In developmental psychology, preschool age is described as one of the most important stages of personality development. It was during this period that the child's perception of himself and his capabilities, attitude towards the world and stereotypes of communication are laid in the child. Psychology preschool age helps parents to understand the peculiarities of development and the reasons for the behavior of the baby.

Preschool in modern psychology is considered to be the age from 4 to 7 years. The beginning of this period is preceded by a crisis three years... This is a rather difficult period in the life of parents, since the child shows extreme negativism and strong stubbornness.

It is this crisis that means that the child differentiates, separates from the mother and manifests itself as a separate person with his own opinions and desires. In order for him to successfully pass this stage, parents should in no case humiliate or break the preschooler. It is necessary to show him that he is heard, and he has the right to his experiences, but it is the adults' right to decide.

Having passed this crisis, the child enters a new level of relations with adults. If earlier he was the “navel of the earth”, a mother’s continuation, now he is becoming a separate person and a full member of the family. He has to follow the family rules, and he has the first responsibilities (to put away toys).

The boundaries of the family are opened, and the child discovers the world around him. At this time, he usually begins to attend kindergarten, where he learns to interact with peers, as well as other adults. This is the first social role.

The desire for independence is an important characteristic of preschool age. The child strives to be an adult, but cannot yet be. This is what gives rise to the role-playing game as an opportunity to "play as an independent adult."

A preschooler tries to imitate his elders in everything, from intonation to gestures and behavior. At this age, the child, like a mirror, reflects his parents. For them, this is a great opportunity to look at themselves from the outside and think about what they are teaching their children.

Play as a way of development

Preschool psychology defines play as a leading activity in the development of children of this age. What does "leading business" mean? This means that it is this activity that has the main influence on the development of the child's personality and all his mental processes.

In the process of playing, the child learns to control his behavior according to the chosen role. This is how his arbitrary behavior is formed. But do not think that the game for the kid is just a fantasy, a pretense. No. For him, the game is an emotionally intense and absolutely real activity, where he can become anyone: a doctor, a salesman, a teacher, a knight or a princess.

Joint play helps children develop communication skills, and also contributes to the emergence of social motives (achievement of success, leadership).

In the process of a role-playing game, the following neoplasms appear in a preschooler:

• subordination of motives, that is, the ability to subordinate their personal desires to the rules of the game;
• learning to communicate with other children. He masters the skills of interacting with peers, gaining both positive communication experience (friendship, common toys) and negative (resentment, quarrels);
• assimilation of the word "SHOULD", and the understanding that it is much stronger than the word "WANT".

Cognitive processes of a preschooler

All mental processes are rapidly developing in preschoolers. A distinctive feature of all cognitive processes in before school age their acquisition of arbitrariness becomes.

At a younger preschool age (3-4 years), perception is closely related to the child's emotions, and the more positive feelings and vivid impressions the child experiences when exposed to some kind of stimulus, the more accurate the perception will be. But already at an older age (5-7 years), perception becomes not just a reaction to a stimulus, but a tool for learning about the world around us. Visual perception is especially developed among preschoolers.

Attention and memory retain their involuntary character, but by the end of the period their arbitrariness develops. By the age of 5, the stability of attention and its volume increase. Moreover, it was found that the stability of attention is associated with the character of the child. In calm children, it is 2 times higher than in emotional ones.

The most important mental function that affects the development of a preschooler is memory. A child is able to memorize a lot of various information, but only when he is interested, and this happens during the game. No special memorization techniques will work.

The development of a preschooler's thinking goes through several stages. At the beginning, the child has developed visual-active thinking, then - by the middle of preschool age - it turns into visual-figurative, and at the end verbal-logical thinking begins to form.

These psychological characteristics of the development of preschool children, and in particular, the peculiarities of thinking, must be taken into account when communicating with a child. For example, a child 4-5 years old asks when mom will return home. You answer that she will come home after work. And after a couple of minutes, the child asks the same question. No, he is not joking with you and he heard your answer well. It was just that, due to the specificity of the child's thinking, he did not understand it.

The words "after", "then" refer to the category of time (past, present, future), and this refers to verbal-logical thinking. And the child operates with visual-effective. Therefore, so that the child understands you, list after what actions and events the mother will appear at home. For example: "we will take a walk with you now, then we will eat, watch a cartoon, it will become dark outside the window, and then mom will come."

At preschool age, the centers responsible for speech functions mature in the child's psyche, and the process of mastering native speech is completed. The little man's vocabulary increases significantly. At the age of six, a child's active vocabulary contains 2500-3000 words. This is three times more than that of a three-year-old baby.

However, these indicators are completely dependent on the environment in which children grow up. Preschoolers have a large vocabulary if their parents talk a lot with them and read fairy tales and stories with them (this is how they become familiar with literary speech).

This period is characterized by the so-called word creation of children - the ability to form bizarre forms of words or use words in an unusual meaning.

The leading needs of the preschooler

The psychology of preschool children often contains contradictions. For example, at this age they have two new needs:

• communication with other children;
• the need to be engaged in some important activity for society.

But the child cannot fulfill the second need in society. How can he resolve this contradiction? This is what leads to the emergence of a role-playing game, which makes it possible for a preschooler to play the roles of adults who are engaged in socially important activities.

An important need for a baby at this age is the need for acceptance and unconditional love. It is important for him to feel that he is special for his parents, and he is loved simply because he is. Parental acceptance and love creates a solid foundation for healthy self-esteem. Growing up, the child will not "curry favor" in order to earn love.

Unconditional love does not mean there is no punishment for wrongdoing. But parents need to separate personality and deeds and punish the child precisely for misconduct, and not for the fact that he is “bad”. It is necessary to explain to him that he is good and is loved, but the parents must punish him for the offense.

Personal development

According to preschool psychology, in the period from 4 to 7 years, the foundation of the personality is laid: self-esteem, subordination of motives, the assimilation of moral norms and rules, as well as the ability to evaluate and control one's behavior.

The preschooler learns to name emotions and recognize their manifestations in themselves and others. It is very important during this period to teach him a healthy attitude towards negative emotions and how to express them correctly. To do this, adults themselves must have a well-developed emotional intelligence.

At this age, the child shows emotions such as empathy and care. "Social" emotions develop: a sense of pride and joy for a good deed, a sense of shame for a bad one.

Self-esteem and self-awareness

At this stage of development, the child develops the ability to evaluate his own actions and the actions of others. And that's when self-esteem and self-image are formed.

Self-concept is based on the self-concept. Although it would be more correct to say: "You are a concept", since at first the preschooler's self-image is formed from how his parents evaluate him. Therefore, parents should be careful in assessing their child, more often pay attention to his dignity and abilities, so that he grows up as a self-confident person.

Moral development and the hierarchy of motives

The preschooler actively learns the norms of behavior and morality and begins to think in moral categories: bad - good, good - evil, honest - dishonest. Significant role in moral development the parents play the little person, and it is they who pass on their values ​​to the children.

An important new formation of this age is the subordination of personal motives to public ones. In early preschool age, children have personal motives, one of which is to elicit the approval of a significant adult. In senior school age, there is a subordination of motives: personal motives give way to social motives (to do a good deed, or to submit to the wishes of the group).

Knowledge of the norms and rules of behavior, as well as the ability to evaluate their actions in older preschool age, lead to the fact that the child learns to control his actions and manage his behavior.

Gender

Awareness of oneself as a being of a certain sex is already present in three-year-old babies. And at first, children can copy the behavior of a parent of the same gender - girls put on jewelry like mothers, and boys have business conversations on a toy phone. Growing up, they will already try to behave accordingly: the daughter will ask to help in the kitchen, the boy will ask to fix the car with his grandfather.

It is interesting that preschoolers tend to be friends only with peers of the same sex: girls with girls, and boys with boys. In this case, disparaging statements towards the opposite sex are possible.

There is no end and edge to the creative flight of a child. Imagination takes the baby far, far away. He is interested in drawing, sculpting, gluing, and much more. Encourage these activities. This is how his imagination develops, his talents and self-confidence are revealed.

Why are you greedy and brawlers

Preschool age is the age of a thousand and one questions. The kid actively learns the world, and he is interested in knowing everything: what the sun is made of, and why the bag rustles. While these questions are sometimes inappropriate, always take the time to answer them. This broadens your baby's horizons and strengthens your relationship.

On the playground, you can often see little "greedy" who do not want to share toys with other children. Mothers who do not want conflicts urge their children to give the toy to play. But is it right? For preschool children, selfishness is still characteristic, and it is important for them to “have” their toys. Plus, there's nothing wrong with having a sense of ownership of your toys. Imagine if a person came up to you and asked you to play your phone. You would refuse, and others would call you greedy.

This is how a child feels when asked to give his toy to another. Better explain to your child that the toy belongs to him, and if he wants (I emphasize: if he wants), he can give it to someone to play, but that child will definitely return it. If the baby does not want to give, it is his right to dispose of his toy.

There are also children who strive to hit, push or call names. Firmly, but without anger, stop the child. Usually, at the age of 4, the toddler begins to test the boundaries of other people. In other words: "How can I interact with others?" And if undesirable behavior is not stopped, then it will continue to manifest itself.

How can you help your child develop?

There is a concept of "zone of proximal development". He was introduced into psychology by the famous Soviet psychologist L.S. Vygotsky. The zone of actual development is called the child's skills, which he performs independently, without the help of adults.

Also, in preschool age, a child actively develops many mental functions, and with the assistance of an adult, he can learn a lot. Only you need to do not FOR him, but TOGETHER with him. What a preschooler can do with the help of an adult, a little later he will be able to do it himself. This is called the zone of proximal development. If you want to teach your child something, do it with him first. In addition, this is how we develop his self-confidence.

We are always in a hurry somewhere, and it seems to us easier and faster to do something for the child. But then we expect that he himself will be able to put away toys, cut out of paper and put clothes in a closet.

Children are capital, in which you need to invest time and attention, and they will pleasantly surprise you.

The end of preschool age is also marked by a crisis. This period is not easy for both parents and the child himself. He can be stubborn, argue, refuse to follow your instructions, make claims and even be cunning.

The psychology of the preschooler sees the reason for this behavior in the new social role that the child is mastering. He is included in a new system of relationships, where he has his own responsibilities, which may seem difficult to the baby.

The most important characteristic of this crisis is that the child is now not as comprehensible as it used to be. His experiences are now stored inside and are not always visible on the surface. The reason for this is the loss of childlike spontaneity and the desire to imitate an adult. But only these imitations in the form of grimacing and antics are not cute and funny, but cause irritation.

• Be patient. A newly minted student can be touchy and quick-tempered. This is due to his self-esteem. In school, learning involves some competition for who is better and more successful. This creates inner tension.
• For the same reason, the child needs your support and faith in his strength. Express them to him more often.
• And of course, spend time with the whole family. A sense of family unity will instill in him the confidence that he is always loved, no matter what happens.

Alena is a permanent expert of the PupsFull portal. She writes articles on psychology, parenting and learning, and child play.

Articles written

Summary: Child psychology. Ages four to six. The independence of the child. Child development indicators. Sleep at night, how to lay a child. Development of the child's psyche, the formation of individuality. Psychological foundations of preschool education.

Age from four to six is ​​a period of relative calm. One way or another, the child came out of the crisis, became calmer, more obedient, more complaisant. He develops, as doctors say, a primary affective attachment to loved ones, there is a need for friends, interest in the world around him, and human relationships sharply increases.

The baby also acquires a certain independence.

Ideally, he can already eat on his own, walks and runs well, speaks easily, is trained in the skills of hygiene and tidiness, sleep is stabilized, behavior is streamlined, he no longer needs constant and constant care. But this, of course, does not mean that all problems have been resolved. With the wrong tactics, it is easy, for example, to disrupt appetite or sleep patterns.

Immediately notice, as in the previous age stages, by the yardstick proper nutrition are indicators of the physical development of the child. So, in the third year, the baby grows by about 10 cm, and adds about 3 kg in weight. In the future, this rate slows down somewhat: up to 5-7 cm and up to 2 kg every year. If the child maintains this pace, there should not be much anxiety.

Night sleep during this period, as before, should be at least 10 hours. And almost until the school itself, it is also recommended to sleep in the afternoon - an hour and a half.

There are known difficulties with falling asleep in the evening. Therefore, going to bed must be furnished with a special ritual: hygienic measures, dressing up in night clothes, gentle and tactful conversation, increased attention to the words and behavior of the child, an interesting fairy tale or instructive story told calmly, pacifyingly, dimmed light, relative silence.

The entire laying procedure should be leisurely and pleasant for the child. This is especially true for children with a weak type of higher nervous activity.

The skills of neatness are usually already well mastered by the child, but he continues for some time; sometimes wake up "wet". And in this case there is no place for unnecessary haste and nervousness. It makes no sense to wake up the child at night so that he went to the potty. Let everything go naturally.

To instill hygiene skills, use the child's desire for self-affirmation and the tendency to imitate. If adults themselves constantly fulfill the requirements of hygiene, then the baby will eventually feel the need to wash his hands before eating: and of course, he is quite "big".

Already the youngest preschooler begins to realize his individuality, personal isolation, his "self", he begins to form the first concepts of good and evil. Of course, it is still impossible to say that the preschooler has at least to some extent formed moral principles and moral assessments, nevertheless he already knows perfectly well "what is good and what is bad", he can already understand that it is necessary to obey and to respect elders that it is indecent to commit certain actions, he is able to experience feelings such as pride and shame.

The main stimulus for activity is the assessment of his behavior by adults; he most often does good deeds in order to deserve praise.

He is already capable to some extent of both empathy and sympathy. He can force himself (at least for a while) not to make any noise if told to him; that my mother was ill, that my mother was in pain. He can already - subdued and serious - come up to her to comfort her, to help her with his sympathy and love, his kiss and a strong hug.

At the same time, the first shoots of kindness and generosity appear in the child. And it is required not to drown out these sprouts in the very embryo. For example, a baby shares a favorite treat with you or someone else. And it is hardly necessary to immediately give the candy or pear back to him. On the contrary, you need to give him a taste of the joy of his generosity and even self-sacrifice, if you like. This joy will further develop the blessed properties of his soul.

Already in preschool age, it is necessary to educate the child to be able to take into account the needs and needs of others, especially yourself. He may already understand that you are busy, that you have no time now, that you have urgent business, important work.

It is also necessary to teach him how to get along with other children in the family, at a party, on the playground, teach him to wait for his turn in the games, to give in if necessary, to share toys. All this is not achieved immediately, but it is quite accessible to every child. These skills of self-restraint and collectivism will help the kid to painlessly adapt to kindergarten conditions, and in the future to school.

An important factor in the upbringing of preschoolers is their tendency to imitate their parents. Here is what A. Makarenko wrote about this: "Do not think that you are raising a child only when you talk to him or teach him or order him. You bring him up at every moment of your life, even when you are not. at home How you dress, how you talk to other people and about other people, how you are happy or sad, how you treat friends and enemies, how you laugh, how you read the newspaper - all of this is of great importance to the child.

The child sees or feels the slightest changes in tone, all the turns of your thought reach him in invisible ways, you do not notice them. And if at home you are rude or boastful, or get drunk, and even worse, if you insult your mother, you are already causing huge harm your children, you are already bringing them up badly ... "Perhaps you couldn't say better.

For most children, under normal conditions, an optimistic outlook on life is characteristic. The world seems to them the most arranged the best way... One must always remember this, spare and protect the vulnerable psyche of the child. It is dangerous to sort out your relationships in the presence of children, to arrange scenes and scandals.

It makes no sense to tell various horror stories in front of children, talk about serious illnesses and death, because for another child, such information can become a super-strong irritant, a kind of springboard for a nervous breakdown. It is necessary to gradually, extremely carefully and at an older age introduce a little person into a complex and contradictory adult world.

Preschool age is a period of a rich and rich emotional life, an exuberant flowering of creative imagination, a period of discovering the world in its pristine beauty and purity. This is how FG Lorca wrote about an early child: "... what a wonderful artist he is! A creator with a first-class poetic feeling. One has only to watch his first games, until he is spoiled by reason, to see what stellar beauty inspires them. what ideal simplicity and what mysterious relationships are found between simple things.

From a button, a spool of thread and five fingers of his hand, the child builds a difficult world, crossed by unprecedented resonances, which sing and collide emotionally amid a radiant joy that defies analysis. The child knows much more than we think ... In his innocence he is wise and better than we understands the unspeakable mystery of the poetic essence. "

The inquisitiveness of a child at preschool age knows no bounds. He is interested in literally everything, he asks adults thousands of questions and for each he demands an immediate, understandable answer for him. When explaining, the child loves and asks for repetition - they help him remember and better understand the explanation, so you cannot get angry and cut off the baby when he asks the same question for the second, third and fourth time. Scientists called this age period - "the stage of questions". It is very important to give children truthful answers to questions that are understandable to them.

Once L.N. Tolstoy wrote that for children it is necessary to write in the same way as for adults, that the most valuable and significant are those works of art for children that are equally interesting to adults. Such works contain a deep life and artistic truth, but it is presented in such a way that everyone perceives it depending on life experience.

Such are, for example, "Winnie the Pooh", "The Scarlet Flower", Tolstoy's children's stories, Andersen's tales and folk tales. In our answers to children, we must adhere to the same principle, especially when it comes to answering the most difficult questions.

Incorrect explanations, deliberately false versions, attempts to dismiss the child's questions can lead to sad results. As a rule, if a child discovers this untruth, he stops turning to his parents with his feelings and doubts. This, in turn, alienates parents and children, leads to a breakdown in contact between them. And without contact, trust, normal development of a child is impossible.

For the normal development of the child's personality and all its components - intellect, creativity, emotional and social sphere - it is necessary that he early childhood felt a sense of security, perceived the care of adults for themselves.

At the age of 5-6 years, children experience the "peak of fears" known in psychology, when the number of children's fears, phobias and their intensity increase. By the age of 6, there is an awareness of the finiteness of a separate life and the formation of "fear of death".

These are, in general, the main features of the psychology of preschool children.

Topic 7. PRESCHOOL CHILDHOOD (from 3 to 6-7 years old)

Preschool childhood covers the period from 3 to 6-7 years. At this time, the child is disconnected from the adult, which leads to a change in the social situation. For the first time, the child leaves the world of the family and enters the world of adults with certain laws and rules. The circle of communication is expanding: a preschooler visits shops, a clinic, begins to communicate with peers, which is also important for his development.

The ideal form with which a child begins to interact is social relations that exist in the world of adults. The ideal form, as L.S. Vygotsky is that part of objective reality (higher than the level at which the child is) with which he enters into direct interaction; this is the area that the child is trying to enter. In preschool age, the world of adults becomes such a form.

According to D.B. Elkonin, the entire preschool age revolves, as if around its center, around an adult, his functions, his tasks. An adult here acts as a bearer of social functions in the system of social relations (an adult is a father, a doctor, a driver, etc.). Elkonin saw the contradiction in this social developmental situation in the fact that the child is a member of society, he cannot live outside of society, his main need is to live with the people around him, but he cannot accomplish this, since the child's life passes in mediated conditions, and not direct communication with the world.

The child is not yet able to fully participate in the life of adults, but he can express his needs through play, since only it makes it possible to model the world of adults, enter it and play all the roles and behaviors that interest him.

The leading activity in preschool age is the game. Play is a form of activity in which the child reproduces the basic meanings of human activity and learns those forms of relationships that will be realized and realized later. He does this by replacing some objects with others, and real actions with reduced ones.

Special development at this age receives role-playing game(see 7.3). The basis of such play is the role chosen by the child and actions to implement this role.

D.B. Elkonin argued that play is a symbolic-modeling type of activity in which the operational and technical side is minimal, operations are reduced, objects are conditional. It is known that all types of a preschooler's activity are of a modeling nature, and the essence of modeling is the recreation of an object in another, not natural material.

The subject of the game is an adult as a carrier of any social functions, entering into certain relationships with other people, adhering to certain rules in his activities.

An internal action plan is formed in the game. It happens in the following way. The child, while playing, focuses on human relationships. To reflect them, he must internally lose not only the entire system of his actions, but also the entire system of consequences of these actions, and this is possible only when creating an internal action plan.

As shown by D.B. Elkonin, play is a historical education, and it arises when a child cannot take part in the system of social labor, since he is still too young for this. But he wants to enter adulthood, so he does it through play, getting in touch with this life a little.

While playing, the child not only has fun, but also develops. At this time, the development of cognitive, personal and behavioral processes takes place.

Children play most of the time. During the period of preschool childhood, play goes through a significant path of development (Table 6).

Table 6

Younger preschoolers play alone. The game is subject-manipulative and constructive. During the game, perception, memory, imagination, thinking and motor functions are improved. In the role-playing game, the actions of adults are reproduced, followed by the child. Parents and close friends serve as role models.

V middle period of preschool childhood the child needs a peer to play with. Now the main direction of the game is imitation of relationships between people. The themes of the role-playing games are different; certain rules are introduced, which the child strictly adheres to. The focus of the games is varied: family games, where the heroes are mom, dad, grandmother, grandfather and other relatives; educational (nanny, teacher in kindergarten); professional (doctor, commander, pilot); fabulous (goat, wolf, hare), etc. Both adults and children can participate in the game, or they can be replaced with toys.

V senior preschool age role-playing games are distinguished by a variety of topics, roles, game actions, rules. Objects can be conventional, and the game turns into a symbolic one, that is, the cube can represent various objects: a car, people, animals - everything depends on the role assigned to it. At this age, during the game, some children begin to show organizational skills, become leaders in the game.

During the game, develop mental processes, in particular, voluntary attention and memory. If the child is interested in the game, then he involuntarily focuses on the objects included in the game situation, on the content of the actions being played out and the plot. If he is distracted and incorrectly fulfills the role assigned to him, then he can be expelled from the game. But since emotional encouragement and communication with peers are very important for a child, he has to be attentive and remember certain moments of play.

In the process of playing activities, they develop mental capacity. The child learns to act with a substitute object, that is, he gives it a new name and acts in accordance with this name. The appearance of a substitute item becomes a support for development thinking. If at first, with the help of substitute objects, the child learns to think about a real object, then over time, actions with substitute objects decrease and the child learns to act with real objects. There is a smooth transition to thinking in terms of ideas.

In the course of the role-playing game, it develops imagination. From replacing some objects with others and the ability to take on various roles, the child moves on to identifying objects and actions with them in his imagination. For example, six-year-old Masha, looking at a photograph of a girl who propped her cheek with her finger and looks thoughtfully at a doll sitting near a toy sewing machine, says: "The girl thinks as if her doll is sewing." According to this statement, one can judge the girl's way of playing.

The game also affects personal development child. In the game, he reflects and tries on the behavior and relationships of significant adults, who at this moment act as a model of his own behavior. The basic skills of communication with peers are formed, feelings and volitional regulation of behavior are developing.

Begins to develop reflective thinking. Reflection is the ability of a person to analyze his actions, deeds, motives and correlate them with universal values, as well as with the actions, deeds and motives of other people. The game contributes to the development of reflection, because it makes it possible to control how the action, which is part of the communication process, is performed. For example, while playing in the hospital, the child cries and suffers as a patient. He gets satisfaction from this, because he believes that he played the part well.

Interest arises in drawing and designing. First, this interest is manifested in game form: the child, while drawing, plays out a certain plot, for example, the animals drawn by him fight among themselves, catch up with each other, people go home, the wind blows away the apples hanging on the trees, etc. Gradually, drawing is transferred to the result of the action, and a drawing is born.

Inside the game activity begins to take shape educational activities. Elements of learning activity do not appear in the game, they are introduced by an adult. The child begins to learn by playing, and therefore treats learning activities as a role-playing game, and soon masters some learning activities.

Since the child pays special attention to the role-playing game, we will consider it in more detail.

Role-playing game Is a game in which the child performs his chosen role and performs certain actions. Children usually choose plots for games from life. Gradually, with a change in reality, the acquisition of new knowledge and life experience, the content and plots of role-playing games change.

The structure of the expanded form of the role-playing game is as follows.

1. The unit, the center of the game. This is the role that the child chooses. In children's play there are many professions, family situations, life moments that made a great impression on the child.

2. Game actions. These are actions with meanings, they are pictorial in nature. During the game, meanings are transferred from one object to another (an imaginary situation). However, this transfer is limited by the possibilities of showing an action, since it obeys a certain rule: an object can only be replaced by an object with which at least a drawing of an action can be reproduced.

Is gaining in importance the symbolism of the game. D.B. Elkonin said that abstraction from the operational and technical side of objective actions makes it possible to model the system of relations between people.

Since the system of human relations begins to be modeled in the game, it becomes necessary to have a friend. One cannot achieve this goal, otherwise the game will lose its meaning.

In play, the meanings of human actions are born, the line of development of actions goes as follows: from the operational scheme of action to a human action that makes sense in another person; from a single action to its meaning.

3. Rules. During the game, a new form of pleasure for the child arises - the joy that he acts as the rules require. While playing in the hospital, the child suffers as a patient and rejoices as a player, content with the performance of his role.

D.B. Elkonin paid great attention to the game. Studying the games of children 3–7 years old, he identified and characterized four levels of its development.

First level:

1) actions with certain objects aimed at an accomplice in the game. This includes actions by a “mother” or “doctor” directed at a “child”;

2) the roles are determined by the action. Roles are not named, and children in play do not use real relationships between adults or between an adult and a child relative to each other;

3) actions consist of repetitive operations, for example, feeding with the transition from one dish to another. In addition to this action, nothing happens: the child does not replay the process of cooking, washing hands or dishes.

Second level:

1) the main content of the game is an action with an object. But here the correspondence of the game action to the real one comes to the fore;

2) the roles of children are called, and the division of functions is outlined. The fulfillment of a role is determined by the implementation of actions associated with this role;

3) the logic of actions is determined by their sequence in reality. The number of actions is expanding.

Third level:

1) the main content of the game is the performance of actions arising from the role. Special actions begin to stand out that convey the nature of the relationship to other participants in the game, for example, an appeal to the seller: "Give me bread," etc .;

2) the roles are clearly delineated and highlighted. They are called before the game, define and direct the child's behavior;

3) the logic and nature of actions are determined by the role assumed. Actions become more varied: cooking, washing hands, feeding, reading a book, going to bed, etc. There is a specific speech: the child gets used to the role and speaks as required by the role. Sometimes in the course of the game, real-life relationships between children can manifest themselves: they begin to call names, swear, tease, etc .;

4) the violation of logic is protested. This is expressed in the fact that one says to the other: "This does not happen." The rules of behavior are determined to which children must obey. The incorrect performance of actions is noticed from the outside, this causes grief in the child, he tries to correct the mistake and find an excuse for it.

Fourth level:

1) the main content - the performance of actions related to the relationship to other people, the roles of which are played by other children;

2) the roles are clearly delineated and highlighted. During the game, the child adheres to a certain line of behavior. The role functions of children are interrelated. Speech is clearly role-playing;

3) actions take place in a sequence that clearly recreates real logic. They are varied and reflect the richness of the actions of the person portrayed by the child;

4) violation of the logic of actions and rules is rejected. The child does not want to break the rules, explaining this by the fact that it really is, and also by the rationality of the rules.

During the game, children actively use toys. The role of the toy is multifunctional. It acts, firstly, as a means mental development a child, secondly, as a means of preparing him for life in the modern system of social relations, and thirdly, as an object serving for fun and entertainment.

V infancy the child manipulates the toy, it stimulates him to active behavioral manifestations. Thanks to the toy, perception develops, that is, forms and colors are captured, orientations to the new appear, preferences are formed.

V early childhood the toy plays an autodidactic role. This category of toys includes nesting dolls, pyramids, etc. They provide opportunities for the development of manual and visual actions. While playing, the child learns to distinguish between sizes, shapes, colors.

The child receives many toys - substitutes for real objects of human culture: machines, household items, tools, etc. Thanks to them, he masters the functional purpose of objects, masters tool actions. Many toys have historical roots, such as bow and arrow, boomerang, etc.

Toys, which are copies of objects that exist in the everyday life of adults, introduce the child to these objects. Through them, an awareness of the functional purpose of objects occurs, which helps the child psychologically enter the world of permanent things.

Various household items are often used as toys: empty spools, matchboxes, pencils, scraps, strings, and natural material: cones, twigs, slivers, bark, dry roots, etc. These items in the game can be used in different ways, it all depends on its plot and situational tasks, so in the game they act as multifunctional.

Toys are a means of influencing the moral side of a child's personality. A special place among them is occupied by dolls and soft toys: bears, squirrels, bunnies, dogs, etc. First, the child performs imitative actions with the doll, that is, does what the adult shows: shakes, rolls in a stroller, etc. . Then the doll or soft toy act as an object of emotional communication. The child learns to empathize with her, patronize, take care of her, which leads to the development of reflection and emotional identification.

Dolls are copies of a person, they have a special meaning for a child, as they act as a partner in communication in all its manifestations. The child becomes attached to his doll and through it experiences many different feelings.

All mental processes are a special form of objective action. According to L.F. Obukhova, in Russian psychology there has been a change in ideas about mental development due to the allocation of two parts in action: indicative and executive. Research A.V. Zaporozhets, D.B. Elkonin, P. Ya. Halperin made it possible to present mental development as a process of separating the orientational part of the action from the action itself and enriching the orientational part of the action due to the formation of methods and means of orientation. The orientation itself is carried out at this age on different levels: material (or practically-effective), perceptual (based on visual objects) and mental (without reliance on visual objects, in terms of presentation). Therefore, when they talk about development perception, mean the development of methods and means of orientation.

In preschool age, orienting activity develops very intensively. Orientation can be carried out at different levels: material (practical-effective), sensory-visual and mental.

At this age, as shown by L.A. Wenger, there is an intensive development of sensory standards, i.e. colors, shapes, sizes, and the correlation (comparison) of objects with these standards. In addition, the assimilation of standards of phonemes of the native language takes place. About phonemes of D.B. Elkonin said the following: “Children begin to hear them in a categorical way” (Elkonin D.B., 1989).

V general sense the words “standards” are the achievements of human culture, the “grid” through which we look at the world. When the child begins to master the standards, the process of perception takes on an indirect character. The use of standards allows for the transition from a subjective assessment of the perceived world to its objective characteristics.

Thinking. The assimilation of standards, a change in the types and content of the child's activity leads to a change in the nature of the child's thinking. By the end of preschool age, there is a transition from egocentrism (centralization) to decentration, which also leads to the perception of the world around us from the standpoint of objectivity.

A child's thinking is formed in the course of the pedagogical process. The peculiarity of a child's development lies in his active mastery of methods and means of practical and cognitive activity that have a social origin. According to A.V. Zaporozhets, mastering such methods plays an essential role in the formation of not only complex types of abstract, verbal-logical thinking, but also visual-figurative thinking, characteristic of preschool children.

Thus, thinking in its development goes through the following stages: 1) improvement of visual-active thinking on the basis of developing imagination; 2) improvement of visual-figurative thinking based on voluntary and mediated memory; 3) the beginning of the active formation of verbal-logical thinking due to the use of speech as a means of setting and solving intellectual problems.

In his research A.V. Zaporozhets, N.N. Poddyakov, L.A. Wenger et al. Confirmed that the transition from visual-effective to visual-figurative thinking occurs due to a change in the nature of orientational-research activity. Orientation based on trial and error is replaced by purposeful motor, then visual, and finally mental orientation.

Let's consider the process of developing thinking in more detail. The emergence of role-playing games, especially with the use of rules, contributes to the development of pictorial thinking. Its formation and improvement depend on the imagination of the child. First, the child mechanically replaces some objects with others, giving the substitute objects functions that are not characteristic of them, then the objects are replaced by their images and the need to perform practical actions with them disappears.

Verbal-logical thinking begins its development when the child knows how to operate with words and understands the logic of reasoning. The ability to reason is found in the middle preschool age, but it is very clearly manifested in the phenomenon of egocentric speech, described by J. Piaget. Despite the fact that the child can reason, his reasoning is illogical, he gets confused when comparing size and quantity.

The development of this type of thinking takes place in two stages:

1) first, the child learns the meaning of words related to objects and actions, and learns to use them;

2) the child learns the system of concepts denoting relationships, and learns the rules of the logic of reasoning.

With development logical thinking is the process of forming an internal plan of action. N.N. Poddyakov, studying this process, identified six stages of development:

1) first, the child manipulates objects with his hands, solves problems in a visual-effective plan;

2) continuing to manipulate objects, the child begins to use speech, but so far only for naming objects, although he can verbally express the result of the performed practical action;

3) the child begins to mentally operate with images. There is a differentiation in the internal plan of the final and intermediate goals of the action, that is, he builds a plan of action in his mind and, when executed, begins to reason out loud;

4) the task is solved by the child according to a pre-drawn, well-thought-out and internally presented plan;

5) the child first thinks over a plan for solving the problem, mentally imagines this process, and only then starts its implementation. The purpose of this practice is to reinforce the answer found in the mind;

6) the task is solved only internally with the issuance of a ready-made verbal solution, without further reinforcement with actions.

N.N. Poddyakov made the following conclusion: in children, the stages passed and achievements in improving mental actions do not disappear, but are replaced by new, more perfect ones. If necessary, they can again be involved in solving a problem situation, that is, visual-effective, visual-figurative and verbal-logical thinking will begin to work. It follows from this that in preschoolers, the intellect already functions according to the principle of consistency.

At preschool age, they begin to develop concepts. At 3-4 years old, the child uses words, sometimes not fully understanding their meanings, but over time, meaningful awareness of these words occurs. J. Piaget called the period of misunderstanding of the meaning of words the stage of the child's speech-and-thinking development. The development of concepts goes hand in hand with the development of thinking and speech.

Attention. At this age, it is involuntary and is caused by outwardly attractive objects, events and people. Interest comes to the fore. A child fixes attention on something or someone only during the period of time in which he retains a direct interest in a person, object or event. The formation of voluntary attention is accompanied by the appearance of egocentric speech.

At the initial stage of the transition of attention from involuntary to voluntary, the means that control the child's attention and reasoning aloud are of great importance.

Attention during the transition from junior to senior preschool age develops as follows. Younger preschoolers examine pictures of interest to them, can engage in a certain type of activity for 6–8 seconds, and older preschoolers - 12–20 seconds. In preschool age, there is already a different degree of stability of attention in different children. Perhaps this is due to the type of nervous activity, physical condition and living conditions. It has been observed that nervous and sick children are more likely to be distracted than calm and healthy ones.

Memory. The development of memory goes from involuntary and immediate to voluntary and mediated memorization and recall. This fact was confirmed by Z.M. Istomina, who analyzed the process of formation of voluntary and mediated memorization in preschoolers.

Basically, in all children of early preschool age, involuntary, visual-emotional memory predominates, only linguistically or musically gifted children have auditory memory.

The transition from involuntary to voluntary memory is divided into two stages: 1) the formation of the necessary motivation, that is, the desire to remember or remember something; 2) the emergence and improvement of the necessary mnemonic actions and operations.

Various memory processes develop unevenly with age. Thus, voluntary reproduction arises earlier than voluntary memorization, and involuntarily outstrips it in development. The development of memory processes also depends on the child's interest and motivation for a particular activity.

The productivity of memorization in children during play is much higher than outside of play. At the age of 5–6 years, the first perceptual actions aimed at conscious memorization and recall are noted. These include simple repetition. By the age of 6-7, the process of voluntary memorization is practically completed.

As a child grows up, the speed of extracting information from long-term memory and transferring it to the operative memory, as well as the volume and duration of the operative memory, increase. The child's ability to assess the capabilities of his memory changes, the strategies for memorizing and reproducing material used by him become more diverse and flexible. For example, a four-year-old child from 12 presented pictures can recognize all 12, and reproduce only two or three, a ten-year-old child, having recognized all the pictures, is able to reproduce eight.

Many children of younger and middle preschool age have well-developed direct and mechanical memory. Children easily remember and reproduce what they saw and heard, provided that it aroused their interest. Thanks to the development of these types of memory, the child quickly improves his speech, learns to use household items, and is well oriented in space.

At this age, eidetic memory develops. This is one of the types of visual memory that helps to clearly, accurately and in detail, without much difficulty, restore visual images of what was seen in memory.

Imagination. At the end of early childhood, when the child first demonstrates the ability to replace some objects with others, the initial stage of the development of imagination begins. Then it gets its development in games. The extent to which a child's imagination is developed can be judged not only by the roles that he performs during the game, but also by crafts and drawings.

O. M. Dyachenko showed that imagination in its development goes through the same stages as other mental processes: the involuntary (passive) is replaced by the voluntary (active), the immediate - mediated. Sensory standards become the main tool for mastering the imagination.

In the first half of preschool childhood, the child is dominated by reproductive imagination. It consists in the mechanical reproduction of the received impressions in the form of images. These can be impressions from watching a TV show, reading a story, a fairy tale, direct perception of reality. The images usually reproduce those events that made an emotional impression on the child.

In older preschool years, the reproductive imagination turns into an imagination that creatively transforms reality. Thinking is already involved in this process. This kind of imagination is used and improved in role-playing games.

The functions of the imagination are as follows: cognitive-intellectual, affective-protective. Cognitive-intellectual imagination is formed by separating the image from the object and denoting the image with the help of a word. Role affective-protective function is that it protects the growing, vulnerable, poorly protected soul of the child from experiences and trauma. The protective reaction of this function is expressed in the fact that through an imaginary situation, the emerging tension can be released or the conflict is resolved, which is difficult to ensure in real life... It develops as a result of the child's awareness of his "I", the psychological separation of himself from others and from the actions he performs.

The development of imagination goes through the following stages.

1. "Objectification" of the way of actions. The child can control, change, clarify and improve his images, that is, regulate his imagination, but he is not able to plan and in advance in his mind draw up a program of future actions.

2. Children's affective imagination in preschool age develops as follows: at first, negative emotional experiences in a child are symbolically expressed in the heroes of fairy tales he has heard or seen; then he begins to build imaginary situations that remove threats from his "I" (for example, fantasy stories about himself as allegedly possessing especially pronounced positive qualities).

3. The emergence of substitute actions, which, when implemented, are able to remove the arisen emotional stress... By the age of 6-7, children can imagine and live in an imaginary world.

Speech. In preschool childhood, the process of mastering speech is completed. It develops in the following directions.

1. Sound speech is developing. The child begins to realize the peculiarities of his pronunciation, he develops phonemic hearing.

2. Vocabulary is growing. It is different for different children. It depends on the conditions of their life and on how and how much his loved ones communicate with him. By the end of preschool age, all parts of speech are present in the child's vocabulary: nouns, verbs, pronouns, adjectives, numerals and connecting words. The German psychologist V. Stern (1871–1938), speaking about the richness of vocabulary, cites the following figures: at three years old, a child actively uses 1000–1100 words, at six years old - 2500–3000 words.

3. Develops grammatical structure speech. The child learns the patterns of the morphological and syntactic structure of the language. He understands the meaning of words and can correctly construct phrases. At the age of 3-5, the child correctly grasps the meanings of words, but sometimes uses them incorrectly. Children acquire the ability, using the laws of grammar of their native language, to create statements, for example: "From mint cakes in the mouth - a draft", "The bald man has a barefoot head", "Look how the rain fell" (from the book by K.I. Chukovsky " From two to five ").

4. There is an awareness of the verbal composition of speech. During pronunciation, the language is oriented towards the semantic and sound aspects, and this indicates that speech is not yet understood by the child. But over time, there is a development of linguistic instinct and associated mental work.

If at first the child treats the sentence as a single semantic whole, a verbal complex that denotes a real situation, then in the learning process and from the moment he starts reading books, he becomes aware of the verbal composition of speech. Learning accelerates this process, and therefore, by the end of preschool age, the child already begins to isolate words in sentences.

In the course of development, speech performs various functions: communicative, planning, sign, expressive.

Communicative function is one of the basic functions of speech. In early childhood, speech for a child is a means of communication mainly with close people. It arises out of necessity, about a specific situation in which both the adult and the child are included. During this period, communication acts in a situational role.

Situational speech clear to the interlocutor, but incomprehensible to a stranger, because during communication the implied noun drops out and pronouns are used (he, she, they), an abundance of adverbs and verbal patterns is noted. Under the influence of others, the child begins to rebuild situational speech into a more understandable one.

Older preschoolers have the following tendency: the child first names the pronoun, and then, seeing that they do not understand him, pronounces the noun. For example: “She, a girl, went. He, the ball, rolled. " The child gives a more detailed answer to the questions.

The circle of interests of the child is growing, communication is expanding, friends appear, and all this leads to the fact that situational speech is replaced by contextual speech. More than detailed description situations. Improving, the child often begins to use this type of speech, but situational speech is still present.

In older preschool age, explanatory speech appears. This is due to the fact that the child, when communicating with peers, begins to explain the content of the upcoming game, the structure of the machine, and much more. This requires a sequence of presentation, indicating the main connections and relationships in the situation.

Planning the function of speech develops because speech becomes a means of planning and regulating practical behavior. It merges with thinking. In the child's speech, many words appear that seem to be addressed to no one. These can be exclamations that reflect his attitude to action. For example, “Knock knock… scored. Vova scored! "

When a child in the process of activity refers to himself, then they talk about egocentric speech. He pronounces what he is doing, as well as the actions that precede and direct the procedure being performed. These statements are ahead of practical actions and are figurative. By the end of preschool age, egocentric speech disappears. If a child does not communicate with anyone during the game, then, as a rule, he does the work in silence, but this does not mean that egocentric speech has disappeared. It simply turns into inner speech, and its planning function continues. Consequently, egocentric speech is an intermediate stage between the external and internal speech of the child.

Iconic the child's speech function develops in play, drawing and other productive activities, where the child learns to use objects-signs as substitutes for missing objects. The sign function of speech is the key for entering the world of human socio-psychological space, a means for people to understand each other.

Expressive function - the most ancient function of speech, reflecting its emotional side. A child's speech is imbued with emotions when something does not work out for him or he is denied something. The emotional immediacy of children's speech is adequately perceived by the surrounding adults. For a well-reflecting child, such speech can become a means of influencing an adult. However, the "childishness" specially demonstrated by the child is not accepted by many adults, so he has to make an effort over himself and control himself, to be natural, and not demonstrative.

Personal development a preschool child is characterized by the formation self-awareness. As mentioned above, it is considered the main neoplasm of this age.

The idea of ​​oneself, one's "I" begins to change. This is clearly seen when comparing the answers to the question: "What are you?" A child of three years old answers: "I am big", and seven years old - "I am small."

At this age, speaking about self-awareness, one should take into account the child's awareness of his place in the system of social relations. The child's personal self-awareness is characterized by awareness of his "I", the separation of himself, his "I" from the world of objects and people around him, the emergence of a desire to actively influence emerging situations and change them in such a way as to satisfy their needs and desires.

In the second half of preschool age appears self-esteem, based on self-esteem of early childhood, which corresponded to a purely emotional assessment ("I am good") and a rational assessment of someone else's opinion.

Now, when forming self-esteem, the child first evaluates the actions of other children, then his own actions, moral qualities and skills. He has an awareness of his actions and an understanding that not everything can be done. Another innovation with the development of self-esteem is awareness of their experiences, which leads to orientation in their emotions, from them you can hear the following statements: “I'm glad. I am upset. I am calm".

There is an awareness of himself in time, he remembers himself in the past, realizes himself in the present and represents himself in the future. This is how children say: “When I was little. When I grow up big. "

The child has gender identity. He becomes aware of his gender and begins to behave according to roles, like a man and a woman. Boys try to be strong, courageous, courageous, not to cry from resentment and pain, and girls - neat, businesslike in everyday life and soft or flirtatious in communication. In the course of development, the child begins to appropriate behavioral forms, interests and values ​​of his gender.

Is developing emotional and volitional sphere. Regarding the emotional sphere, it can be noted that preschoolers, as a rule, do not have strong affective states, their emotionality is more “calm”. However, this does not mean that children become phlegmatic, the structure of emotional processes simply changes, their composition increases (vegetative, motor reactions prevail, cognitive processes - imagination, creative thinking, complex forms of perception). At the same time, the emotional manifestations of early childhood persist, but the emotions become intellectualized and become “smart”.

The emotional development of a preschooler, perhaps, is most facilitated by the children's team. In the course of joint activities, the child develops emotional attitude to people, empathy (empathy) arises.

In preschool age, changes and motivational sphere. The main personal mechanism that is formed at this time is subordination of motives. The child is able to make a decision in a situation of choice, whereas before it was difficult for him. The strongest motive is encouragement and reward, the least powerful is punishment, and the weakest is promise. At this age, demanding promises from the child (for example, “Do you promise not to fight anymore?”, “Do you promise not to touch this thing anymore?”, Etc.) is pointless.

It is at preschool age that the child begins to master ethical norms, he has ethical experiences. Initially, he can only evaluate other people's actions: other children or literary heroes, but he is not able to evaluate his own. Then, in the middle preschool age, the child, evaluating the actions of the literary hero, can justify his assessment, relying on the relationship of the characters in the work. And in the second half of preschool age, he can already evaluate his behavior and tries to act in accordance with the moral norms that he has learned.

To neoplasms of preschool age D.B. Elkonin carried the following.

1. The emergence of the first schematic outline of a whole children's worldview. A child cannot live in disorder, he needs to put everything in order, to see the patterns of relations. Children use moral, animistic, and artistic reasons to explain natural phenomena. This is confirmed by the statements of children, for example: "The sun moves so that everyone is warm and light." This happens because the child believes that in the center of everything (from what surrounds a person to the phenomena of nature) there is a person, which was proved by J. Piaget, who showed that an artificalistic worldview is noted in a child in preschool age.

At the age of five, the child turns into a “little philosopher”. He discusses the origin of the moon, sun, stars, based on the television programs he has watched about astronauts, moon rovers, rockets, satellites, etc.

At a certain point in preschool age, the child develops an increased cognitive interest, he begins to torment everyone with questions. This is a feature of his development, therefore, adults should understand this and not get annoyed, not brush off the child, but, if possible, answer all questions. The onset of "the age of why" indicates that the child is ready to go to school.

2. The emergence of primary ethical instances. The child tries to understand what is good and what is bad. Simultaneously with the assimilation of ethical norms, there is aesthetic development("Beautiful cannot be bad").

3. The emergence of subordination of motives. At this age, deliberate actions prevail over impulsive ones. Perseverance, the ability to overcome difficulties are formed, a sense of duty to comrades arises.

4. Behavior becomes arbitrary. Arbitrary behavior is called behavior mediated by a certain representation. D.B. Elkonin said that in preschool age, the image orienting behavior first exists in a concrete visual form, but then becomes more and more generalized, acting in the form of rules or norms. The child develops a desire to control himself and his actions.

5. The emergence of personal consciousness. The child seeks to take a certain place in the system of interpersonal relations, in socially significant and socially valued activities.

6. The emergence of the inner position of the student. The child develops a strong cognitive need, in addition, he seeks to get into the world of adults, starting to engage in other activities. These two needs lead to the fact that the child develops an internal position of the student. L.I. Bozovic believed that this position may indicate the child's readiness to go to school.

Psychological readiness- this is high level intellectual, motivational and voluntary spheres.

Many scientists have dealt with the problem of a child's readiness for schooling. One of them was L.S. Vygotsky, who argued that readiness for schooling is formed in the learning process: “Until they start teaching a child in the logic of the program, there is still no readiness for learning; usually, readiness for schooling develops by the end of the first half of the first year of study ”(Vygotsky LS, 1991).

Now training is carried out in preschool institutions, but there the emphasis is only on intellectual development: the child is taught to read, write, and count. However, you can be able to do all this and not be ready for schooling, because readiness is also determined by the activity in which these skills are included. And at preschool age, the development of skills and abilities is included in play activities, therefore, this knowledge has a different structure. Therefore, when determining school readiness, one cannot assess it only by the formal level of skills in writing, reading, and counting.

Speaking about determining the level of school readiness, D.B. Elkonin argued that one should pay attention to the emergence of voluntary behavior (see 8.5). In other words, it is necessary to pay attention to how the child plays, whether he obeys the rule, whether he takes on roles. Elkonin also said that the transformation of a rule into an internal instance of behavior is an important sign of readiness to learn.

Experiments by D.B. Elkonin. He took children 5, 6 and 7 years old, put a pile of matches in front of each and asked one to move them to another place. A seven-year-old child with well-developed randomness scrupulously completed the task to the end, a six-year-old shifted matches for some time, then began to build something, and a five-year-old brought his own task to this task.

In the process of schooling, children have to learn scientific concepts, and this is possible only if the child, firstly, is able to distinguish between different aspects of reality. It is necessary that he sees in the subject the individual sides, the parameters that make up its content. Secondly, in order to master the foundations of scientific thinking, he needs to understand that his point of view cannot be absolute and unique.

According to P. Ya. Halperin, by the end of preschool age there are three lines of development:

1) the formation of voluntary behavior when the child can obey the rules;

2) mastering the means and standards of cognitive activity, which allow the child to move on to understanding the conservation of quantity;

3) the transition from egocentrism to centralization.

This should include motivational development. By tracing the development of a child taking into account these parameters, it is possible to determine his readiness to study at school.

Let's consider the parameters for determining the level of school readiness in more detail.

Intelligent readiness. It is determined by the following points: 1) orientation in the surrounding world; 2) stock of knowledge; 3) development thought processes(the ability to generalize, compare, classify); 4) development different types memory (figurative, auditory, mechanical); 5) the development of voluntary attention.

Motivational readiness. Of particular importance is the presence of intrinsic motivation: the child goes to school because he will be interested there and he wants to know a lot. Preparing for school implies the formation of a new "social position". This includes attitudes toward school, learning activities, teachers, and oneself. According to E.O. Smirnova, it is also important for learning that a child has personal forms of communication with an adult.

Strong-willed readiness. Her presence is very important for the further successful education of the first grader, because hard work awaits him, he will need to be able to do not only what he wants, but also what he needs.

By the age of 6, the basic elements of volitional action are already beginning to form: the child is able to set a goal, make a decision, outline a plan of action, fulfill this plan, show a certain effort in the event of overcoming obstacles, evaluate the result of his action. =

The psychological characteristics of preschool children depend on the appearance of needs, among which we can distinguish: communication, emotions, impressions, physical activity. By establishing communications, physical activity, the child gradually learns new skills and abilities. As a result, the process of socialization does not take place in a passive way, but through proactive cognition.

The driving forces of the formation of the baby's psyche

Receiving new emotions, impressions stimulates the development of mental activity. Acquaintance with the world around us not only contributes to obtaining positive emotions, but awakens interest.

In children aged 5–6 years, the desire for development is great, which leads to an increased interest in learning new skills. In 1–2 years, the lack of knowledge will be filled in at school.

Features of the psychological development of the child

As a rule, preschoolers include children aged 4–7 years. Until this moment, the child will face a crisis. three years of age... This is a difficult time for the baby and his parents, because the baby behaves badly, is capricious, and shows stubbornness. The period is characterized by the separation of the child as an independent personality, in which the character, opinion, views are formed. For the crisis to pass as successfully and calmly as possible, adults should show respect, restraint, not belittling their beloved baby. He must feel that he is being listened to and understood.

At the end of the crisis, the preschooler becomes one step higher in relations with adults. He feels like a separate unit of society. He needs to be brought up to date with his responsibilities, the rules established in the family. Most children from 3-4 years old go to kindergarten, where they contact their peers, educators.

The kid wants to seem more mature than he is. Therefore, he tries to repeat after adults (words, movements, intonation). Some parents are allowed to observe themselves in this way and understand what the child learns from them. Adult behavior should be indicative. This applies not only to the behavior of family members. Children often bring to life what they see on TV. You should be attentive to what cartoons, films the kid watches.

Role-playing games and neoplasms

The psychology of the preschooler is at an early stage. He begins to show interest in the world around him, asks many questions. Development affects memory, mind, neuropsychic side, hidden talents. If the parents were able to learn the peculiarities of the mental development of the baby, then they will be able to establish harmony in the family, raise the baby correctly.

The kid in a playful way learns social norms of behavior, establishes contact with others. He wants to distance himself from adults, creates a situation in his head in which he acts as the master of what is happening. However, in real life, he is not able to fully take part in adult life, which is explained by insufficient mental, mental, and physical development. To feel their importance, the child resorts to role-playing games, in which he builds a certain plot, conditions:

• repeats after adults;
• imagines a situation in which toys act as real things;
• reality is symbolic;
• the game assumes compliance with the established rules, prohibitions.

This state of affairs contributes to psychological health, emotional and intellectual development.

There are several psychological characteristics that are characteristic of preschool children:

• ability of figurative problem solving;
• deliberate use of mental processes, the ability to manage, control the reaction to the surrounding situation, the ability to assess it, predict;
• the formation of self-esteem;
• active formation of the speech apparatus;
• conscious perception of established behavioral and social norms;
• preparedness for educational process at school on a psychological level.

By the age of 7, to a greater or lesser extent, you can notice the presence of certain neoplasms.

Problems arising in the mental development of a preschooler

Despite the desire to learn about the world, excessive activity, curiosity, difficulties may arise on the path of mental development:

• poorly developed thinking (lack of attentiveness, problems with the perception of educational material);
• personal and emotional difficulties (stress, anxiety, fear, passivity);
• behavioral problems (aggression, secrecy, ill will, anger);
• communication problems (excessive emotionality, feelings of superiority, isolation);
• neurological difficulties (insomnia, constant weakness, laziness).

Possible problems require immediate consideration and finding ways to deal with them.

Despite the fact that it may seem serious and negatively affect the child, the psyche of children is able to independently adapt and cope with possible difficulties, omissions in the educational process.

Younger preschoolers

Crumbs at the age of 3-4 years begin to assert themselves. You can often hear from them “I will do it myself”, “I know”, “I can”. Often this leads to the fact that children begin to brag, praise themselves and what they are doing.

At this age, the child has developed right hemisphere the brain, which makes the auditory and visual perception heavier, which, in turn, helps to form a picture of what is happening into a single whole.

Fine and gross motor skills are actively developing. Running, stretching arms and fingers, jumping, coordination exercises will be beneficial.

The memory is still involuntary: his attention is attracted by bright, intense moments. At 3 years old younger preschoolers the active formation of the speech apparatus stops, and about 1000 words have already been deposited in the child's memory, the meaning and meaning of which he understands.

Older preschoolers

At 5-6 years old, the behavior and thinking of children is significantly different from younger preschoolers. Understanding, harmony is established between the parents and the child, it becomes easier to communicate, to understand each other. It is at this age that children especially need love, care, begin to feel affection, love for other people.

It is easier to establish communication with peers, to feel the leadership qualities of other children, to accept the established orders and rules in games. In the eyes of a child, an adult looks like an assistant, a teacher who, at a difficult moment, is ready to help, to solve the problems that have arisen.

Creative skills begin to emerge. He understands what kind of music he likes and dislikes, starts dancing, singing, playing any instrument, playing sports. Memory is no longer involuntary; one's own desire manifests itself in actions.

The following features are inherent in the thinking of an older preschooler:

1. Egocentrism. The kid can analyze what is happening subjectively, without examining the situation from the outside.
2. Animism. The child transfers his "I" to the surrounding objects, as a result of which the moving is perceived as animate.
3. Syncretism. The crumb is able to see the whole in separate elements, but cannot perceive the individual details as a whole.

At the age of 5-6, a preschooler can take part in the dialogue of others, delve into the meaning of what is being discussed, express a well-grounded opinion. At this age, the vocabulary expands to 3-4 thousand words.

Children of older preschool age begin to feel guilt before others and responsibility for their actions, show interest and initiative. Sometimes six-year-olds are consciously willing to go to school to learn.

Emotionally, the baby shows more firmness and stability. If we talk about mental activity, then there is the ability to concentrate on certain things, perceive what is said by ear, and navigate the terrain.

Impulsiveness fades into the background, the preschooler tries to think before doing something, say, understands what the consequences may be. How older child, the more he sees the comic in what is happening. Fun and laughter can be triggered by unusual colors or shapes. Adult preschoolers are more attracted to games in a comic form.

By the age of 6, an individual character is actively formed, manners are manifested. The kid can hide a bad mood or state, gets upset if he is praised just like that or, even worse, for what he did badly or not well enough. Thus, he begins to soberly assess what is happening.

The formation of a preschooler's personality

At the age of 4–6, the actual development of the personality begins. Self-esteem is formed, feelings are manifested, anxiety for what is happening, for how he looks in the eyes of others. The child begins to set himself small goals, to motivate himself to achieve them.

The emotional side of the personality

Children from 5 years old become more balanced, calm, do not show emotions and quick temper for no reason. It remains in infancy. The child responds adequately to problems, difficulties, stops dramatizing, falling into panic fear of the unknown.

The preschooler begins to feel and perceive situations more deeply as his range of emotions expands. Despite a very young age, the baby is able to show sympathy, can be sad with others, understand that a person is bad.

Motivational side of personality

In preschool age, one of the main levers of personality is formed - the subordination of motives. Changes are taking place in the motivational sphere, which gradually develop in the future.

Children's motives have different strengths and significance. Formed motives associated with the achievement of successful results, and motives aimed at the knowledge of morality, ethical standards. At this time, the formation of its own system of motivation takes place.

Self-awareness of a preschooler

By the age of 6, self-awareness is formed, which is achieved through mental activity, character. Self-awareness is considered the main neoplasm of the crumb. At first, a preschooler analyzes the actions of others, compares, evaluates actions, moral behavior, and skills.

The child fully understands gender. Along with this, changes in habitual behavior occur.

The preschooler begins to be aware of himself at different times. Recollecting moments from the past and dreaming about something in the future.

Self-esteem is equally important. Self-knowledge is built on the basis of the attitude of the parents to the baby. The main thing is for mom and dad to show support in any endeavors, to be true friends to children. It is worth talking to children more often on a friendly note, asking for their opinion, asking for advice. The kid will learn to speak openly and will not be afraid of it.

The issues of preschool psychology are important and significant in the development and upbringing of children. The fact is that the foundations of correct perception of the world are laid in childhood. They further help to form an individual picture of the world of the individual, contribute to the formation of self-awareness. Psychology includes many interconnected components that determine the degree of success in a child's development. Of course, all children cannot be the same.

The development of each of them proceeds in a different way. However, there are common components that Psychology studies and is based on the basic principles of education and development: to raise a person who is able to take responsibility. This is a critical task and should never be overlooked. Responsibility for your own actions and actions does not arise by itself, you need to put some effort into this.

This article will consider the features of the psychology of preschool children. The information will be useful for teachers who work with this group of children, as well as for parents.

Age limits

Child psychology is a truly amazing science. Preschool age is an interesting stage in the life of every person. The age limits of this period are quite large: from three to seven years. The peculiarities of the psychology of preschool age are largely determined by which group the child belongs to. Accordingly, the approach to education will be somewhat different.

The psychology of early preschool age includes concepts such as gender, the need to be noticed by adults. This group includes children from three to five years old. The psychology of older preschool age takes into account such important components as the formation of self-esteem and self-awareness. The age range for this period is five to seven years.

Leading activity

Each period of development is characterized by its own occupation, which at this moment is the most demanded and most important for the individual. The psychology of children of younger preschool age is such that they like to play with various objects. While it is more comfortable for them to interact only with toys: to build "houses" from cubes, to sculpt from plasticine, to assemble a mosaic or a pyramid. Communication with other children is sporadic and often ends in disputes.

At the age of five or six, the child begins to strongly need interaction with peers. If by this moment he still, for some reason, has not started attending a children's educational institution, then his development may even begin to lag behind. The fact is that for successful socialization, a baby needs to be in a team of peers. Comparing oneself with others gives a powerful stimulus for the development of all attention, memory, thinking, imagination, speech.

The leading activity at the age of five or six is ​​a role-playing game. The child seeks to interact with peers. If you observe the children in the eldest and preparatory groups, you will notice that they break up into small islands. These small subgroups are usually grouped together by interest. When choosing one or another microcollective, personal sympathies play an important role. And if the psychology of younger preschool age is based on the need to be approved by an adult, then for older children the opportunity to show their individuality is of great importance. Disclosure of needs occurs in the process of interaction with peers.

The psychology of preschool age is such that they strive primarily for collective activity in order to be accepted by the group. They need to build individual connections, make new friends, and maintain relationships with peers.

Neoplasms

In each age period, a person faces a specific task that must be solved. In preschool childhood, there are several such neoplasms:

1. Ability to see the results of your work. The child learns to draw conclusions from his actions and actions. That is, the realization gradually comes that a very specific reaction will follow as a result of certain steps. A child already at the age of four is able to learn that if you indulge in kindergarten classes and interfere with others, you can displease the teacher.
2. Speech development is a powerful neoplasm throughout preschool childhood. First, the child learns to pronounce words correctly, then to build sentences. By the age of five or six, speech becomes correctly formed, competent, replete with complex sentences.
3. Communication with peers. In the preschool period of life, the child learns to interact with others. He begins to build his own opinion about a certain situation or person, personal sympathies appear.

Crisis period

The development of the child, as a rule, does not occur in progressive movements, but in leaps and bounds. According to the observations of parents and educators, yesterday the baby behaved in one way, and today he began to act differently. In fact, a readiness for change had ripened in him for a long time, but there was no confidence that a new need could be manifested. The stage of a crisis in psychology is called a turning point, which changes the way of thinking, the ability to perceive the surrounding reality as a whole.

Parents should be extremely careful not to miss significant changes in the life of their son or daughter. Development psychology studies how to behave with a child in this difficult period for him. Preschool age is a special world of childhood, when a child needs to feel loved, protected from all troubles. At the age of five or six, both the boy and the girl live in their own world, which is very different from the world of an adult.

The crisis period always shows what parents should strive for in relations with their children, and helps to understand the interests of the child himself. At the age of three, the baby has a need to emotionally separate from mom and dad: he begins to feel like a person. There is a feeling of negativism, a desire to contradict adults in everything, to demonstrate independence in every possible way. "I myself" is a characteristic feature of three years, associated with the need to defend their individuality.

The second crisis of preschool childhood is associated with the development of self-awareness and preparation for school. It usually occurs at six to seven years of age. The child begins to realize that society puts forward certain requirements for him, and from now on he has to meet the expectations placed on him. He strives even more for independence, but it is now extremely important for him to be accepted in a social group. One of the most interesting stages of childhood is preschool age. Developmental psychology sets as its task the study of significant periods of personality formation.

Gender identification

At the age of three, the child knows whether he is a boy or a girl. In addition, the baby no doubt knows how to determine the gender of his classmates. First, the baby identifies with the parent of the same gender, tries to imitate him. Boys pay attention to their fathers, they want to be as strong and courageous. Girls identify with their mother, imitate her. At the age of five or six, the daughter may well begin to help in the kitchen, to participate in all the daily affairs of the family.

Typically, children in younger group easily interact with representatives of both their own sex and the opposite. But, reaching about five years, the child begins to communicate more with members of the same gender. The girl has a need to have a girlfriend, to play dolls with her, to share secrets, while she looks at the boys without much interest. At this stage of development, they are creatures from another planet for her.

Most preschoolers accept their gender unconditionally and are very happy with it. For example, boys may speak of girls with some disdain, considering them weak, but they are proud of their own strength. The psychology of children of younger preschool age is such that they are more focused on their inner world and prefer to build friendships based on gender.

The main need of the child

Every little person first of all wants to feel loved. It is important for a child to understand that he is fully accepted in the family as he really is, and not for some kind of merit. After all, otherwise, he will begin to consider himself bad, unworthy of love and a better relationship. When parents impose a certain model of behavior on their children, they, of course, do not think about how much they hurt. inner world baby, make you feel cheated, confused, unnecessary. The child's main need is love. And the parent's job is to help him feel totally accepted.

Preschool psychology studies the inner world and emotional needs of a child. If they are not taken into account, the little person experiences a state of frustration, which in no way can have a positive effect on the overall development of the personality.

Building self-esteem

Why is it so important to develop an adequate self-perception in a baby from early childhood? Self-esteem largely determines how he will relate to himself in the future. It will show whether the child will allow others to treat his own personality with disdain, or will still force them to respect his choice. Self-esteem is formed over a period of three to five years. It is at this time that a small person begins to receive an assessment of his actions from an adult. If the actions are characterized as positive and the child as a whole is praised by the educators, then he will feel comfortable in society. Otherwise, a constant feeling of guilt will become his constant companion. Parents should not scold their child too much. Try to avoid unfair criticism, be more delicate.

The psychology of preschool age is such that the child takes everything much more seriously than it really is. He cannot yet form an independent image of himself without the participation of an adult. For this, he lacks life experience, basic self-confidence. When we praise a child, it is deposited in his subconscious that he, as a person, is worth something and is valuable in himself. In the case of frequent criticism (especially unfair), our child only closes in and stops trusting the world around him. In other words, self-esteem is made up of how adults relate to a child. Make it clear to the baby that you always stay by his side. A son or daughter should know that there are no insoluble situations. Use your own example to show that everything has its advantages.

Development of cognitive processes

Preschool psychology is an amazing and rewarding science. She is able to prompt parents in time to the correct way out of the current situation, to give reasons for support and additional joy. Sometimes adults find it difficult to deal with a disturbing problem on their own. And then pedagogy comes to the rescue. Psychology of preschool age is focused precisely on the development of children, including any psychological difficulties.

Cognitive processes are necessarily involved in the formation of the personality. The development of attention, memory, thinking, imagination, speech is impossible without systematic lessons with the child. How much time should you devote to this? In fact, only fifteen to twenty minutes a day is enough for a preschooler. The development of cognitive processes is best done in the form of a game. Then the child will be able to relax as much as possible and learn much more.

Development of creativity

Each person is talented in something. And the small child, who is only four years old, is no exception. Parents should be the first to notice the abilities of their child, in order to develop talents from an early age, and not hide them. Unfortunately, one can often observe the following picture: real natural inclinations are destroyed in the bud, opportunities are closed. And parents do all this unconsciously, putting a whole bunch of restrictions in front of the child. In this case, is it any wonder that children grow up lacking initiative, passive and lazy?

A small child learns everything by playing. He does not yet know how to take everything in life seriously. Development creativity should begin with a conscious intention to bring more vivid colors and impressions into the child's life. It is better to enroll a four-year-old kid in several thematic hobby groups. In the course of classes, you should definitely observe him and draw the appropriate conclusions: what turns out better, what is worse, what the soul is in, what natural inclinations are there.

In order for the abilities to really develop, you need to free your consciousness from all kinds of fears. Parents sometimes fear a possible failure even more than the children themselves, which is why the desire to move forward disappears. Do not be afraid to experiment, spend money on new experiences. The acquisition of useful skills is paramount. Let your little one really feel significant and valuable.

Adults often ask such an important question: how to develop in a child a full-fledged member of society with high moral values? What to pay special attention to? Where to get additional support? What should be considered when raising a baby?

1. Teach him to respect himself. There are so many people in today's society who can shake our self-esteem! Do not take away from your own child the opportunity to value yourself. Never humiliate - neither in private, much less in public. The kid should not feel vulnerability, feel shame in front of society. Otherwise, you will only help him to form
2. Develop personality in it. A person cannot be happy if she fulfills other people's goals in life, does not solve her own problems. Allow the child to have his own reference point, do not hinder the development of an individual opinion on any issue. Time will pass, and you will see the results of such upbringing: the baby will become more self-confident.
3. Harmonious personality development. A truly happy person is interested in everything, not just work. He has many hobbies in his arsenal, the inner world is distinguished by unprecedented wealth. Such an individual is always open to new impressions, receives the knowledge he needs with pleasure. He will never humiliate another, will not hurt others. A harmonious person strives to live in peace with his own emotions and respects the feelings of other people. It is to this ideal that one should strive when raising a child.

Thus, developmental psychology deals with the issues of the formation of self-awareness, overcoming crises, and studying the characteristics of behavior. Preschool age is an important stage in the all-round development of personality. It was during this period that the little person takes the basic lessons of society, learns to effectively interact with others. Parents and teachers should in every possible way support the child in all his endeavors, contribute to the formation of a stable interest in various useful activities, develop creative thinking, the ability to see the situation from several sides at once.