The article, Chopsticks and counting chips: do play and foundational skills need to compete for the teacher’s attention in an early childhood classroom?, by Elena Bodrova and Deborah J. Leong includes Elkonins four incredible principles for preparing the foundations for subsequent learning. Within the four principles includes plays affects on the child’s motivation. He says that through play children are capable of developing a multifaceted, ranked arrangement, of short and long-termed goals. Children also show evidence of their first interaction with delayed gratification through play. This is a task many preschool aged children scuffle with. Another principle Elkonin identifies as a way in which play influences development is plays ability
