Examination of traditional Turkish children's games in terms of gender

In general terms, play can be defined as a natural learning tool that can be played with or without a specific purpose, with or without rules, in which the child participates voluntarily. At the same time, play is the child's work. Games can be grouped according to many elements such as the way they are played, the areas played, the materials used, etc. The concept of gender is one of these elements. While gender refers to whether an individual is biologically male or female, the concept of gender is the roles that people, societies and cultures expect from individuals within the scope of gender. In short, gender refers to the behaviors that society expects from masculinity and femininity. In this study, in which traditional children's games are examined in terms of gender, content analysis and literature review techniques were used using the survey model. As a result of the literature review, 40 children's plays selected from 17 children's books were analyzed in terms of gender. Among the games analyzed, 8 games were determined as games played by girls, 16 games played by boys and 16 games played by both girls and boys. Keywords: Games, Children's Games, Traditional Games, Gender