Children's play is present in the growing up of every person. It determines the development of cognitive and motor skills, social skills and emotional maturity. Through play, children explore the world around them. It is spontaneous, it can take place anytime and anywhere. It varies depending on the age of the child, culture, interests and personalities of the children. It is the main factor of social integration. It is very important for the overall development of the child. Through play, children learn, develop new skills, and get to know the world around them. Every child is looking for different ways and possibilities to play, so we also differentiate the ways of performing the game. In Croatian children's literature, we find descriptions of children's games in many works. Children's play is a poetic determinant of performative character and often depicts concrete space and time. The appearance and manner of implementation of children's play in novels are conditioned by social relations and situations. Each work brings an imaginative representation of the game, but at the same time emphasizes the importance of the development component of the game. Some examples of such works are: Striborova Forest - Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić, Družba Pere-Kvržice - Mato Lovrak, Koko i ghosts - Ivan Kušan. The research corpus of this work includes several works and authors, namely: Slatki potok, Druzba Pera Kvržica and Train in the Snow by Mata Lovrak, the trilogy Zlatni danci by Jagoda Truhelka, Did I fall in love, Crumbs from the living room and Send me a message by Sanja Chicken. The main goal of the work is to present and analyze children's play through selected works of children's literature that were created in different time periods. In the aforementioned works, the motifs of children's play will be presented and similarities and differences will be highlighted, taking into account the historical time and historical space that decisively influence the realization of children's play. Emotions that are dominant and characteristic of the younger group of children will be interpreted, as well as those that appear in middle childhood, school age and puberty. Overall, the work contributes to a deeper understanding of the influence of play on literature.