French Games

Good Morning Room 3 

I can imagine you all did your best at the Sports carnival this term and tried your best at weekly practice.

I thought I would share some of the popular French games that children like to play outside and inside. 

Sport

The main sport they play in France is soccer, but here they call it football. Most kids can kick, dribble (run and kick the ball) and head a ball like it is their second nature. They like to play small versions with their friends and set up goals. Many cities have their own soccer teams and they complete against each other. Lots of kids like to go and watch their favourite teams, like you would go and watch the Eagles or the Dockers play in Perth. Aaron's favourite team is Bordeaux. Rugby is also popular here. Children will go and watch games with their family. They do not play cricket and most French kids have never heard of AFL.

Soccer player for Bordeaux

Card Games

A popular card game here is Dobble. Toby,  I can imagine that you would be really good at this game! You have cards that are in a circle shape and on each card is a different combination of pictures. There are many different games you can play with these cards but the most basic game is you deal out the card evenly and then place one card in the middle.
 Everyone has to look at their cards and find a matching picture to any on the card in the middle. When you have found the matching picture you say it out loud, for example you would shout out 'Candle' and then place the card on top if the pile.
You have to call out the name of the picture before placing it down. The player who gets rid of all their cards cards first is the winner. You can get different variaritions of the game, letters, numbers etc but the picture one is the funniest. Read more here: http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dobble or see how to play the variations here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TfDH0Rnpyc

Board Games

Another popular game here is Mastermind. I think I have seen this played in Australia before too but not as popular. It is usually played with 2 players. Player 1 selects a colour patter and player 2 has to guess it by placing predictions. Player 1 tells player 2 if they are correct or not with small coloured pegs. It is really clever to see how fast kids can figure out what the other player's pattern is. Abigail and Jonalee I could see you two going head to head with this game! Learn more about mastermind here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mastermind_(board_game)

Computer games

The computer games in France are almost completely the same as Australia! Kids here love playing XBox, Playstation and Wii. Most of them have either a PSP or a DS with similar games to Australia. The only difference being - the language is in French! 

Outdoor Games

French children are very passionate about the rules of games and don't like cheaters. If they have a problem with someone not playing fairly they will tell them straight away they are not playing fairly and it isn't making the game enjoyable. Most French children like to sort out their problems with each other and rarely go to the teacher because they know if they talk to the other person they can sort it out. French kids do not give up easily - especially if they think they can win.
Another very interesting thing I saw was they don't mind if it rains when they are playing outside. It rains more often in France than Australia so when it rains none of the children go inside or undercover, and they defiinitely don't go back to their classroom, they just continue playing in the rain!

We are very lucky to have so much space to play outdoor games at Camboon, especially on the green grass and amongst the trees!

What game are you going to play at lunch today? What games will you play when you get home? Remember to enjoy yourself and play fairly, but most of all be a good loser!

Au revoir

Miss Stinson