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Background. Today’s common typologies and categories of children’s toys are mainly decided by the manufacturers and retailers of children’s products. Such categorizations are not based on a theoretical understanding of child development and therefore cannot provide information about the opportunities that toys provide for the young.

Objective. This study proposed three criteria for categorizing toys based on the cultural-historical approach: their degree of realism; their degree of anthropomorphism; and their degree of detail. These criteria were chosen as a result of an analysis of theoretical works carried out in the framework of cultural-historical approach.

Design. The proposed criteria were tested through an experiment measuring children’s toy preferences. The participants were 129 children of ages 3-4 years. Experimental data confirmed that most children do prefer realistic and detailed toys rather than those with fewer of these properties. The contribution of socio-demographic factors and the children’s individual developmental indicators to their toy preference was also analyzed.

Results. The study revealed that among various socio-demographic factors, only the child’s gender and the number of siblings in the family acted as significant predictors for the toy preferences. None of child’s developmental characteristics (non-verbal intelligence, executive functions, and emotional understanding) were found to be significant predictors of preference for particular toys.

Conclusions. The assumption that toys can be assessed in terms of their realism and degree of detail found empirical support. The results of this study may be useful in designing further research and in the practical issue of toy selection for children age 3-4 years.

The paper studies parents’ notions of their preschool children’s gaming environment. Particular attention is paid to the content of the home gaming environment and to the place of child’s play in the structure of family leisure time. The selection of toys that is common in a child’s room is analyzed, and children’s preferences in playing with them are described. To enrich child play and children’s development, the parental knowledge of their children’s favorite games and toys is studied. It is shown that the presence of a large number of toys in the play rooms of Russian children is excessive. In this regard, the article emphasizes the role of an adult as the organizer of the child role play, where toys serve as developmental tools. It is specifically noted that the organization of playing space in children’s room has a strong influence on development of their play, activity and on development of creativity.