Develop gross motor skills while allowing kids to burn off some energy with physical multicultural games. Play the game 1,2,3 Dragon, which hails from China. In this game, children form a line; the person on the front of the line acts as the head of the dragon and the person on the back of the line acts as the tail. When the tail shouts, "1,2,3," the head of the dragon tries to catch the tail. Another game that promotes gross motor skill development is Handball, which originated in Europe. In this game, the players on two teams pass a ball back and forth with their hands, trying to score goals. The team that scores the most goals wins the game.
Play multicultural games that also help children hone their fine motor skills. Discuss how chopsticks are the eating utensils that are often used in Asia. Show children how to use the utensils, and have them try to transfer pieces of yarn or cotton balls from one bowl to another, the winner being the person who completes the task first. Another game that can develop fine motor skill is marbles, which hails from China. In this game, children toss marbles at marbles that are arranged on the floor inside a circle, trying to knock the marbles outside the circle. The person who knocks the most marbles out of the circle wins the game.
Multicultural games can also be used to develop problem-solving skills. The game Moonshine Baby originated in Ghana, where they play on a beach with shells. Modify the game for use with your students by using sidewalk chalk instead of shells. Select one person to be "it," and ask her to turn around. Ask one student to lie on the ground, and trace around him with sidewalk chalk. The person who is "it" turns around and has to guess who the outline belongs to. If "it" is correct, she joins the group and the person who was traced becomes "it" for the next round; if incorrect, the person remains "it," and another person is traced. Another guessing game is Name the Country, in which students have to guess what country you are describing based on a set of clues. For example, if you say; "This country's flag is red, white and blue; Paris is the capital; and it's home to the Eiffel Tower," the first person to guess France wins the round. The person who wins the most rounds wins the game.
It's important that you discuss the significance of these games with your students. Show children the location of the countries you are discussing on a map or a globe. Discuss features of the cultures of each country. Compare and contrast the games to games that are played in children's own culture. Stress that although people may look, speak, dress and act differently, in the end, they are all essentially very similar.