Investigation of Bitlis traditional children's plays in terms of root values

Traditional children's games that are arising from cultural elements and social values transforming a community into a nation, can also be considered as rich contents that carry cultural values and elements. The purpose of this paper is to study important values of children games of Bitlis such as; fairness, fellowship, honesty, patience, self-determination, respect, love, responsibility and patriotism as mentioned in the publishing of Ministry of National Education named as "Müfredatta Yenileme ve Değişiklik Çalışmalarımız Üzerine". As a qualitative research, the first stage of this study provides field investigation that compiles different kinds of children's games. The fieldwork and names of traditional children's games were written down according to semi structured forms. A form of interview has been created to identify root values in these games, including relevant attitudes and behaviors, and the form has been completed and evaluated by teachers of Turkish, Classroom, Pre-school, Physical Education and Social Studies lessons. Then using the document analysis method, content analysis of the games was done and various concepts and themes were reached by moving from the data obtained. In the light of the findings obtained in the field research in which 94 games were evaluated, it was concluded that the compiled Bitlis traditional children's games are rich in root values such as justice, friendship and honesty. Based on these data, various recommendations have been made, such as playing traditional children's games in physical education classes, for the purposes of bringing values such as patience, respect and love to future generations. Keywords: Game, child, Bitlis traditional children's games, root values