Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Figures
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction: The Problem of Determinants and Mechanisms of Child Development; The Structure and Content of the Book
- 1 Vygotsky's Approach to Child Development
- 2 The Neo-Vygotskian Elaboration of Vygotsky's Approach to Child Development
- 3 First Year of Life: Emotional Interactions With Caregivers as the Leading Activity of Infants
- 4 Second and Third Years of Life: Object-Centered Joint Activity With Adults as the Leading Activity of Toddlers
- 5 Three- to Six-Year-Olds: Sociodramatic Play as the Leading Activity During the Period of Early Childhood
- 6 The Period of Middle Childhood: Learning at School as Children's Leading Activity
- 7 The Period of Adolescence: Interactions With Peers as the Leading Activity of Adolescents
- Conclusion The Neo-Vygotskian Approach to Child Development: Accomplishments and Shortcomings
- References
- Author Index
- Subject Index
5 - Three- to Six-Year-Olds: Sociodramatic Play as the Leading Activity During the Period of Early Childhood
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 August 2014
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Figures
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction: The Problem of Determinants and Mechanisms of Child Development; The Structure and Content of the Book
- 1 Vygotsky's Approach to Child Development
- 2 The Neo-Vygotskian Elaboration of Vygotsky's Approach to Child Development
- 3 First Year of Life: Emotional Interactions With Caregivers as the Leading Activity of Infants
- 4 Second and Third Years of Life: Object-Centered Joint Activity With Adults as the Leading Activity of Toddlers
- 5 Three- to Six-Year-Olds: Sociodramatic Play as the Leading Activity During the Period of Early Childhood
- 6 The Period of Middle Childhood: Learning at School as Children's Leading Activity
- 7 The Period of Adolescence: Interactions With Peers as the Leading Activity of Adolescents
- Conclusion The Neo-Vygotskian Approach to Child Development: Accomplishments and Shortcomings
- References
- Author Index
- Subject Index
Summary
Sociodramatic play is a joint activity of children in which they choose a plot that reflects a certain aspect of social relations (i.e., buying something in a store), distribute roles (i.e., a seller and buyers), and play together imitating the chosen aspect of social relations. Although the most influential approaches to sociodramatic play give different explanations of the appearance of such play and its role in children's development (Erikson, 1963; A. Freud, 1927; S. Freud, 1920/1955; Piaget, 1945/1962), all of them share one major idea. Sociodramatic play is considered to be children's free and spontaneous activity in which they do whatever they want, liberating themselves from any rules and social pressure; therefore, adults are not supposed to interfere with children's play.
Vygotsky (1966/1976) and Russian neo-Vygotskians (Elkonin, 1948, 1971/1972, 1978, 1989; Leontiev, 1959/1964; Usova, 1976; Zaporozhets, 1978/1997) developed a quite different approach to sociodramatic play. From their point of view, children play not because they want to liberate themselves from social pressure. The opposite is true, for by the age 3 years, as discussed in the previous chapter, children develop a strong interest in the world of social relations. The world of adults becomes very attractive for children, and they are looking forward to becoming a part of this world. In industrialized societies, however, children cannot fulfill this desire directly: They cannot be doctors or a firefighters. That is why they “penetrate” the world of adults by imitating and exploring social roles and relations in the course of sociodramatic play.
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- The Neo-Vygotskian Approach to Child Development , pp. 139 - 170Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2005
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