Home Play: A Tough Life Expansion
In 2017, the Taiwan Gender Equity Education Association (TGEEA) unveiled an expansion of its widely acclaimed gender equity-themed board game “Home Play” with new card sets to attract even more higher-grade elementary school students as well as those in junior and senior high school. In addition to more diversified characters and roles (individuals with Down Syndrome, offspring of new immigrants…), the expansion covers a wider range of social issues (LGBT pride parades, anti-war movement…) and dramatic changes in families (separation in life and death, natural and human-made disasters), which greatly increases the complexity of the game and makes it more challenging.
NT$350
Combine the expansion with the original game for even more fun
Special promotional offer for the whole set: NT$ 1320
We bring Nini’s“Surreal Play House” to classrooms
Whenever Nini, a famous character of the classic comic book series “Crayon Shin-chan”, proposes to play “Surreal Play House,” the storylines are even more bizarre than the plots of popular soap operas. As a matter of fact, “Home Play Expansion: A Tough Life” is a gender equity-themed educational board game which is jokingly known as “Diablo-style Play House” and has been developed and designed by TGEEA in Taiwan.
“Home Play” is an educational board game that was released by TGEEA in 2012. The game was originally designed to give first and second graders a better understanding of diversified family structures. Just like the traditional children’s game “Play House,” “Home Play Expansion: A Tough Life” features blissful scenes of daily life on most of its cards.
“Home Play” board game cards: Playing blocks with the whole family, storybook reading, hiking excursion and cooking.
"Home" is not a safe haven for everyone
Our teachers have been using this board game for educational activities in remote areas for many years. In the course of these activities, they realized that the family structures of many children in these areas are not as ordinary as many adults imagine. For some kids, “their homes” are not safe havens and their lives are full of vicissitudes and arduous challenges.
“Some children who come from single-parent families pretend that they come from dual-parent families when they talk about their family conditions. We really felt sorry for a kid who claimed that his Dad, who had already passed away, was working abroad just to keep his classmates from gossiping. ”
“When homeroom teachers are determined by drawing lots, many teachers are afraid of being assigned to classes with high percentages of students from single-parent or new immigrant backgrounds based on a belief that such classes are harder to teach. Only a very small number of teachers are interested in why these family patterns emerge. In fact, some students often feel helpless and lost. ”
As a matter of fact, family structures and patterns in Taiwan are extremely diverse and encompass a significant percentage of skipped generation families, single-parent and LGBT families. Through the “Tough Life” expansion, TGEEA aims to reduce discrimination among children against members of non-typical families and make them realize that “being different” can also be normal.
More diversified characters and roles
The design team put in extra effort into designing the character cards for the “Tough Life” expansion, which adds more gender and ethnic diversity to the “basic version of Home Play”. We strive to present real characters with different appearances who form families with a wide range of structures and characteristics and thereby break stereotypes and approach the reality of diversified family patterns.
Partings and reunions and separation in life and death
Most children are taught from a young age that the main elements of family bliss are “perfectly” embodied in the nursery rhyme “My Family.” In a flawless, blissful, and healthy family, relations between siblings are harmonious and the parents are kind and loving. If children’s family backgrounds do not conform to this ideal, they tend to be discriminated.
In the “basic version of Home Play”, the cards mostly depict ordinary, mainstream daily life. The “Tough Life” expansion pack, on the other hand, incorporates a wider range of issues into the card sets to reflect authentic lifestyles, which makes the storytelling more challenging.
Family changes beyond our imagination
In addition to the wide range of family structures and patterns, “change” is also associated with evolving temporal and spatial backgrounds. The increase and decrease of family members and changing places of residence are common phenomena affecting families. The brand-new “Change Cards” of the expansion pack gives players a chance to exchange their family members and Home Cards, which greatly increases the game’s complexity and makes it more challenging and attractive for higher-grade elementary school and junior and senior high school students.
Isn’t this too complex for children?
“Aren’t these stories and family relationships too complex for children?” Some adults may think that they are not able to explain these family stories to their children, but these stories really exist in the daily lives of many children. As educators, we strive to give all children a clear understanding of the diversity of “family” structures. Every family may have to face numerous crises and overcome countless challenges. This journey is filled with tears and laughter.
