Child’s Play in the Context of Digital Transformation: Cultural-Historical Perspective (Part One)

Abstract

The article is devoted to the peculiarities of preschoolers’ play within the Information Society. It studies the types of technologies used by preschoolers in the process of play (video games, educational apps, smart and digital toys). It also provides an overview of the existing empirical research, proving that contemporary play represents a specific type of play activity, where physical and digital objects interact in real time. The article discusses different approaches to the analysis of digital play in the context of Cultural-Historical Theory (M. Fleer, N.N. Veresov, N.E. Veraksa). It also focuses on the key differences between technical behaviors and digital play activity. The authors stress the need of transition transition from contrasting traditional play and play, mediated by technologies, to the analysis of digital play as a complex system of child-child and child-adult communities that construct the socio-cultural context of the child’s everyday life.