Malta · Series: By children with solidarity, games

The issue belongs to the five-year Maltese coin series “From Children in Solidarity”, which began in 2016 and was completed in 2020. The programme was carried out by the Central Bank of Malta together with educational institutions and the Malta Community Chest Fund. Schoolchildren could submit designs on specified social themes. The aim was for children not only to appear as a motif, but also to participate themselves in the design of national commemorative symbols. The selected themes included solidarity, peace, cultural heritage and the environment.

Traditional children’s games in Malta, as in other countries of the Mediterranean region, were closely associated with streets, courtyards and village squares. Many required only simple, self-made objects. Rules, counting-out rhymes and songs were usually passed down orally from older to younger children. Such games were therefore not merely leisure activities, but part of a communal children’s culture. They reflect living conditions in which industrially manufactured toys were less widespread and children made greater use of public spaces for playing together.

“Passju” is the Maltese form of a hopping game played on fields drawn on the ground. Comparable games are known in numerous European countries as hopscotch. The combination of movement, simple rules and individually created playing fields is typical of this widespread form of game.

The choice of theme also refers to the transformation of children’s leisure activities. Urbanisation, heavier road traffic and digital entertainment have changed the conditions for traditional outdoor games. The coin therefore documents forms of play that belong to Malta’s intangible everyday and cultural heritage. As the conclusion of the children’s series, it focused on an area of life that children themselves know directly and could depict creatively.