Children Games in The Balkans

The purpose of the study is to identify common cultural children's games known and played in Balkans and to reveal the heritage of common cultural children's games. A descriptive study was conducted by using observation and interview methods. The sample of the study was determined according to easily accessible sampling method, as the following 10 countries located in the Balkans (Romania, Moldavia-Gagauz, Bulgaria, Greece, Albania, Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia-Yenipazar, Bosnia and Herzegovina). Each game was recorded into the coding table by watching the video footage. In the field study conducted in 10 countries, by visiting 18 provinces and 22 villages, 330 videos consisting of the repetition of the same games were recorded. 59 games played in the region were designated as common cultural games. In other words, it was found that 91% of the children's games in Balkans have similarities. However, the remaining 6 games recorded besides these games were not repeated in the Balkans countries. It was seen that they are among the cultural games known in Anatolia. It is thought that the exclusion of these games from common games may be due to the limitations of field research