What do we play? Call to prepare game library for American childhood and adolescence

What do we play?

Call to prepare a game library for American childhood and adolescence

«The first relationship of expression and creativity with the subject is the game.

The playful impulse in mammals is a need to move to grow,

experiment, learn, and rehearse relationships to live together».

Dr. Prof. Raimundo Dinello

The game is a universal activity with crucial importance for people, particularly in the lives of children and adolescents throughout their development. Through playful exchanges, children establish links and display basic functions such as motor skills, cognition, experimentation, and affectivity.

It generates a feeling of well-being and significantly impacts health; it promotes imagination and creativity and favors social communication skills between peers and intergenerational. It also allows for elaborating conflicts, fears, and frustrations.

Recreational activities are one of the ways how children appropriate culture. The various childhood contexts determine the different forms that play assumes and their environment’s importance to this exercise.

Playing is a right that all children and adolescents have, and it is recognized in article 31 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Despite this, unfortunately, the conditions are not always created for this right to be fully realized. It is the responsibility of the adult world to recognize this legitimacy, and prived the necessary support. At the same time, goverments must work for the promotion and protection of these conditions, particularly addressing the difficulties of children and adolescents in contexts of poverty, in a condition of disability, indigenous, or who belong to minority groups.

Within the framework of International Play Day and the Day of childhood and adolescence of the Américas, the Inter-American Children’s Institute of the OAS launches the call «What are we playing? Game library for American childhood and adolescence 

This call seeks the participation of children and adolescents from all the OAS States by presenting typical games of their countries. The call will be held in English and Spanish.

Bases:

Those who participate in the call must be children and adolescents born or residing in the American continent.

Submit a game write-up of no more than 4,000k characters or a video no longer than 3 minutes.

The writing or the video must be made by children or adolescents who reside in an Americas country.

Proposals will be received in the following e-mail aquejugamos@iinoea.org

The following information has to be included in the email:

•       The name of the game.
•       A pseudonym of the participant.
•       Participant’s age.
•       Country of residence of the participant/participants
•       Country of origin of the game.
•       Name and email of referring adult

Selection:

The IIN is responsible for the selection of the published games. What is sought in the game proposal is: the simplicity of the explanation, a correct understanding of the game, originality, and cultural representation.

You have time to submit your game until April 20, 2024

Goog luck!