Importance of children's play for mental development

The bachelor's thesis deals with the influence of play on children's mental development from birth to preschool age. The first chapter is dedicated to general concept of children's play, its definition, the main different approaches to children's play and the basic characteristics of play. The next section describes the main stages of development and play from the birth in the specific periods (newborn, infant, toddler, preschool child) when the exact period is briefly described theoretically and then the most of the work is dedicated to play in this periods. The third section of theoretical part focuses on social groups in which play takes place. In conclusion, the practical part, there is designed research in the field of specifics of children's play preschool institution. Key words Play, developmental stages, children, mental development, social group