Conditions for Pretend Play in Preschool Classrooms as a Prerequisite for the Development of Creative Abilities

The development of creative abilities is a priority of modern education. Pretend play contributes to the development of emotions and self-regulation (Singer & DeHaan, 2019), and gives children the possibility to follow rules and at the same time – degrees of freedom (Oers, 2014), but the data on the influence of play on the development of creativity are contradictory (Wallace & Russ, 2015; Fehr & Russ, 2016; Cremin & Chappel, 2019). The actual quality of conditions for play remains low, and teachers’ shift from outsider or didactic to partner position is the most challenging issue for play support (Bredikyte, 2022). The objective is to study how the development of quality of the conditions for play in preschool settings contributes to the development of creative abilities. The theoretical framework is the cultural-historical approach (Vygotsky, 1967; Pramling et al., 2019). The study included 2 stages of quality assessment and children’s creative abilities evaluation (2023 and 2024). Quality assessment was conducted with the Play Environment Rating Scale (PERS) (Shiyan et al., 2025) in 38 classrooms. PERS is based on the cultural-historical approach and allows to assess 7 items: space and equipment for play, play materials, time for play, indirect play support, adult’s participation in joint play, peer interaction in play, multi-age interaction, and play. The children's creative thinking and imagination were evaluated twice (Shannon, 2024). A significant correlation was found between the following parameters: the delta value of the level of children's imagination (between 2023 and 2024) with the delta of the results of the assessment of the quality of conditions for play: Spearman 0.199** (p < 0.01), Kendall 0.138** (p < 0.01). Children in classes with higher quality for the item "Adult participation in the play" were significantly more likely to demonstrate positive dynamics of imagination and dialectical thinking, and for the item "Space and equipment for play" were significantly more likely to demonstrate positive dynamics of imagination (Welsh Two Sample t-test, P-value < 0.05). Positive dynamics of quality in some parameters of the conditions for supporting the game turned out to be a predictor of positive dynamics of creative abilities (Mann-Whitney criterion, P < 0.05): positive dynamics in the items “Adult participation in the game”, “Time for play” and “Space and equipment for play” turned out to be a predictor for thedevelopment of imagination; positive dynamics in the item “Materials for play” - a predictor for the development of dialectical thinking. References: Bredikyte, M. (2022). Adult participation in the creation of narrative playworlds: challenges and contradictions. International Journal of Early Years Education, 30, 1-15. Cremin, T. & Chappel, l. K. (2019). Creative pedagogies: a systematic review. Research Papers in Education. Fehr, K. & Russ, S. (2016). Pretend Play and Creativity in Preschool-Age Children: Associations and Brief Intervention. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 10. 10.1037/aca0000054. Oers, B. (2014). Cultural–historical perspectives on play: Central ideas. In Brooker, L, Blaise, M, Edwards, S (eds), The SAGE Handbook of Play and Learning in Early Childhood. SAGE. 56 – 66. 10.4135/9781473907850.n6. Pramling, N., Wallerstedt, C., Jonsson, A., Pramling Samuelsson, I. et al. (2019). Play-Responsive Teaching in Early Childhood Education. Springer. Singer, E. & De Haan, D. (2019). Igrat', udivlyat'sya, uznavat'. Teoriya razvitiya, vospitaniya i obucheniya detei. Publishing MOZAIKA-SINTEZ. Shiyan, I.B., Iakshina, A.N. et al. (2025). Play Environment Rating Scale and Creative Environment Rating Scale: ECERS extension. Teachers College Press. Vygotsky, L.S. (1967). Play and Its Role in the Mental Development of the Child, Soviet Psychology, 5(3), 6-18. Shannon, N., Mascolo, M.F., & Belolutskaya, A. (Eds.). (2024). The Routledge International Handbook of Dialectical Thinking (1st ed.). Routledge.