Play and Learning Activity: Borderline Conflicts

Illegal invasion of schooling into the preschool education can be peacefully suspended by developing the conceptual play based on narratives, in which special characters are acting. These characters of conceptual play are of the dual nature: while they reason and act as concepts that come alive, they feel and communicate as humans in flesh and blood. In the elementary school, the development of students’ learning activity employs the conceptual plays as a successful conduit for introducing concepts, which cannot be constructed through hand-on activities. In the preschool, the conceptual play opens the way to coach knowledge and skills traditionally associated with schooling. By teaching preschoolers with the help of the conceptual plays, adults get the opportunity to design the learning content that combines affect and intelligence, lays the foundation for operating with schemes, and most importantly, promotes children's initiative in intellectual pursuits and expands its scope. The outlines of conceptual play are exemplified by episodes of teaching literacy in the first grade with the ABC textbook by D.B. Elkonin.