From Children with Solidarity – Games

Classic children's games and toys: a spinning top, a kite, a hopscotch grid, and two balls. Along the lower edge of the design: the year “2020”. The name of the issuing state “Malta” appears at the upper left, above three bees in flight.

Children's games have been part of everyday life in Malta for centuries, and many of the traditional forms of play reflect the influences of the cultures that have shaped the island one after another — Phoenicians, Arabs, Normans, the British. Spinning tops, kites and hopping games are not modern inventions but among the oldest known forms of children's play in general. Similar versions appear across cultures throughout the Mediterranean, underscoring Malta's position as a crossroads between Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. The communal element of play — shared rules, rituals that connect generations — carries a social function in Maltese society that extends beyond childhood and is rooted in the idea of solidarity as a cultural value.

The series "By Children, With Solidarity" brings together issues that explore fundamental social values from the perspective of growing up. Play as a theme stands not only for joy and lightheartedness but for something more universal: learning togetherness, fairness and consideration — qualities traditionally valued highly in Maltese community life. As part of its euro commemorative coin programme, Malta has repeatedly drawn on motifs that connect cultural continuity with social values. The 2020 2-euro commemorative coin continues this approach and joins the series of the same name that Malta has been issuing since 2016.