The report discusses the folklore games created by renowned Armenian writer and poet Hovhannes Tumanyan, their pedagogic significance, their functionality and application in the didactic process.

Hovhannes Tumanyan (1869-1954) has dedicated a significant part of his literature to children. Of all the folkloristic works Tumanyan collected the ballades and in particular the fairy tales are especially valuable for Armenian children’s literature. In the works for children, Tumanyan gives special importance to folkloristic works and their adaptation for children. This approach is visible in the literary retelling of the “Daredevils of Sassoun” as well as of Armenian or translated fairy tales.

Understanding the importance of games as a method of conveying knowledge and of educating children through entertainment, Tumanyan created a series of children’s board games. He used folklore genres, such as riddles and proverbs, in board games named “Armenian Riddles” and “Armenian Proverbs”, using the popular, dialectal original texts of the abovementioned genres. Thanks to the efforts of the scientific personnel of the Tumanyan Museum, these games have been reissued during the past years with beautiful modern design and are still among the favorite games of Armenian children.

The report details the folklore games created by Tumanyan as well as their structure and content and discusses the principles of selecting the original texts and their educational significance. It touches upon the details of the application of riddles in early ceremonies and in medieval Armenian universities as a great method to train the minds of children, as well as upon the accentuated moral and educational character.

The objective of the report is to show the educational significance of these genres of ethnic culture – riddles and proverbs – as well as the effectiveness of the method of teaching them through game communication. Studying the games made by Tumanyan and our personal experience of their application in the pedagogical process, we try to prove the importance of ethnographical and folklore games and the necessity of their application.

The theoretical basis of the study are the scientific clauses of ethno-pedagogy and the theories discussing the methods of rendering the education of children more efficient by the juxtaposition of folklore and game education.

The study leads to theoretical and practical results. The theoretical research allows to give importance to the introduction and active application of folklore genres in the process of educating children, which becomes more pleasant and efficient through games. In this aspect, the folkloristic games made by Tumanyan are a wonderful method for this type of education. As for the practical side, the example of our method of application of folkloristic games presented in the study can be taken as a template for organizing a practical lesson with the help of folkloristic games.

Hovhannes Tumanyan, h. 7, Criticism and Publicity, 1913-1922, Yerevan, 1995. Albert Nalchajyan, Ethnic Pedagogy, Yerevan, 2002. Sargis Harutyunyan, Armenian Folk Riddles, Yerevan, 1960. Aram Ghanalanyan, Aratsani (Proverbs), Yerevan, 1960. Jessica Hammer and Drew Davidson, Cultural Alignment and Game-Based Learning Educational Technology, Vol. 57, No. 2 (March-April 2017), pp. 31-35.