer, and ampe(a local game played normally by women but becomes lovely when played with guys). It is so interesting that people love sports all over the world and in Ghana people love sports as well. Young people mostly enjoy it the most because they have the enthusiastic energy to engage in the game. During the days when not many of these nicely made balls were available, the people played ball and you might be wondering how. There are some fruits like watermelon, mangoes, oranges, and others that are round so in those days, we pluck unripe mangoes, and oranges among other fruits as our balls and we play with joy because it is our source of entertainment. 

As the days progressed and technology emerged, plastic rubbers, socks, and balloons are what we roll around as our balls. Gradually, plastic balls were made and young ones including babies yearn to get one for playing. In our schools, young boys will carry balls in their bags to school and some will even use their feeding money to buy balls during break time they gather and play. Playing is not always a moment of enjoyment sometimes they get hurt but it does not deter anyone from playing again. Now, the goalpost is sometimes just two stones put apart on a drawn line with a measured length using the feet in between for the opposite sides.

At the beach where there is a lot of sand, beach soccer is what is common there. In these modern days, people get some nice ball and they gather at the beach to play and have fun and it even gets more interesting during festive seasons as plenty of people attend to watch. Stating it right, I think the governments for the past years noticed the significance of sports so that it has been included in the academic calendar or basic schools and higher levels as well because this has even now become work for people. About some months or weeks to the day of playing the games, teachers who also enjoy and know sports start preparations to get the wards ready as they battle other schools in what we refer to as inter-school competition.

    In fact, for the love we have for games and especially football, we always support our country when she is playing with other countries and when victory is attained, there is joy all over the country. Back then when there were not many televisions, we had to go to people who were wealthy and had television to watch because no one can afford to skip watching his or her country play. After black and white television came the color tv which made us even enjoy watching the matches. Football is a ball of the people and everyone wants to see someone play or play by himself especially in competitions to defend their community, school, or country.

AMPE

Ampe is a widely known game which is played mostly be girls or females but not prohibited to be played by their male counterparts. In schools, when it is break time, ladies are seen in groups of two, four and more playing ampe together. It is a game that the ladies are seen to be jumping as they move their legs in a distinct pattern as the hands are also clapped rhythmically. 

HIDE AND SEEK

This one goes like this, children and most especially boys are the one who predominantly play this game. Normally it is done in groups like two groups where one goes into hiding and the other searches for them. Once found they shout as if they are shooting the other colleagues to indicate they have been found out. The shout kpa! kpa! kpo! like a gunshot. The other group also goes into hiding whilst he other searches them out and it goes on in that recurring fashion.

HOPSCOTCH

This is also a very nice game in which the shape of a rectangle is differently intersected in drawn on the ground with different numbers and with one leg raided, the player has to jump into the boxes after throwing a stone into it. A game like this is also a female-dominated one and most especially too very young females.

3 GRAPH

Look at this picture below that shows what the 3-graph game looks like and it is played by both males and females. The only trick to winning is trying to play with smartness and it is a very gentle and mind-exercising game. Each opponent uses either 3 stones or 3 stones to play this game and the one who wins takes a stone until all of an opponents stones are finished.

10 GRAPH

Also very related to the 3-graph but here, each opponent uses 10 stones or sticks to play.

RUBBER TIE GAMES

These rubber ties that are used to tie food packs are also used in very interesting ways to play games. 

The players stand at a distance and target the small broomstick leaning against the wall and once it is hit and it falls, the person who does this picks every rubber tie on the ground and the stick is positioned back. It is such an interesting game to play and it is a game that is played like a seasonal game where for some time it goes into hibernation and after some months, it comes back again.

With this one also the players stand at a distance and throw the rubbers so if your is able to overlap the ones on the ground, you have won and will take all the rubbers on the ground.

Well these are only some of the interesting games one can find in the Ghanaian or maybe African communities and most especially among young children. Everyone who grew up in the village will definitely have gone through these exquisite experiences of playing these games and the fun that comes with them.