Ezine Article

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Creative Ways on How to Play Hide-And-Seek Game Using Video Calls





By: Noel Nicolas Villarosa

The advent of computer and internet technology has changed our awareness about these "heritage games." Nowadays, children have rarely played these once enthralling and highly imaginative traditional games.

Parents who once cherished these traditional games can still bring back the rollicking fun of playing these in many different ways, but you need to enhance the mechanics of the game in order to adapt to the new mindset of the younger generation nowadays.

There is one traditional game, however, that has its illustrious past and becoming unfamiliar with kids nowadays: the hide and seek game. It is normally played either outdoors or indoors, but have you ever considered playing it through video calls? This is most likely to happen between a child and a long distance parent--a child would still be cajoling to play this kind of game while video calling. How to make it more interesting to a child will be challenging your creativity.

Here are some creative ways on how to play hide and seek game using video calls:

Choosing the players. In video calls, you will choose some unusual players:

1. The hider that could be a stuffed toy or any little toy (for which a child should hide during video calls).
2. The seeker (remotely connected to a PC in a different location) that could be a computer-enhanced image of Superman will be an exciting image to show with a child. (Some webcams have designed many captivating features to choose from for jazzing up your image while video calling.)

Choosing the venue. Since you are video calling, the place from where you are sitting will be your venue for playing this game. Your computer and internet connection will serve as the backbone for playing this game, and both players will need to explore their imaginations.

Starting the game. Announcing of who will be the "It" and proceed by closing the eyes of the one seeking. A child needs to hide his/her little toy, and the remote seeker upon counting backward from ten to one should start calling out, "Ready or not here I come."

Using Imagination. The remote seeker disguised behind a computer-enhanced image, while a child holding his/her little toy will spark a good interactive play with both focused on using their imaginations. The remote seeker may tell to a child that he/she is going to search for his/her little toy through his/her imagination, and might force it to show up by sending an army of ants that would lift his/her little toy out from its hiding place. The child will also use his/her imagination to prevent the ants from coming closer by putting up spider webs to block their way. The remote seeker will try to envision another thrilling scenario, for instance, like calling one-by-one all superheroes and try mentioning their powers to persuade a child to let his/her little toy emerge from its hiding place. The exchange of envisioning will keep the game more fascinating, like preventing and counter-attacking from one another. If by all means, the remote seeker will fail in all his/her attempts, then he/she may try using some conjuring tricks (unmindful to a child), like getting a pen and a paper and try drawing images or scenarios to incite curiosity to a child that would make him/her relinquish his/her toy to its hiding place.

This is what you called mind empowering to adapt the full capacity of playing hide and seek game through video calling. You are not only introducing this kind of traditional game into a new concept but also you are able to enhance the mechanics of the game as an additional attraction to a child in playing this kind of game in this digital age.