stages of the formation and development of play activity as the leading activity of childhood, described by Soviet and Russian psychologists. The leading activity in early childhood is object-manipulative activity:
1) manipulation (from 3 months) – occurs in the course of the development of eye-hand coordination (for example, the child shakes a rattle);
2) situational-business interaction (5-6 to 9-10 months) – active attempts to involve an adult in interaction: for example, a child throws toys on the floor for an adult to pick up.
3) from 10-12 months. up to 2 years old – the formation of a plot and image game (rocking a doll, feeding a bear) – the child repeats/imitates the actions of adults. In the plot-image game, the formation of moral and value behavior, the reflection of feelings and actions takes place, intensive mental development takes place, knowledge about the world around is acquired. Gradually, the child moves from simple and ready-made plots to complex and independently invented ones, transfers functions from one object to another.
4) at the age of 2-3 years, a role-playing game is formed, in which the child learns to take on a role, learns to play with other children, and not just next to them; gradually learns to follow the rules of the game (see Psychology of the game in Chapter 2.11. Key Psychological Concepts in Educational Psychology).