Vygotsky suggested that play is hardly the frivolous activity it appears to be. Quite the contrary, play enables children to “stretch” their abilities in many ways (Vygotsky, 1978). For example, as a kindergartner, my son Jeff often played “restaurant” with his friend Scott. In a corner of our basement, the two boys created a restaurant “kitchen” with a toy sink and stove and stocked it with plastic dishes, cooking utensils, and “food” items. They created a separate dining area with child-sized tables and chairs and made menus for their customers. On one occasion they invited both sets of parents to “dine” at the restaurant, taking our orders, serving us our plastic “food,” and eventually giving us our bills. Fortunately, they seemed quite happy with the few pennies we paid them for our “meals.”
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