Interview with Grandparents on Traditional

Games: "Good Old Days"October 2016

Latvia, presented in Italy

Project Nr. 2015-1-TR01-KA219-021800_8

The objectives of our meeting were 1)to find out about professions of our grandparents because it

was the week of career; 2) to learn playing habits of the grandparents. Procedure: Every pupil (41 in total) made an invitation for grandparents to

come to this event. Just 5 grandparents came to interview on 14th of October. First pupils told where they have been during career week: the

shop, the doctor office, tourism complex and post office. We asked each grandparent to tell about their career and then

children asked questions about games. Grandparents were willing to tell about themselves and

answer to questions.

Interview “Professions and games earlier”

They have spent all their life working physically (labour work).

Common conclusions

Their life was hard (no time for games) – it was time after II WW, everybody worked in their farmsteads (in field, in yard, in cattle-shed), look after siblings.

Once a week it was allowed to visit neighbour and just for 1-2 hours.

weight of games and toys in their childhood life, (example: How often / how long did you play with your friends?)

Mostly they played alone or with siblings because the closest neighbour was 3 km far away.

weight of friends in their childhood life, (example: did you play mostly alone or with friends?) -

Most of their free time they spent outside: hopscotch, “catch me”, hide and seek, richu rachu (ludo) , skiing.

They played with animals (dogs, horses): training them to obey, to bring smth.

venue of games (outdoor or indoor), (example: where did you play mostly?) -

They imagine that things can be anything: cones could be animals, sprigs could be fence.

They played role-games: schools, libraries, shops, sometimes they played many roles even alone.

types of games played with/without toys (instrumented or non-instrumented games) (example: what were the games you played most?)

There were not any toys in their childhood. They made toys themselves or together

with parents or relatives, they made even bicycles and skiis; dresses for dolls.

Toys were given as presents for birthdays. There were no nice toys in the shops.

habit of collective toy making (example: how did you get toys?)

Pupils grade 1-4, age 7-10

Grandmother