This paper represents the views of academics of the St. Petersburg scientific school on the place and role of the object environment in the development of preschoolers from the moment of the foundation of the Early Childhood Education Department of the Institute for Childhood of the A.I. Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia to the present day.
The purpose of this paper is the study of tendencies in the development of the idea of arrangement of the kindergarten during the last century on the basis of comparison of the ideas of famous scientific figures who were at the origins of the Early Childhood Education Department and academics of the Early Childhood Education Department who represent contemporary preschool pedagogical science.
The main method of research is a comparative analysis of scientific research of academics of the St. Petersburg scientific school in historical retrospective. The study topic is the phenomenon of object and space environment, assessment of its significance and content for the development of children of early and preschool age in different historical periods.
As a result of the study, the tendencies of changes in the understanding of the object and space environment as a condition and means of development of children before the school have been defined, the sustainable approaches in the organization of the environment in different historical periods have been revealed, the interrelations between the method of transformation of pedagogical reality dominating in a certain historical period and the character of the created environment in the kindergarten have been established.