Traditional Kichwa Games

3 games, when and how to play, and applications for the K-12 classroom

On our fist day at the center where we will be taking Kichwa language classes in Otavlo, we were given a tour of the space above which, along with 2 other buildings, used to be a textile facotry but has now beeen transformed into a living museum. This Cultural center strives to protect, recuperate, and maintain Kichwa heritage and practices through dance, music and langauge lessons, in addition to hosting important cultural events. During our tour, we were exposed to many Kichwa materials and cultural practices, including more samples of the improvisational Andean music in the style of Yarina, which I shared in my last post, and artesan work such as weaving and embroidery (see below — yay for a new, handcrafted hat!).

In addition to the artesan trades we observed, we were introduced to three traditional Kichwa games! These games, we were surprised to learn, are actually often played at funerals as a way of chasing away the sadness that often lingers after a burial.

Upon receiving permission from the “rezador” (one who prays, I think, given that “rezar” is the verb to pray…so, I imagine a priest-like leader?) people would set up thatched floor mats and materials to play these games. It is literally impossible to participate in them without ending up smiling and laughing. This practice reminded me a bit of some of the customs, or at least philosophies, surrounding Día de los Muertos in Mexico, in the sense that death is not meant to be sad but rather intended to mark a passage to the next phase of life; death should be a joyful celebration of the life that has been lived and a natural return to the Earth that completes the full cycle of life.

In this post, I will:

• Share the 3 traditional Kichwa games which we learned, how to set up /play them (including what materials are needed),
• Provide some pictures and videos of each one for concrete examples (which may also be useful to show students when introducing the games), and
• Most important, at the end of the post, I’ll share some ideas of how to incorporate the games into the K-12 classroom in practical ways.

Game #1: Batanari

This game starts out looking like leg wrestling but then it takes a funny turn.

Materials:

• Mats to roll on (we used thatched mats covered in Andean textiles, which would be awesome but yoga mats would work too).
• Two woven textiles (ideally woven by hand from the Andes! But even a karate belt might suffice in a pinch).

Set Up/How to Play:

• As player one rolls onto their back, the other stays upright and tries to smack him or her on the backside.
• Then, they switch: player two rolls back while player one stays upright and tries to smack him or her on the backside.
• This back and forth, staggered smacking of backsides continues until one player forfeits by yelling “¡callo!” (I give up!)
• Repeat with different volunteer pairs for as long as it’s fun / however much time you have to fill:

Game #2: Yacuchimbe: pasar un río

Materials needed:

• several pairs of students to sit on the ground and act as a “river” by moving their feet
• 2 student volunteers to try to “cross” the river
• a walking stick

Set Up/How to Play:

• Set up as a row of students; pairs sit feet to feet with a partner:

• The sitting students are the “river” and will imitate movement of a river by pushing back and forth on each others’ feet.
• The 2 (walking) volunteers will set up piggy-back style: One person carries the other on their back, along with a walking stick.
• The person with the stick tries to “cross the river” with the other person on their back, using a stick to feel out the spaces where they can step between the moving legs:

• If successful, the next level next level is for the “river” people to lean back a bit on their hands and raise the river higher by moving their feet higher in the air. This provides a more challenging river to cross.

Game #3: El conejo es muy vivo y el lobo es muy tonto (The rabbit is very lively and the wolf is very dumb)

Materials needed:

• 1–2 stuffed animals (preferably a rabbit given the name of the game)
• 1–2 blankets (preferably an authentic woven blanket from the Andes but any tarp or blanket large enough for the group could work)

Set Up/How to Play:

• Most of the class sits in a circle with a blanket (again, preferably a woven blanket from the Andes or a similarly authentic material version) over their laps (note: a small class of 12 or so could play all together, but if you have 24 or more, I’d split into 2 groups with 2 blankets):

• Teacher provides a stuffed animal to each group (preferably a rabbit, given the name of the game, although we used a bear):

• A volunteer sits in the center of the circle on top of the blanket (they are the “lobo” — wolf):

(Excuse the poor quality screenshot from a video — just wanted tos how how the person in the middle sits on top of the blanket)

• Group members pass the rabbit from person to person under the blanket, switching directions at any time if they like, and occasionally taking it out to hit the person sitting in the center of the circle in the back with it.
• Group members also may try to fake out the person on top of the blanket, pretending that they have the rabbit by scratching the floor, moving their hands under the blanket, calling out to the person in the middle, etc. (e.g. “El conejo es muy vivo!” — the rabbit is very lively!)
• The person in the middle, the “wolf”, who is on top of the blanket, tries to find the rabbit by feeling for it on top of the blanket. This is difficult since the rabbit is beneath the blanket and invisible to the wolf, thereby making a fool of the wolf while they grab blindly for it (yes, that means reaching into the spaces between people and between their legs…thus the copious laughter and fun…but also potentially something to preface before-hand with middle and high school kids to ensure they keep it appropriate).
• When the person on top of the blanket finds the rabbit, the person they catch with it goes in the middle and the the game starts over.
• Play for as many rounds as you have time for or until it stops being fun!

A potential problem to watch out for in this rabbit/wolf game would be the risk of a student getting stuck in the center of the circle for so long that the game turns from fun/funny to frustrating/annoying, for both the child who is stuck and even perhaps for the members of the circle. Be sure to read the room and intervene if it’s getting old. Perhaps to mitigate this from possibly happening, you could have a cut-off time by setting a timer, and if the rabbit isn’t found, the child in the circle gets to pick who goes next? This may also be another good thing to preface in advance with kids — I could see this game being a great one to play immediately after setting up classroom norms at the start of a new school year — even in the moments where one student may get stuck for a while in the middle, it would provide a practical opportunity to both teach little phrases to encourage teammates in game play in the target language and a concrete game in which to practice them. For example, maybe you could teach phrases like El conejo está por acá — (The rabbit is over here), ¡Yo lo tengo! (I have it), Rápido! (Faster) ¡Vaya! (Go!) ¡Hazlo bien! (Do it well!) ¡Excelente!, ¡Buen trabajo amigo! (Good job buddy), etc.:

How to use these games in the K-12 classroom

Suggestions for possible practice applications:

• Icebreaker: Use as an icebreaker or team-builder at the beginning of the year (either as a lead-in to creating classroom norms, or as a follow up to setting them as a practical way to put them into practice).
• Team-building: Revisit the games as a team-building exercise mid-year when behavior begins to suffer; use as an opportunity to reinforce norms and ways of interacting positively as a learning community.
• Bellringer: Try one of the games ias a high-energy bellringer to immediately engage and wake everyone up (particularly first period). For an extra challenge (or just for fun), require students to encourage one another (and or taunt/tease one another) entirely in Spanish (or, if you take the time to teach some Kichwa phrases, in Kichwa!)
• Filler Activity: Have 5 extra minutes at the end of a lesson? Use it as a filler activity with no need to plan ahead. I guarantee once you’ve played one of these games kids will ask for it again.
• Hook to a cultural unit: Incorporate one or more of these games as a creative hook to introduce a unit on Andean culture.
• Springboard for further research: Use as a component of a unit on sports and pastimes — demo the games through videos, perhaps playing one or more with student volunteers, and then challenge students to research culturally distinct games in various Spanish speaking countries and find resources like videos, pictures, etc. for how to present them to the class and play.
• Springboard for cultural/philosophical discussion: Play one or more of the games as a springboard to discuss and compare various cultures’ philosophies surrounding life and death. Starting with such a happy, high energy activity may make students more open to and accepting of discussion of what is often a difficult topic to address.
• For use in helping students cope with and understand the loss of a loved one: Potentially (very dependent on your student population and the student in question) use one or more of these games if and when a student has a loved one pass away. When the student returns to school, play the game and then move into a discussion of how these games are played at funerals to chase away sadness. Discuss how we feel about potentially losing a loved one and what practices we have to honor the lives of those we have lost.

Playing these games was my favorite activity we have done so far. While they are a little hard to envision using exactly as we played them in a U.S. classroom, with some slight modifications or framing them carefully with prefacing of rules and expectations, I truly think one or more of these games would make for an incredibly engaging and memorable learning experience for your students! Another thing I like about them is they are pretty quick to just pick up and use with zero prep as long as you have the materials (a blanket, a stuffed animal, and some textile “whips”) on hand in your classroom, and while they ARE a little competitive it’s just in fun and there’s technically a “winner” / “loser”, that is not the focus at all; rather, these games are all about connecting and enjoying one another’s company while building rapport and perhaps putting a smile on your face in what may be a dark time. They also hold great potential for use as a hook to dive deeper into Andean philosophies and cultural beliefs. If you end up trying one please let me know how it goes and if/how you modified it in your classroom for your students!

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Also, note that you can see pictures of my travel here:

Fulbright Hays Teaching the Andes PhotoStream

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