Classic Filipino Toys — Ultimate Nostalgia for Filipino Gen Zs

 I was scrolling on Facebook when I saw a viral post about the classic toys of people born in the 80s and 90s in the Philippines. It has been a thing for some time now. Posts that bring nostalgia to the readers, especially if it was about their childhood. Therefore, I’ve come up with an idea: why not make a blog about the classic toys of my generation—Generation Z, also known as Gen Z or people born between 1996 to 2015.

Photo by Helena Lopes from Pexels

With the help of my friends (fellow Gen Zs), I’ve listed some of the most classic Filipino toys that will give you nostalgia.

Saranggola

Photo by Quang Nguyen Vinh from Pexels

• Also known as Kite in English. This classic toy is one of the most loved outdoor toys of Filipino kids.
• We usually make it from barbecue sticks and plastic bags, sometimes in manila paper.

I can still remember how my mother would hit me with a belt, wire hanger, or a slipper just because I didn’t sleep in the afternoon for the reason that I played Saranggola.

Pogs/Teks

A photo of POGS from androidpolice.com

A photo of TEKS from Diane Dequino

• Pogs- A circular version of Teks is a widely popular toy made of paper in the Philippines. You can play it outdoors and indoors.
• The rules of playing Pogs and Teks vary depending on the players. But the usual rules for playing it are in the link below.

Milk caps (game)
Milk caps is a game popular among children during the early mid-1990s. The brand name "Pog" is owned by the…en.wikipedia.org

Playing with Pogs and Teks back then was a big deal. How? Just by playing with these, many friendships have ended, and we call it pikunan or touchy/peevish.

Holen/Jolen

A photo from tnilive.com

• Also known as marble. This toy comes in different colors and designs. I can tell you, I’m a master at playing this one.
• Different variations of this game exist, but here in the Philippines we play it by drawing a circle on the floor using chalk, we place the marbles inside and we hit it with another marble.

If you’re a Filipino and you played it back then, you probably got scolded by your parents for kneeling down in the street just to have that perfect shot that will displace the other marbles inside the circle.

Jackstone

A photo from Britannica.com

• Also known as Jacks or Game of Jacks. Girls are usually the one who plays this classic Filipino toy by scattering the Jacks on the floor. You toss the ball and one by one you pick up the jacks using one hand only.

I am a boy, but I used to play this with my girl classmates every recess or after class.

Rubberbands

A photo of colored rubber bands from Dreamstime.com

• This isn’t really a toy, but we Filipinos are creative. These colorful packing rubber bands completed the childhood of many Filipino kids back then, including me.
• You can use it to play games like dampa or Chinese garter (just tie several rubber bands together). You can also use this to form different shapes using only your fingers.

I can vividly remember how I spent my daily allowance/pocket money to buy bundles of these colorful rubber bands and went home after school: hungry and tired.

Trumpo

A photo of Trumpo from smartparenting.com.ph

• This Filipino toy is similar to the American tops but in a much smaller size, and it completed our childhood even before Beyblade (a line of spinning tops and battle top toys released in Japan in 1999).
• It comes in a colorful or plain variant which you can customize by drawing anything you like.

This is the only toy on the list that I didn’t play with because I wasn’t able to learn the proper way of throwing it, and as a result, I just sat on the floor at a distance watching my friends play with it. It’s a sad memory for me, but I still miss seeing others play it.

Sipa

A photo of Sipa from Pinterest.com

• We (Filipinos) love Sipa so much that this toy and the game that comes with it became the national sport of the Philippines until 2009 when it was replaced by Arnis.
• We make it from a small metal washer and colorful plastic straw forming a shuttle cock like a toy and we kick it upwards. The rule is, don’t let it land on the floor.

Paper Dolls

A Photo of a paper doll from sailormoon2008.tipod.com

• This toy mostly featured two of the most loved cartoon character in the Philippines-Princess Sarah and Sailor Venus (from two Japanese anime series aired on Philippine TV in the 90s).
• It is a cut-out figure of a person (mostly a cartoon character) on paper with separate cut-out clothes made also from a thin paper that is usually held onto the dolls by paper folding tabs.

This toy brought so much joy to little girls in the Philippines back then (probably until now).

These are some of the many toys that completed my childhood and writing it brings so many memories to me, it gives me a nostalgic feeling, especially when I can barely see these toys in the hands of the new generation of Filipino kids. Even finding and buying it can be hard. Maybe because manufacturers who created these toys have lost much of their demands already, which is easy to think because our kids now are more into gadgets such as tablets, cellphones, laptops, and game consoles.

For some, these are just toys, but it is more than that for me because with these toys comes distinct memories such as my childhood friends who I used to play with, the places where I used to play, and many more. And creating a blog about it gives me a sense of relief that finally I can share with you a big part of my childhood, a very personal part of me.

My time as a kid has ended already, but I hope that my generation will not be the last one to experience the fun that these toys have brought to us. If the time comes that these toys completely disappear in the Philippine streets and households, then it will be devastating because these are not just toys, these are one of our identities as Filipinos that might be erased.

I hope I gave my fellow Gen Z Filipinos the purpose of this blog nostalgia. I also hope that I was able to share with the people who reside outside the Philippines a little slice of my identity as a Filipino.