Yesterday, my daughter’s school threw this super fun folk games event. It kicked off with a lively lion dance—those lions were prancing around, drums banging away, and the kids were clapping and cheering like mad. Even us parents couldn’t help but get caught up in the excitement. After that, the kids gathered in the schoolyard, all eager and ready to go—it was so cute to see. They split into teams, yelling and laughing their heads off, and I was just standing there watching, cracking up the whole time.
They played all kinds of games: tug-of-war, sack races, little boat rowing, and catching plastic fish. The tug-of-war was wild—one time, the rope straight-up snapped, and everyone burst out laughing. The sack races were the funniest—kids hopping around all clumsy, some tumbling over with a thud but still getting up with big grins. For the boat game, they had these little paper boats they made, floating them on a small water trough. Some kids pushed so hard their boats flipped, soaking them, but they just giggled like it was nothing. Then there was the fish-catching game—the school tossed plastic fish into a tub of water, and the kids went nuts trying to scoop them out, splashing water everywhere.
The weather was nice and mild, thank goodness, and the schoolyard had tons of big trees for shade—otherwise, us parents would’ve been sweating like crazy. The teachers were so sweet, setting out drinks and snacks for the kids, who scarfed them down in seconds. My little girl was over the moon—she joined the sack race and actually won a round! She ran over to me, bursting with pride, going, “Mom, am I awesome or what?” with those sparkling eyes. I just rubbed her head and said, “You’re the best!” She also gave “ô ăn quan” a try, that traditional pebble game, but she was a bit awkward at it since we don’t play it much at home. Still, she sat there counting each pebble so seriously—it was adorable.
The whole thing lasted till noon, and the kids were sweaty messes but so happy. Us parents even got roped into a tug-of-war match with the teachers—we got totally wrecked but laughed so hard we nearly fell over. I think these kinds of activities are awesome—they get the kids moving, help them bond with friends, and bring back memories of the games we used to play. I really hope the school keeps doing stuff like this so the kids can have more fun school memories to look back on
