Abstract
This paper introduces new tools for the cultural-historical analysis of children play in early years and how the cultural-historical genetic-analytical model can be applied as a tool of analysis of the role of children’s play in psychological development. The paper discusses the complexity of the interrelations of several situations in child’s play − 1) the imaginary situation; 2) the social situation; 3) the normative situation and 4) the social situation of development which might arise within the social situation depending on how the social situation is refracted through the prism of child’s perezhivanie. These theoretical concepts and the genetic-analytical model might be a powerful analytical tool to disclose the dialectical nature of child development in early years.