Children's Games and Entertainments in Iran (1285-1320)

The period of time ranging from the Constitutionalism to the end of Reza Shah Era(1285-1320) represents the emergence of materialistic modernity in Iran, caused by intellectual transformations preceding that. Consequently, the Iranian society experienced a new definition of and attitude towards childhood and various types of children games. The present paper seeks to investigatethe Iraniansperception of children games and the factor(s) that renewed and transformed this public mindset. The findings reveal that the Iranian society perception of games as forms of entertainment underwent transformation as games and entertainment began to be seen as means of educating children properly at home, kindergarten, and school. Moreover, as all Iranian children did not have access to modern education, new games and entertainment were restricted to higher levels of the society.