Play and Its Role in the Mental Development of the Child

In speaking of play and its role in the preschooler's development, we are concerned with two fundamental questions: first, how play itself arises in development — its origin and genesis; second, the role of this developmental activity, which we call play, as a form of development in the child of preschool age. Is play the leading form of activity for a child of this age, or is it simply the predominant form?