The Play Theory and Computer Games Using in Early Childhood Education

The article describes the role of play in child's development and identifies the characteristics of mature play in preschool age. The paper gives an overview of the computer games for preschool children used in Russian kindergartens. The research conducted with 50 Russian kindergarten teachers provides the analysis of the most important factors of computer programs selection made by teachers for their classroom activities. It is analyzed whether the factors concern the theory of children's play and whether the kindergarten teachers need the scaffolding program for choosing computer games appropriate for children's development. It is described the essence of the scaffolding program. They are formulated the criteria for evaluating computer games to make classroom activities developmentally appropriate.