There’s just something about the games we played as kids — the laughter and the lessons and the stories behind them. Some of them, for many of us, are deeply connected to family and community. When it comes to the old games, they are not just entertainment; they are a cultural heritage and values passed from generation to generation.
Why not use play as a medium to familiarise your child with the rich traditions and history of South Africa, this Heritage Month? It’s a fun and easy way to foster cultural appreciation, in the comfort of your own home or classroom.
The Value of Traditional Games
The traditional games of South Africa, such as intonga, morabaraba, and bok-bok, not only teach an individual how to think and exercise, but also teach the values of teamwork and respect, and even storytelling. While learning and playing these games, children appreciate the way of life of other children around the nation.
This can also be an opportunity for parents and caregivers to share the games from their own childhood and share knowledge in a very sentimental way. And the best part of sharing these childhood games is, you only require the simple equipment of a space, a sense of humour, and a willingness to engage.
Start with Accessible Resources
Twinkl makes the introduction of cultural games and activities super simple with a multitude of pre-made resources for Heritage Month. The Heritage Day in SASL Activity Book includes fun and inclusive activities to celebrate South Africa’s rich cultures while learning the language. It’s also formatted to be read by learners who are deaf using South African Sign Language.
For a bit of structure, the Rainbow Nation Heritage Day Addition Board Game combines maths and culture in a fun way, and is perfect for family game night or learning stations in a classroom.
Keeping Heritage Alive, One Game at a Time
Ask your child to interview their grandparents, teachers, or aunts and uncles about the games they played when they were young, then play them together! Whether that means drawing a morabaraba board in the sand or teaching a skipping rhyme in your home language, these are powerful tools for connecting generations and building identity.
Play is not an escape from learning, it is learning. We teach children resilience, cooperation and the fun of shared experience through traditional games.
Celebrating Culture with Twinkl
At Twinkl, we’re happy to help make education impactful and easy. Our extensive collection of Heritage Month resources makes it easy for families and teachers to incorporate cultural learning into play.
The company provides high quality, online learning materials and services, which are all teacher-created and checked.
Twinkl offers over 1 million resources, with new content added daily. This ranges from schemes of work and assessments to augmented reality games and much more.
Twinkl is used and trusted by schools and educators in over 200 countries and regions, including primary and secondary school teachers, nursery workers and parents.
Twinkl has over 1400 team members based in its two Sheffield offices and remotely around the globe, including a large team in South Africa.
More information can be found at twinkl.co.za
Our story:
The idea for Twinkl came to Jonathan and Susie Seaton when Susie was working as an Early Years teacher and couldn’t find the materials she needed for her lessons online. As a result, Susie was working evenings and weekends to make resources from scratch.
Speaking to colleagues and friends, the couple found that Susie was not alone in her situation. So, to help other teachers, they began creating and publishing educational resources online from their spare bedroom.
The business grew quickly and organically as educators embraced the high-quality materials. The team grew quickly too, with current and former teachers, as well as experts in content and design soon joining Jonathan and Susie in their mission 'to help those who teach.'
Jonathan and Susie are delighted that Twinkl is now taking this mission across the world, returning time and energy to educators that is better spent in the classroom with their pupils or on themselves at home.
