Traditional Filipino Children's Games

Pre-Games and Traditional Filipino Games

• Pre-games include all preliminary formalities before the actual competition starts.

Bunutan

• A player holds all pieces of straw in their closed fist, with only the top ends showing.

Drawing Lots in England

• In England, people have historically drawn lots to settle arguments and select the "it" in games.

Catching Fingers

• The game has an eldest girl considered the "Mother".

Fishing by Hand

• When a fish is caught, the blindfolded fisher must guess the name of the player before removing the blindfold.

Kaliwa o Kanan

• A player picks up a token and secretly shifts it repeatedly from their left to right hand behind their back.

Batu – Bato sa Langit

• The player in the middle throws pieces of paper, leaves, or twigs in the air.

Batu-Bato

• A type of bird with grayish-brown feathers that blend well with stone.
• Means "pretend stone" or "something like a stone".

Tao o Ibon (Cara y Cruz)

• A player flips a coin in the air and covers it as it falls on the floor/ground.
• Also known as "Man or Bird" in many parts of the Philippines.

Gansal o Pares (Nanko in Japan)

• One player picks up and encloses in one hand as many tokens as they can hold.
• In Japan, Nanko is a guessing game where one player tries to guess the total number of pine nuts held by another player.