Many Montessorians uphold the belief that, for children, work is preferable to play, and that play, especially fantasy play, is antithetical to work. In recent years, children have experienced disruption to their social and emotional development as a result of COVID-19 lockdowns. Recent research suggests that play in a variety of forms is a…

Presented here are fragments of my book "The cartography of inner childhood" in the translation from Russian. The main hero of this book is our childhood experience. Or, rather, the book is about our remembrances of our childhood experience. Some people would exclaim, "These remembrances are extremely subjective, utterly personal…

The main aim of this paper is to use a phenomenological approach (Merleau-Ponty, 1962. "Phenomenology of Perception." Evanston: Northwestern University Press; Merleau-Ponty. 1968. "The Visible and the Invisible: Followed by Working Notes." Evanston: Northern University Press) to contribute a new theoretical understanding of…

This article approaches the study of children's literature as a threshold of change that allows readers to explore the reality around them, imagine other worlds and understand other perspectives. Based on the notion of the child's cognitive development organized into four stages--pre-reading, fantastic stage, fantastic-realistic stage and…

Introduction: Computers and the applications of today's high technology can simulate reality so realistically that virtuality has become part of both children's and adults' lifestyles (Nagy & Kölcsey, 2017; Szécsi, 2012). However, it did not emerge with the computer applications, but with human thinking and part of that, the virtual conception…

The authors discuss the association between make-believe play and the development of executive-function (EF) skills in young children. Some forty years ago, Lev S. Vygotsky first proposed that make-believe fosters the development of symbolic thought and self-regulation. Since then, a small body of research has produced evidence of an association…

Research on the relationship between literacy and play has a rich history. Yet few studies have examined children's use of spontaneous play during literacy events as children are learning to read and write. This case study examines the use of play and the quality of playfulness in a kindergarten/first grade multiage classroom during Writer's…

The authors review the research on children's imagination and fantasy as they relate to children's socio-emotional and cognitive development and link those findings to children's academic and classroom competence. Specifically, children who are imaginative and/or fantasy prone tend to have better coping skills and the ability to regulate their…

This study examined 3- to 5-year-olds' (N = 128; 54% girls) ability to discriminate emotional fantasy and reality. Children viewed images depicting fantastic or real events that elicited several emotions, reported whether each event could occur, and rated their emotional reaction to the image. Children were also administered the Play Behavior…

Past research with 152 preschoolers found that having an imaginary companion or impersonating an imaginary character was positively correlated with theory of mind performance. Three years later, 100 children from this study were retested to assess the developmental course of play with imaginary companions and impersonation of imaginary characters…