Dječje igre u okolici Zagreba
Children's Games in the Surroundings of Zagreb

Summary/Abstract: The author has participated in the research of the surroundings of Zagreb which has been carried out for several years. She has been working on the theme: Games and Recreation. This is report on the part of the collected data which deal with children’s games. The games included here are in the first place those that belong to the past, that live only in the memories of older generations. Since the conditions of life in villages near Zagreb changed essentially during last twenty years or so, there are obvious changes in the content of children’s games too. The investigated theme encompasses data from the beginning of the 20th century to the present. The research took into account several factors necessary for the classification of the games: the sex and age of children, the individual or collective nature of games, space in which they are played, and the season of the year when they are played. Special attention has been paid to boys' games in the open, performed mostly while tending cattle on village pastureland. These games have competitive characteristics and reveal the need of a child to attain a distinguished position among his peers. Some of these games are recorded in detail just because they are not any more a part of the living repertoire of the games of today’s young generation. Besides games, some other kinds of children’s activities are mentioned, such as: hunting and fishing, making music instruments, swings, and walking crutches.

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