The Folklore Games by Hovhannes Tumanyan and Their Application Within the Framework of the University Course “Armenian Folklore”

The article deals with folklore games created by the famous Armenian writer and poet Hovhannes Tumanyan, their pedagogical significance, functionality and application in the didactic process.Hovhannes Tumanyan (1869-1954) devoted much of his literature to children. In works for children, Tumanyan attaches special importance to folklore works and their adaptation for children.Understanding the importance of games as a method of transferring knowledge and educating children through entertainment, Tumanyan created a series of children's board games. He used folklore genres such as riddles and proverbs in the board games "Armenian riddles" and "Armenian proverbs" using folk, dialect original texts of the aforementioned genres. Thanks to the efforts of the scientific staff of the Tumanyan Museum, these games have been republished in recent years and are still among the favorite games of Armenian children.Learning proverbs with the help of a game is the shortest way to convey folk life experiences and wisdom to a child. Being an allegorical genre, the riddle requires the flexibility of the mind to guess the answer and sharpens the mind of children. Thanks to this feature, the riddle was actively used in ancient rituals and competitions.For many years, teaching Armenian folklore at Yerevan State University, I tried to enrich practical classes with various methods, and in this regard, the riddle game made by Tumanyan became an excellent way to process one game lesson dedicated to folk riddles.The study of folklore games created by Tumanyan and our personal experience of their use in pedagogy allows us to say that these folklore genres still retain their great educational value, and using them in the classroom with game methods makes the learning process more enjoyable and effective.