Making Play Smarter, Stronger, and Kinder - Lessons from Tools of the Mind

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Dipper

Making Play Smarter, Stronger, and Kinder explores how make-believe play supports early childhood development amid growing pressure for academic achievement. Drawing on Lev Vygotsky’s cultural-historical theory, it explains how sociodramatic play builds key competencies for school success, including abstract symbolic thinking and emotion control. The text also outlines Strategies from the Tools of the Mind curriculum for scaffolding mature intentional play, and shows how Sesame Street initiatives can help parents and teachers apply these approaches.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages17

Reading Time43 min

AccessFree to download

Vygotsky’s Views of Play

Emergence of Abstract Symbolic Thinking

Developing Emotion Control

Developing Self-regulation

Making Play Smarter, Stronger, and Kinder Lessons from Tools of the Mind • Elena Bodrova and Deborah J. Leong Although most early-childhood educators agree on the value of play in child development, they find it increasingly harder to advocate for play given today’s pressure for academic achievement. Using the theoretical work of Lev Vygotsky, the authors discuss how make-believe play among children helps them develop skills critical for success in school and beyond. They discuss the strategies of the Tools of the Mind curriculum that scaffold mature make-believe play, and they demonstrate how Sesame Street and Esme and Roy, shows from Sesame Workshop, help parents and teachers use these strategies with children. Key words: early-childhood education; emotion control; make-believe play; self-regulation; sociodramatic play; symbolic thought; Vygotsky’s theory Tools of the Mind is an early-childhood curriculum that focuses on promoting self-regulation and executive functions in young children by supporting their mature intentional make-believe play and playful learning (Bodrova and Leong 2018). We describe some of the Tools of the Mind strategies for supporting play associated with the goals stated in the curriculum developed for television’s Sesame Street. To make children “smarter, stronger, and kinder,”as appears in Sesame Workshop’s mission statement, we also want their play to become smarter, stronger, and kinder. Having spent many years advocating for make-believe play in earlychildhood classrooms, we have much evidence to support the value of play in children’s learning. Yet, we have noticed that it has grown harder and harder to persuade school administrators and even some classroom teachers that learning through play is the right kind of learning—and often the best kind of learning—for young children. Although this position can be partially explained by the increasing pressure for academic achievement, another reason may lie in themisunderstanding of the relationship between play and learning. 37 American Journal of Play, volume 12, number 1 © The Strong [Contact Elena Bodrova at ebodrova@toolsofthemind.org](Contact Elena Bodrova at ebodrova@toolsofthemind.org) We focus on the relationship between play and learning viewed from the perspective of cultural-historical theory (also known as the Vygotskianand post-Vygotskian approach) (Bodrova and Leong 2007, 2015), which formed the theoretical foundation of Tools of the Mind curriculum. We then demonstrate how this approach helped develop strategies for scaffolding play used in Tools of the Mind classrooms as well as the curriculum developed for Sesame Street shows. Vygotsky’s Views of Play Before we describe Lev Vygotsky’s views of play, we should note that he focused primarily on the sociodramatic or make-believe play typical among preschool-and kindergarten-aged children. Thus, the features of play identified by Vygotsky do not necessarily characterize other activities such as games, object manipulations, or explorations frequently called play by parents and educators. Vygotsky’s definition of play would also not apply to the teacher-initiated activities, however engaging, sometimes presented to children as play and games. Make-believe play, according to Vygotsky, has three distinct features: children create an imaginary situation, take on and act out roles, and follow a set of rules determined by these roles. Each of these features is important in developing the competencies necessary for children’s success in school and beyond. Emergence of Abstract Symbolic Thinking One of the more important outgrowths of play is the ability of children to “think in their heads,” signaling the emergence of abstract symbolic thinking critical for success in school and beyond. In play, children act in accordance with internal ideas rather than with external reality: a piece of yarn in reality is not a stethoscope but it becomes one once a child decides tha

FAQs

Why is it harder to advocate for learning through play today?

The text links the pressure for academic achievement to increased resistance, and also notes a misunderstanding of the relationship between play and learning.

What three features of make-believe play does Vygotsky emphasize?

Children create imaginary situations, take on and enact roles, and follow rules determined by those roles.

How does make-believe play support self-regulation?

Play is described as rule-governed rather than spontaneous, so children practice self-regulation by acting according to role-based demands instead of immediate gratification.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Dipper