Children love to play - everyone knows that. But not everyone can explain why a child needs a game, what it gives him, and isn’t it better to replace it with something “serious and useful” - for example, learning to read and other developmental activities? We often treat children's games as something something unimportant, secondary and not serious. “Well, just think, the toy is missing - it’s a big problem, take another one! How long can you dig around, lunch gets cold, then you’ll finish the game! Why are you crying, it’s a game, I found something to be upset about!” How often does a child hear such words? What conclusion does he draw from them? Let's try to remember our childhood. When, for example, you experience a shipwreck, and right now, at this very moment, it will become clear whose boat it is there in the distance - yours or a pirate’s? What is in it – death or salvation?.. My heart is pounding, my shaking hands can’t adjust the eyepiece of the cardboard telescope... But what does this suddenly appear in it? Mom?..Where is she here from? For some reason she has an angry face... What lunch? Mom, later! Please wait! The boat is about to sail away, I need to shout to her!.. Why is she angry? What do you mean you called five times?... I didn’t hear... Why in the corner? For what??? What to think about?.. Meanwhile, the boat disappears on the horizon... The child gets used to the role, the game situation becomes his reality for a while, and - most importantly! - he lives in her the most real, “true” feelings and emotions. By belittling the importance of play, we thereby devalue childhood experiences, letting the child understand that they are not important. Does that mean he himself is not important? But in reality this is not so! Therefore, you need to understand and accept the value of play and the need for its presence in a child’s life. Functions of the game Game is the leading (that is, the most important) activity and the main source of development for preschoolers. As the child grows, his games change and transform - from simple manipulations with objects, he moves on to mastering their social meanings, and why to interaction with other children and complex role-playing games. At the same time, the game is necessary for the development of the child’s potential, it solves many problems and has a number of different functions: - Knowledge of the world, accumulation of knowledge; - Training and development of various skills and abilities; - Development of the cognitive sphere: perception, memory, thinking (figurative and logical ) and speech; - Development of imagination and creativity, the ability to dream; - Training in the ability to set goals: the ability to set goals and draw up an action plan to achieve them; - Mastering social norms and rules that help to integrate harmoniously into society and ensure one’s safety (for example, in the game you can easily and naturally learn the rules of the road, which will be very useful in life); - Development of self-regulation, volition and volition: learning and compliance with the rules of the game, the need to restrain one’s impulses; - Mastering various social roles and relationships between people; - Development emotional intelligence, the ability to empathize and empathize; - Changes in the motivational-need sphere, the formation of the need for socially significant activities and motivation to learn; - The emergence of self-knowledge and reflection, the formation of self-esteem; - Development of the personal sphere: the emergence of a hierarchy of motives and their subordination; - Development of communication and the ability to establish contacts with different people in different situations; - Emotional response: experiencing current emotions and situations, helping to cope with them in real life. What is free play? There are different types of games, and each of them is valuable and necessary in its own way. Let us now dwell on free play. This is a spontaneous game process, not regulated by adults, into which a child can enter and act in it at his own discretion. It may have rules, but they are developed by the participants along the way and can change in the process. There is always an element of unpredictability in it: no one knows in advance how the plot will turn out. She doesn't assume/