PARLA Experimental Method for Developing Play Activity of Preschool Children

Abstract

The problem of stimulating play activity of preschoolers has been considered in the context of transforming a basic goal of play activity into subgoals, more meaningful for a child. There is a correlation between the ability of a preschooler to identify subgoals and the ability to perform conscious and purposeful behavior. The paper presents a step by step technique of stimulating play activity of preschoolers which corresponds to the components of PARLA method and includes: encouraging the diversity of contrived behavior - transforming a basic goal of play activity into subgoals – display of cognitive dissonance – continuing a game using cognitive activity of subjects of a play activity. The findings show that stimulating preschoolers’ activity through due reflection of purposeful behavior in game situations leads to practical skills of application of conscious behavior.