The traditional local games of children -Patterns from Tokat province-

Gome, today is defined in different ways. The differences in defini tion is due to the fact that scientists of various scientific fields deal with the 'game' fact with their own points og view. For example, while some scientists focus on the physical action aspects of games, some others, such as, psychologists focus on another aspect. In the field og Physical Education, wich has some relations with the subject matter, game can be defined as follows: Gome is a series of actions to entertain and relax children and to a less extent, a do Its, in their free time without regui- ring an effort for production or other services. As it is known, games are played both by human beings and ani mals. In fact, although game actiuities have biologiel aspects, they are cancidered to be a source of entertainment and an element to deal with the freetime wich can be prasticed by almost everybody. The basic aim og this study is to prevent the child games wich have become less popular in time and less played today in the city og Tokat and also to prevent those games played at present that may be forgotten in future from beign extinct. (In chapter 1, readers are informed about study and in chapter 2, research findings are given.) This study was performed by searching minutely method. A review of literature was conducted and the oretical information was given.In this study, one hundred twenty (120) child games played in Tokat were collected. The rules, practice types, and materials used in these games were investigated. The information about the games played by children was obtained by interview technigue. The people interviewed were adults who are thirty five years old or over. As a conclusion, it was found that traditional child games became less practised due to the urbanization. Also, the games played today can't attract chidren more than the foreign-origin series on TV wich are due to the technological developments.