Cultural and educational aspect of toy and play museums in Turkey in terms of intangible cultural heritage museology

Museums of toy and play considered quite important for children's folklore are vital research topics for folkloristics and educational scientists in terms of their cultural and educational aspect. The aim of this thesis is to define their mission, vision and goal, discuss their functions, analize toy and play museums in Turkey by conducting field work, analyze them in terms of place, personnel, collection, advertisement, policies of administration, educational activities and finally to propose a model museum linking intangible cultural heritage perspectives and toy and play museums. There are twenty one museums of toy and play in Turkey. It is important to create a report and analize their current situation to help them to improve themselves. This study is created with data gathered from the field work conducted in museums of toy and play in Turkey. In the introduction, the topic, aim and the method are explained, literature on museums of toy and play in Turkey and all around the world is given. In the first section of the first chapter, terms like intangible cultural heritage, intangible cultural heritage museums, play, toy, museology of toy and play are defined. Also, the history of toy and play museology in Turkey and in the world is given. In the second section of this chapter, the analysis framework on which this thesis is based, approaches and methods applied in this thesis are given. In the second chapter of the study, the structural analysis of museums of toy and play in Turkey is given. The museums are analyzed in the light of such criteria as people, name and definition, goals, mission etc. After each analysis, solutions and suggestions are presented. In the third chapter of the study, the socio-cultural, economic, political and educational functions of museums of toy and play are discussed. In the results part, problems are discussed and solutions are presented.