Like Schumann's Kinderszenen and Debussy's Children's Corner, Bizet's Jeux d'enfants for piano duet is more about children than for children to play. It's a suite of a dozen miniatures, each a minute or two long, evoking the simple games and interests of very young children. Most of Bizet's piano works are miniatures and mood pieces, and Jeux d'enfants stands out from this oeuvre only in its special vivacity and tunefulness. "L'Escarpolette" (The Swing) is a slow, graceful opening number that mimics the movement of a swing with gentle arpeggios and brief, "push-off" melodic gestures. "La Toupie" (The Top) maintains a spinning figure in the background of a scampering main theme. Offering contrast with the top's energy is a berceuse called "La Poupée" (The Doll), a sweet, gently rocking lullaby. Galloping through the nursery now are "Les Chevaux de bois" (The Wooden Horses), in which Bizet revisits the spinning figure from "La Toupie" and now uses it, along with a quick march tune, to depict a little equestrian stampede. "Le Volant," with its sequence of tiny rising and falling phrases, portrays a shuttlecock being knocked back and forth in a game of badminton. "Trompette et tambour" (Trumpet and Drum) is a perky miniature march suitable for toy soldiers (and looking ahead to the "Children's March" in Carmen). "Les Bulles de savon" sounds as if it might accompany the progress of rabbits or grasshoppers across a field, but it actually concerns soap bubbles popping in the air. In "Les Quatre coins," it's the children themselves who take to the field, the music following them as they run to the playing area's four corners, a game that begins slowly but ends up rather frantic. The hesitant music of "Colin-maillard" depicts a game of blind man's bluff, while the more vigorous "Saute-mouton" engages in musical leapfrog. "Petit Mari, petite femme" offers the suite's greatest emotional depth, a slow, tender movement inspired by children playing at being husband and wife; the music includes a rapturous little climax almost worthy of one of Bizet's operatic love duets. Finally, "Le Bal" is an effervescent galop, an exuberant music-hall finale. Bizet arranged five of these movements for orchestra, calling it either Jeux d'enfants like the original or Petite Suite.

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