Teachers’ and Psychologists’ Attitude to a Toy: the Historical Dynamics of Value Orientations in Russia

Abstract

Background. Along with toys that society offers for children's play, the values of this society are broadcast. Children's play turns out to be dependent on the ideology, adults’ ideas about its structure, meaning and place in children's life. The attitude towards toys reflects the attitude of adults towards children, and changes along with the socio-cultural situation. The study of this dynamics is necessary not only to expand scientific understanding of toys, but also to understand what contribution adults make to the construction of the phenomenon of childhood. Objectives. The aim is to study the dynamics of attitudes towards toys during the period from the late 19th to early 21st centuries. Study Material. The study used 110 sources, 75 of which made up the final list of references. Methods. Theoretical analysis of psychological and pedagogical literature of the late 19th — early 21st centuries devoted to the theme of children's toys was conducted. Results. Two shifts in attitude to toys have been found due to changes in the socio–cultural situation in Russia. The first shift is associated with the revolution and the emergence of the USSR, and the second one with the Perestroika and collapse of the USSR. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a child was understood as a subject of play activity, independently creating toys in accordance with their play ideas. So, a toy is any object that is used in play, a good toy is a homemade toy. Choosing the right toys requires observation of a child's play. With the emergence of the USSR, play became a way of pedagogical influence on a child. Toys were regarded as means of education and training. Therefore, they were to be chosen based on the goals of communism: by playing with them, the child became a Soviet citizen. Toys are understood as created by adults for children with good toys being aimed at the development of a Soviet citizen. With the collapse of the USSR, the pluralism of opinions in the field of play and toys is growing. The number of studies in this area is increasing and there is an understanding of the need to create an objective tool for assessment of toys. Conclusions. The study shows the dynamics of the attitude of teachers and psychologists to a toy in conditions of changing socio-cultural situations.

Keywords

• toys
• open-end materials
• object-spatial environment
• preschoolers
• children
• teachers' attitude to toys
• socio-cultural situation