An examination of traditional toys of Trabzon from the point of folklore

Deciphering the creativity of children and adults in the context of traditional ecological knowledge and identified with childhood, toys ensure the preservation of traditional knowledge and the transmission of culture between generations. Toys produced by using materials in the ecological environment serve the individual to recognize the environment he belongs to and socialize with the games produced around toys within the scope of cultural forms. In addition, the construction of toys and the establishment of games with them support the cognitive and physical development of the individual. Toys are the product of material culture, which has cultural, social, geographical and economic features, and have entered the field of study of many social and human sciences. At the same time, the fact that this study was carried out within the framework of the discipline of folklore, which is at the crossroads of many sciences, led to the use of different disciplines. Trabzon was chosen as the sample area in this study. The toys compiled from here were examined within the framework of the discipline of folklore. In the first part of the thesis, the conceptual framework of game and toy was drawn, and the studies about toys were introduced. In the second part, general information about the historical, geographical and socio-economic characteristics of Trabzon is given. In the third part, the materials used in the creation of the toys collected from the area, the stages of creation, the gender difference in the choice of toys, and the information about the way of playing are presented together with their photographs. The compiled toys were examined in terms of being a part of the performance within the framework of the product, the product maker and the product player. During the process from the procurement of raw materials to the construction of the toy, folkloric elements were identified and the traditional game variety formed around it was determined. Thus, the birth and formation of these toys within culture have been revealed, and the cultural elements formed around them have been examined from the perspective of folklore.