What is Vygotsky's play theory?

According to Lev S. Vygotsky, the highest levels of abstract thinking and self-regulation in preschool development are established in pretend play using object substitutions. Vygotsky also introduced an entirely new way of assessing the child’s ability to learn by using the assistance of a more knowledgeable person – the zone of proximal development. These concepts are fundamental to Vygotsky’s theory of how consciously directed mental functions develop as neurological systems. An extensive research literature supports Vygotsky’s empirical model of the internalization of self-guiding speech. Vygotsky’s model of verbal interactions is the key unifying concept in Synergistic Psychology, a synthesis of major psychological theories. Francine Smolucha has published her own original research on creativity, pretend play, and private speech, related to Vygotsky’s ideas. Vygotsky’s theory of how consciously directed mental functions develop as neurological systems is based on his empirical model of the internalization of self-guiding speech.

In play a child always behaves beyond his average age, above his daily behaviour, in play it is as though he were a head taller than himself. Vygotsky was probably the first modern day theorist to fully consider the meaning and value of play in children’s lives, and to recognise how the learning that occurs as a result of children’s participation in play is ‘socially constructed’ – that is, their learning does not occur in isolation from their surrounding environment, which includes places, things and, perhaps most importantly, people. He asserted that the potential of each child is inextricably tied up with those around him (adults and children), and it follows that such interplay with others is unique to each child. He named this concept the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). What the child can do today in collaboration, tomorrow he will be able to do independently. Ultimately Vygotsky argued that children should be assessed not only for what they can achieve in the here and now, but also for the potential they possess to progress further given a favourable environment. For Vygotsky, the responsibility of those adults working with children is to recognise such potential, and create what is needed.