Play as an activity for forming environmental awareness in preschool children

As an independent children's activity, play is formed during the upbringing and education of children and it contributes to their assimilation of experience through human activity. As a form of organizing the life of children in kindergartens, play is important because it serves to form the child's psyche and personality. The main function of play is developmental: it increases intelligence, contributes to the sensory perception of the world and emotional well-being of the child. Therefore, in addition to all other types of activities, play is of primary importance in preschool childhood. Preschool age is considered the classic age of play. In the area of environmental education, ways are currently being sought to introduce elements of different types of games into the teaching process of preschool children so that they form a conscious and correct attitude towards nature and towards themselves as a part of it. The relationship between children's play (games) and other activities and the formation of ideas about nature is an issue that is poorly explored in science and disorganized in practice. Children of preschool age are happy to participate in theatrical games. By depicting different heroes (animals, birds), children get to know the natural world that surrounds them through images, colors, and sounds. The paper will present several games with environmental messages implemented in preschool institutions in Stip, North Macedonia, as activities that develop environmental awareness among preschool children.