Smirnova E.O., Ryabkova I.A. The right to a play

Smirnova E.O., Ryabkova I.A. The right to a play // Preschool Education Today. 2011, Issue 1 - p. 28-31.

This work is licensed under a Сreative Commons Atribiution - NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

2011, 1

Irina A. Ryabkova
Cand. Sci. (Psychology), Senior Researcher, The Center for Socio-Cultural Problems of Modern Education, The Federal Scientific Center for Psychological and Interdisciplinary Research, Moscow, Russian Federation

Elena O. Smirnova
Doctor of Psychological Sciences, Professor, Head of Centre "Play and toys" of Moscow City University of Psychology and Education (Moscow, Russia)

Abstract

The value of a play for child development is acknowledged by all psychologists and many other specialists. Teachers, pediatricians, neurophysiologists and human rights activists all over the world demonstrate that child play has a fundamental, crucial effect on child growth, and deprivation of it is detrimental for normal development. However, the current trend of regarding child play as an “excessive” element in education that wastes time strengths. More and more adults today begin to view child play as merely entertainment that takes time from proper education and development. Contemporary preschool education tends to use child play primarily for teaching certain skills and notions, leaving other crucial aspects of the play itself unappreciated. It can be seen in the new terminology, like “play form”, “play tools”, etc. that new “play technologies” had largely supplanted child play.