Traditional Children’s Games

Every society has played similar games since the dawn of history. Games have become an inseperable pillar in social lives regardless of age or gender.

Johan Huizinga states in his book Homo Ludens (Lat. Playing Man) that even animals play games, which means they predate cultures, exceeding the limits of physiological phenomenon and gaining a new, rich meaning. We encounter the word “oyun” (Tur. game) in the works Epic of Oghuz Khagan, Epic of Manas, Diwan Lughat al-Turk, Kutadgu Bilig, Volga Bulgar Epigraphs, Book of Dede Korkut and Seyahatname of Evliya Çelebi.

This book, which conveys the place of traditional children’s games, an important carrier of our culture, in cultural history and their ways of being played, demonstrates how rich the Turkish society’s memory of games and toys is with original illustrations.