A speed and mental agility test

"Collecting wood, threading the Musbah Prayer Beads, Puzzles with fishes, building castles, communicate the essential nature of these commodities in the day-to-day life in the Gulf region. With the matches, we have made an attempt to present it in a format which is interesting to children," says Zakia Al Musharekh, Turath Match Competitions Supervisor, Dubai Customs.

Four team games, targeted at children between the age-groups of 8 and 12 are being held every day at the Deira City Centre and the Oasis Centre from 5:00 PM - 10:00 PM. Deira City Centre is hosting the 'Fish' and 'Castles' competitions, while the Oasis Centre will be home to the 'Musbah Prayer Beads' and 'Collecting Wood' competitions. In the Musbah Prayer Beads competition, the teams are provided with boxes containing multicoloured beads. The teams are supposed to collect the beads of a similar colour and string them together. The fastest team gets to be the winner.

Teams of two members can also compete to build castles or stack wood. The wood blocks again in different assorted colours need to be piled up in bundles containing 100 pieces each. The Fish puzzles also test the speed and the mental agility of the children. Completing the puzzle on time gets the children a chance to win several interesting prizes.