Put Your Phone Down! Play Jolen, Jackstones, Yoyo, and More With Your Kids

Do you still remember the Filipino games you used to play as a kid, like jackstones, pick up sticks, Chinese garter, lutu-lutuan, or tumbang preso? Don’t you wish you could introduce it to your kids and play it with them? Well, this Christmas season, you can add these Awit at Laro classic toys to your gift list and do just that.

First launched in 2018, these 12 beautifully-made toys are designed by Bambi Mañosa-Tanjutco, President of Museo Pambata and Awit at Laro founder. They are not only fun to play, but the open-ended toys also help kids be more physically active and creative, which is harder to achieve nowadays because kids have become immersed in their gadgets.

With these toys, Mañosa-Tanjutco hopes to bring back the spirit of play in this generation. “Put our gadgets down for an hour so. Take our kids outdoors and introduce them to the game of our youth. Let’s bridge that generation gap,” she says in an interview with Inquirer Lifestyle.

Recently, Scarlet Snow Belo was able to play with the toys thanks to Department of Tourism (DOT) Secretary Berna Romulo Puyat, who brought it as a gift during a lunch date with Scarlet Snow’s mom, Vicki Belo. In her stories, Vicki shares that the “DOT is helping revive Filipino childhood games with their ‘Back to Basics’ program.”

Scarlet Snow clearly loved it! She enjoyed playing with the lutu-lutuan and was intrigued by the pickup sticks. These toys are definitely going to be a hit with all kids!

 

 

The toys in the collection include:

Chinese Jackstones (Php415 for Yarn, Php440 for Fabric)

Palayok na lutu-lutuan (Php700)

Tirador (Php735)

Pick-up sticks (Php360)

Chinese garter (Php265)

Hacky Sack (Php320)

Sipa (Php210)

Luksong lubid (Php265)

Yo-yo (Php850)

Jackstones (Php770)

Jolens (Php180)

Piko at Patintero (Php535)

Awit at Laro toys are available at Museo Pambata in Manila and Tesoros Philippine Handicrafts, located in Makati and NAIA Terminals 1 and 3.

What other games did you enjoy playing as a kid? Tell us in the comments or click here to bring on the nostalgia with these classic toys.