ABSTRACT
The chapter begins with a description of the developmental accomplishments of children aged 3 through 5: symbolic function, the ability to act on an internal mental plane, imagination, integration of emotions and thinking, and self-regulation. The next section of the chapter presents Vygotsky’s view of play as the leading activity of preschool/kindergarten age and specifies how play influences various facets of child development at this age. The following section presents the developmental path of play from toddlerhood into school age as it follows the trajectory from being mostly object-oriented to becoming more and more socially oriented. Later in the chapter, the non-play activities of preschoolers and kindergartners are described, along with the contributions of these activities to child development. The chapter ends with a discussion of school readiness from the Vygotskian perspective, with special attention given to the role developmental accomplishments of earlier stages play in children’s success in primary grades and beyond.
