ABSTRACT
The cultural-historical approach to children's play is part of Vygotsky's general theory of the origin and development of the higher mental functions. Vygotsky advanced the view that pretend symbolic play is the leading activity from 3 to 7 years. It should be pointed out that Vygotsky differentiated between the predominant and leading forms of activity: the predominant activity is the one that takes up most of the time, while the leading activity is the one which determines mental and personal development. According to El'konin's view, the child's development in play proceeds along two lines, in two principal spheres of the child's relations to reality – on the one hand, in the sphere of relating to objects, and, on the other, adults. Vygotsky's followers viewed the origin and development of the child's actions with objects during play as inherently linked with their interaction with adults.
