The topic of this master thesis is the educatinal role of children symbolic play in early childhood education and care from the perspective of educators. Symbolic play is a kind of play in which children take on adult roles or use symbols to imagine something else. The aim of the research is to examine opinions and experiences of educators regarding to the educational role of the children symbolic play in early childhood education and care. As part of the thesis, a qualitative study was conducted with a focus group of six educators from one kindergarten in Rijeka, for which was used a semi-structured interview protocol. The survey was conducted in June 2024. Thematic analysis was used for the processing and interpretation of research results and results divided into five thematic categories. Educators believe that symbolic play is important for raising children, because it stimulates cognitive, emotional, social, and physical development. Play produces abstract thinking, children develop empathy for others, have social interactions with other children during play, and develop their motor skills. Mostly, educators have a non-directive role in stimulating play, so they are out of play most of the time, but occasionally they engage in play. They shape incentives that children use in play, for which are important natural materials that are used in children's spatial-material enviroment. Lack of material is the greatest limitation for creating play. In addition to the inner space, an external environment is also important to stimulate creativity in the children's symbolic play. Technological changes, such as screening, have led to positive and negative changes in the way of how children in educational groups are playing in symbolic play. One of the recommendations for future research is to focus on the connection between modern technology and the way of children's playing in symbolic play, which can help educators in their work.