Run, dodge and think
KOCHI: Key, come on, someone run and give me the key!”These are the words often heard while children play the age old game of ‘Lock and Key’. The words make Viswajeeth Reddy, a PT teacher at St Teresa Techno High School, Miyapur in Hyderabad, get nostalgic about his formative years.
“I distinctively remember those delightful shrieks we would give out when the game was on. It was the favourite of us kids in the Railway Colony in a small town called Kazipet where I grew up. We had no big play areas or equipment. Such simple games kept us engaged during summer evenings,” he recalls.
He says he has taught the game to the primary school students in his school and they are happy playing in the 10-minute first recess especially since his school does not have courts and pitches for them to play.
‘Lock and Key’ is played outdoors (ideally in unhindered spaces) and the basic concept of it is to teach children how to play together as a team and to develop their basic fitness. The concept of the game is pretty simple, there is one person who becomes ‘it’ and his goal is to touch as many people as possible and ‘lock’ them in their spot. Meanwhile, the objective of the other players is to give the ‘locked’ person the ‘key’ by touching them and freeing them from their rooted spot. This game has been played for decades and goes under many names, but ‘Lock and Key’ is the most commonly used.
Hyderabad-based popular paediatrician
Dr Kishore Prasad, who has specialised in children’s overall growth between 6-12 years and runs Brain-O-Vital clinic in the city says, “Simple games are always the best to keep kids engaged. A game like this is inclusive of all age groups, does not demand any infrastructure and gives a full body work out. They can be played impromptu. In fact, kids learn to improvise games and add their own spin to it.”
The game fosters a team spirit, keeps children mobile and helps them find the right match to ‘rescue’ themselves, he says while adding, “The adrenaline rush that children get when they run with gusto to escape someone and have fun at the same time is good for the brain too.”
Rules
No one person can hound the ‘ít’ and immediately free the ‘locked’ individual
No two people can run together, it’s always each person for their own
People must always be running, staying rooted in one spot and hiding is not allowed.
Any number can join the game