Indonesian Children's Games
Across the thousands of islands comprising the Asian-Pacific country of Indonesia, children continue to play traditional games long celebrated by the Indonesian culture. From the classic game of Kelereng, or marbles, preferred mostly by boys, to Lompat Tali, or jump rope, popular among girls, to games popular among both sexes, such as Layang-layang, or kite flying, many traditional Indonesian games are variations of games played by children around the world.
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Kelereng
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Players draw a small circle with a stick in the dirt to form the playing ground for Kelereng. They take turns placing a marble within the circle, then dropping a marble outside of the circle. The player who dropped his marble the furthest outside the circle is the first person to take a turn. Players take turns attempting to use the outside marbles to strike the marbles inside the circle, forcing them outside of the drawn boundary. If the striker's outer marble also ends up outside of the circle that player can claim all of the marbles that she has knocked outside of the circle.
Lompat Tali
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Players take turns trying to jump over a rope formed from hundreds of rubber bands joined together into the shape of a giant ring in Lompat Tali. Two players hold the ends of the elastic rope while another player attempts to jump over the rope. They raise the rope a little higher each time the player successfully completes a jump until the player can no longer clear the height of the rope without touching it.
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Layang-layang
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Kite-fliers battle each other in one popular variation of the game of Layang-layang. They use a fighting kite, which is a very light kite made from waxed paper and a bamboo frame, with crushed glass adhered to the string. They manipulate the kite in attempts to use the sharp, glass-bedecked string to cut down their opponents' kites. The champion the player whose kite is the last to remain intact.
Gansing
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Players use a stick to draw a circle in the ground with a diameter of about 50 cm. They take hold of the bamboo handle of the gansing, an Indonesian version of the spinning top, and pull the long string wound around it to set it spinning. They try to aim the gansing so that it knocks an opponent's toy out of the circle. Kids also enjoy the whistling noise produced by an opening in the top.
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