The actuality of the study is determined by the need for reaction of teachers and scientists to the phenomena that children reflect in the game – military actions. The professional inadequacy of the methodology for organizing military-themed games encourages scientific research to provide adequate support to teachers and practitioners in wartime. The purpose of the article is to determine the features of military toys, toy weapons usage investigating the theme of war in preschool children’s play activities by analyzing and summarizing the views of child psychologists, psychotherapists, kindergarten teachers and scientists. The following methods were used for the study: analysis, generalization, synthesis. The idea of leisure militarization penetrated not only the games of preschool children, but also children of middle and high school age. The main mechanics were to seize territories and increase military power: men’s and technical. If the role of an adult does not have a purposeful positive impact, then such games will be identified by spontaneity, conflict, consolidation of psychological attitudes, the stronger player wins, and moral norms in such games are not valid. The results of scientific research are accumulated in the following features: children's games on the theme of war and toy weapons usage have a deep historical origin from the stable stereotypical views on the upbringing of boys and girls; the theme of war and the plots of military events penetrate all kinds of children's games: creative and with rules, while their interpenetration and mutual enrichment is noticeable; games and toys can be the subject of ideological and military reflection and influence of different political and historical periods; such games can reflect the experienced traumatic events, and be necessary means of preventive and psychotherapeutic treatment, etc. It is noted that the organization of children's military-themed games ensures preschoolers’ value orientations formation: patriotism, respect for a person and his life, the value of protecting the Motherland, interest in military’s heroic deeds etc.

The relevance of the study is determined by the current level of development of the educational process in preschool education institutions in accordance with educational innovations and reforms. It is indicated that the educational process must comply with the updated State Standard of Preschool Education and ensure the quality of preschool education in accordance with European requirements. It is noted that the subject-play environment of a preschool education institution is one of the criteria by which the quality of the educational process is assessed, which determines the importance of its study by future preschool teachers. The purpose of the article is to generalize the content of theoretical and practical training of future educators for the design of the subject-play environment of the preschool education institution based on the material of the boardgame center. The following methods were used for the research: definitive, structural and comparative analysis, generalization, etc. Interrelationships between the key concepts of the content of the theoretical training of future educators are clarified. The article points out the importance of understanding their commonality and difference, hierarchical subordination and conditioning: «educational and developmental environment of an educational institution» as a pedagogical category and scientific knowledge; «the subject-play environment of the preschool education institution» is a substantial modification of the traditional educational and developmental environment specifically for the preschool education sector; «center of children’s activities» – a place of concentration, emergence and deployment of specific types of children’s activities, etc. It is determined that the subject-play environment is an essential modification of the educational development environment and preserves its structure: subject-spatial, motivational-cognitive, psychological-didactic, social-communication components. It is emphasized that the main point that higher education students learn is the interdependence between the optimal mode of interaction and the arrangement of furniture, attributes, and objects. The article substantiates methods and forms of educational activity of higher education students in the design of the subject-play environment in a preschool education institution: study of the state documents that regulate the educational process; schematization and modelling of child’s interactions and activities; creation of a moodboard of a center of children’s activities; visiting a preschool institution to observe the educational process, etc.

It is noted that the development of a progressive society is dynamic, with a tendency to constantly accelerate, complicate and change, so the integration of Ukraine into the international educational space is the main task of Ukrainian education in general and preschool education in particular. Preschool education is not only a system of knowledge for its transmission to the younger generation, but also the most important means of creating a successful future for all mankind, and the key goal of education is a mature and educated person. It is noted that private preschools can become an effective alternative to public kindergartens only if the requirements set out in the State Standard for Preschool Education are met. The current state of the network of preschool educational institutions (PEI) of different types and forms of ownership (public, municipal, private, corporate, family) is analysed and regional indicators of the end of 2020 – beginning of 2021 are taken into account. It is determined that private and corporate PEI can help to solve national problems with groups overcrowding, low quality of educational and developmental environment organization (subject-spatial, psychological-didactic, social-communication and motivational-cognitive components), inclusive education organization, implementation of ideas of the best international experience, insufficient number of PEI in Ukraine.