Abstract:
The aim of this study was to explore how traditional children’s games could be preserved through
digitisation. This study is premised on the contention that modernisation has led to the
disappearance of most traditional children’s games. Children no longer play most of these games
because they no longer have the access, place and time to do so. In dominant contemporary culture,
most children spend their time hooked up in playing modern games using their cellular phones,
computers and a vast array of similar or related gadgets. The digital preservation of traditional
children’s games seems to be a largely unaddressed topic in scholarship. Instead, much focus is
drawn towards the digital preservation of library materials and aspects of tangible cultural heritage.
Traditional children’s games were originally preserved through oral tradition, then later through
books and various forms of print-works. Preserved in this way, they are largely not accessible to
most children. This study was grounded on the Sankofa, Diffusion of Innovation and the Afrocentric
socio-ontogenesis theories. This study applied the case study and participatory action
research design. Data collection methods included semi-structured interviews, focus group
discussions, observations and document analysis. The study participants were elders, educators
and students from various disciplines and they were selected using the purposive sampling
technique. Various ways of preserving games through digitisation such as social media, digital
applications (apps) and websites were explored. In addition, barriers to the digitisation of
traditional children’s games were identified, and they include the disconnection between the
digitised games and the original games, as well as lack of internet connectivity in most rural areas.
This study resulted in the development of two new innovations. An app was created for
muravharavha and mufuvha games, while a website that hosts ndonde, khadi and mahundwane
traditional games was also developed. The study recommends that the digital preservation of
traditional children’s games should be robustly pursued through social media, apps and websites.
The success of the recommendations is contingent upon the support by stakeholders such as
institutions of higher learning, schools, policy makers and rural communities.
