Here's how you can help kids learn spoken Marathi through fun games

A common lament you may hearmdashor even uttermdashis ldquoKids these days donrsquot speak Marathirdquo Therersquos a simple solution Teach them And therersquos no better day than Marathi Bhasha Gaurav Divas celebrated on February 27 to begin We curated a few easy games you can play at home with kids They wonrsquot start speaking the language fluently overnight but picking up on words and phrases will push them in the right directionDumb CharadesYou donrsquot need an explanation for dumb charades Itrsquos a game every family has played before But to instil knowledge of the language you can swap movie names with Marathi phrases Write down easy phrases and a few sentences on chits Example Aaz khoop garmi aahe Itrsquos very hot today mala sakalee chaha pahije I need tea in the morning or mala Marathi shikaayechi aahe I want to learn Marathi Each player can pick a chit and enact what is written Of course you have to write it in Roman alphabets so that kids can read it as wellKon Kadhi Kuthey KaayHave you ever played name place animal thing Give that game a spin to play who when where and what in Marathi How to play Take a piece of paper and a pen Draw one column for each category Kon kadhi kuthey kaay Each person has to write one word and pass it on The first person writes under kon for example kon ndash Neha the next under kadhi for example sakalee and the next one writes a word for kuthey for example kutheymdashparkamadhey and at the end write an action or object for kaay for example kaaymdashzaatey The sentence that forms will be Neha sakalee parkamadhey zaatey Neha goes to the park every morning This game can help kids learn sentence formation You can make sentences easy or be as funny as you want as long as itrsquos grammatically correctTreasure HuntHide small everyday items or toys around the house and let your child hunt for them But all clues must be given in Marathi You can keep them simple or up the difficulty level Your clues could include statements like palanga khalee bagh look under the bed swayampakagharaat zaa ani kapatat paha go to the kitchen and look inside the cupboardAndhali KoshimbirThis is a game you can play indoors or outdoors Andhali Koshimbir or Blind Manrsquos Bluff in English is a game kids across India have grown up on You might be familiar with its rulesmdashbut yet again you need to incorporate languagelearning You and your child can take turns being blindfolded to catch the other player The nonblindfolded player has to simply instruct the other where to go Herersquos the spin All instructions have to be in Marathi You can say mee ithe aahe Irsquom here or mee tujya ujvikadde aahe Irsquom on your right Itrsquos a simple way to teach kids directionsMemory GameTo improve your childrsquos vocabulary play the memory game Sit with your kid and decide on a category Each of you has to take turns to say one word belonging to the category and the next person has to repeat your word and add one of their own You keep repeating and adding words as you go For example if your category is animals you can start with simha lion your child has to repeat simha and then add waagha tiger The game ends when one of the players runs out of things in the category or repeats a thing thatrsquos already been added to the listCelebrating MarathiMarathi Bhasha Gaurav Din is celebrated on February 27 It marks the birth anniversary of renowned poet Kusumagraj Vishnu Vaman Shirwadkar whose works have profoundly influenced Marathi literature