The stage of mental development is from 3 to 6-7 years.

Specificity.

It is characterized by the fact that the leading activity is the game. It is extremely important for the formation of a child's personality, since within the framework of play activities, the mastery of the basic techniques of tool activity and norms of social behavior takes place. Along with play activities at this age, other forms of activity are also formed: design, drawing. It is essential in the formation of the personality that the child's motives and desires begin to agree with each other, more and less significant ones stand out, due to which there is a transition from impulsive, situational behavior to mediated by some rule or pattern.

Dynamics.

There are three periods:

Junior preschool age (3-4 years),

Middle preschool age (4 - 5 years old),

Senior preschool age (5 - 7 years old).


Psychological Dictionary... THEM. Kondakov. 2000.

PRESCHOOL AGE

(eng. preschool age) is a stage of mental development, which in Russian periodization occupies a place between early age and primary school age - from 3 to 6-7 years old. In D. in. there are 3 periods: junior D. in. (3-4 years); average D. of century (4-5 years old) and senior D.V. (5-7 years old). D. in. is extremely important for the development of the psyche and personality of the child. He's called the age of the game because it is - given age.

In the younger D. of century. main content games constitutes the reproduction of objective actions of people that are not aimed at a partner or at the development of a plot. On average, D. in. the main content of the game is the relationship between people. Actions are performed not for their own sake, but for the sake of a certain attitude towards others. role(4-5 years is the age of maximum flowering role play). The introduction of a plot and a play role significantly increases the child's capabilities in many areas of mental life. In senior D. in. the essence of the game is the fulfillment of the rules arising from the role assumed. Game actions are reduced, generalized and become conventional. Role play is gradually changing playing with the rules.

In addition to the game, for D. in. other forms of activity are characteristic: design, drawing, modeling, perception of fairy tales and stories, etc. You can also observe elements of labor and learning activities, although in an advanced form teachings and the preschooler has no work yet.

D. in. - period of actual folding personality and personal mechanisms of behavior when motives and desires the child begins to form a system (hierarchy) in which more and less significant are distinguished. In D. in. the child moves from impulsive, situational behavior to personal, mediated by some submission... The image of behavior and the image of the result of an action becomes its regulator and acts as a model. This is clearly manifested in drawing and design: from spontaneous actions and imitation of ready-made samples, children move on to the embodiment of their own ideas.

D. in. - the period of the most intensive development of imagination and visual-figurative thinking, which are here the main forms of cognition (see. , ). For D. in. are characterized by non-situational, speech forms communication with an adult. The communication of children with each other is made richer and more meaningful. A preschooler's peer becomes a more preferred collaborative partner than an adult. In D. in. morality begins to form, and children assess the actions and qualities of people. Cm. .

D. in. - sensitive period for the development of many human abilities, assimilation knowledge and skills... Therefore, preschool education and upbringing is a traditional and developed direction of pedagogy. However, education in D. in. has its own pronounced specificity: the forms and methods of teaching are associated mainly with the game, the leading role is played by ... (E.O.Smirnova.)

Adding ed .: In English. language D. in. denote by different terms: nursery school students,kindergarten students,preschool students, and early childhood- early childhood (from reaching 1 year to 6 years), which, of course, does not coincide either terminologically or chronologically with what was adopted in Russia. psychology by dividing into periods.


A large psychological dictionary. - M .: Prime-EVROZNAK. Ed. B.G. Meshcheryakova, acad. V.P. Zinchenko. 2003 .

See what "preschool age" is in other dictionaries:

    Preschool age- the stage of mental development from 3 to 7 years. It is characterized by the fact that the leading activity is play. It is very important for the formation of the personality of the child. Within its framework, three periods are distinguished: junior preschool age from 3 to 4 years; middle preschool ... ... Wikipedia

    Preschool Age- the stage of mental development from 3 to 6 7 years. It is characterized by the fact that the leading activity is the game. Is extremely important for the formation of ... Psychological Dictionary

    PRESCHOOL AGE- PRESCHOOL AGE. The stage of mental development in Russian psychological periodization, which takes place between early age and primary school age - from 3 to 6-7 years. In D. in. there are three periods: the younger D. of the century. (3-4 years); average D ... New Dictionary of Methodological Terms and Concepts (Theory and Practice of Language Teaching)

    Preschool age- the period of childhood, which takes place between early and primary school age from 3 to 7 years. Usually there are junior (3-4 years), middle (4-5 years) and senior (5-7 years) D. of century. Preschool childhood is one of the most important stages in a child's life, to a large extent ... Encyclopedic Dictionary of Psychology and Pedagogy

    preschool age- ikimokyklinis amžius statusas T sritis Kūno kultūra ir sportas apibrėžtis Amžiaus tarpsnis nuo kūdikystės pabaigos iki mokyklinio amžiaus pradžios. Skiriamas lopšelinis (2–3 metai) ir darželinis (4–6 metai) ikimokyklinis amžius. atitikmenys: angl… Sporto terminų žodynas

    PRESCHOOL AGE- one of the initial stages of ontogenesis, in which three periods are distinguished: the younger D. of the century. (from 3 to 4 years), average D. o. (from 4 to 5 years old) and senior D.V. (from 5 to 6 7 years old). D. in. is of great importance for the physical, mental and emotional ... ... Psychomotor: dictionary-reference

    Preschool age- The period of childhood from 3 to 6 (7) years (corresponds to the age periodization of the first childhood). The most important physiological feature from the standpoint of the child's subsequent education at school should be considered the completion of the structural formation of the head ... Adaptive physical education. Concise encyclopedic dictionary

    - (in psychology) a category used to designate the temporal characteristics of individual development. Unlike chronological V., which expresses the duration of an individual's existence from the moment of his birth, the concept of psychological V. means ... ... Great psychological encyclopedia

    PRESCHOOL- PRESCHOOL, preschool, preschool (ped.). Pre-school time. Preschool education. Preschool age. Ushakov's explanatory dictionary. D.N. Ushakov. 1935 1940 ... Ushakov's Explanatory Dictionary

    Age- I Age Distinguish between B. chronological (passport, or calendar) period from birth to the moment of calculation and V. biological, which characterizes the biological state of the body at a given time. The latter is determined by the totality ... ... Medical encyclopedia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Preschool age- the stage of mental development of a child in the age range from 3 to 7 years. Within its framework, three periods are distinguished:

  1. junior preschool age - from 3 to 4 years;
  2. average preschool age - from 4 to 5 years;
  3. senior preschool age - from 5 to 7 years.

Mental development

Within the framework of Soviet and Russian psychology, each age period is characterized by a social situation of development, leading activities and mental neoplasms.

Social development situation

At the stage of preschool age, the social situation of development is characterized by the disintegration of the joint activity of a child with an adult. The child discovers the world of human relations through role-playing games. In play, the child repeats the actions of adults, whereby he realizes the tendency to be and act like an adult. The circle of significant persons is gradually expanding, which now includes peers as partners in the game.

Leading activity

The leading activity at this stage is a role-playing game that determines the position of the child, his perception of the world and relationships. Through the role-playing game, the development of various spheres of mental activity occurs. Play is a form of child's socialization, which helps to orient the child in social and interpersonal relationships. ...

  • The development of the motivational-need-sphere is the development of functions, meanings, tasks of human activity. The child strives for socially significant and approved activities, the first subordination of motives occurs, which is the first step towards their hierarchy, which ensures psychological readiness for school.
  • Overcoming cognitive "egocentrism", the child begins to correlate his own position with a different point of view, learns to coordinate his actions with the actions of others.
  • The development of an ideal plan, characterized by the transition from external actions to actions in the internal plan.
  • The development of arbitrary action through obedience to the rules.

Mental neoplasms

The central neoplasm of preschool age is the formation of visual-figurative thinking, coupled with the development of orienting-research activities. There is a mastery of mnemonic means, the possibility of voluntary memorization appears - the memory becomes mediated by a sign. Speech carries the function of planning and regulating activities.

New formations of the emotional and personal sphere are associated with the subordination of motives, the formation of new motives. The development of self-esteem contributes to the differentiation of the real I and the ideal I. Emotions begin to be of a regulatory nature in relation to their own behavior. Psychological readiness for school is the most important complex neoplasm of preschool age, which includes arbitrary regulation of behavior, personal and intellectual readiness.

Children's fears of preschoolers

Physical development

From a medical point of view, this stage is characterized by the first physiological acceleration of growth, the increase in body weight slows down, the length of the limbs clearly increases, and the relief of the face deepens. Milk teeth gradually fall out, the growth of permanent teeth begins.

The first acceleration of growth is observed in boys from 4 to 5.5 years old, and in girls after 6 years. The body length increases due to the relative increase in the lower limbs. At the age of 3-5 years, body weight evenly increases by 2 kg per year.

The annual increase in head circumference up to 5 years is 1 cm (at 5 years - 50 cm), and after 5 years - 0.5 cm per year.

The chest circumference increases by 1.5 cm annually.

Since the muscles are not yet sufficiently developed, improper body position, long standing, sitting, furniture that hinders growth can adversely affect the formation of the skeleton and lead to poor posture. Immune defense in the preschool period reaches a certain maturity.

Three Years Crisis

At the age of 3 years, there is a transition from early to preschool age. This transition is characterized by the so-called crisis of three years, described in its positive meaning by the Soviet psychologist L. S. Vygotsky. The child develops a fundamentally new system of social relations with the world against the background of his growing independence.

The crisis is characterized by the emerging contradiction between the child's desire to take part in the life of adults and the disintegration of the previous joint activity and the child's attempts to assert his independence. L. Vygotsky identifies the symptoms of the crisis that characterize this transition period:

  • Negativism;
  • Stubbornness;
  • Obstinacy;
  • Self-will;
  • Devaluation of everything that was previously significant for the child;
  • Despotism;
  • Protest.

The neoplasm of the three-year crisis is pride in our own achievements. The child's self-awareness is formed, which is manifested in the formation of an independent position.

Seven Years Crisis

As the end of this age stage, L. Vygotsky considers the crisis of 6-7 years, the main symptoms of which are:

  • Loss of immediacy;
  • The emergence of "secrecy" in relation to their feelings;
  • Loss of previous interests.

There is a desire for a socially significant position, greater independence. The child's attitude to the world begins to be regulated by the nature of his relationship with the people around him.

Preschool age in different developmental concepts

E. Erickson's epigenetic theory of personality development

According to E. Erickson's epigenetic theory of personality development, personality in its development goes through the following stages:

  • Infancy (oral-sensory stage) 0-1 years;
  • Early age (muscular-anal stage) 1-3 years;
  • Preschool age (locomotor-genital stage) 3-7 years;
  • School age (latent stage) 7-12 years;
  • Adolescence (pubertal stage) 12-19 years;
  • Adolescence (genital stage) 20-25 years old;
  • Matured 26-64 years old;
  • Old age from 64 years.

Preschool age is viewed in the context of the central experience associated with relationships with parents - the Oedipus complex. With a positive resolution of the crisis, the child develops initiative and dedication. With a negative resolution, helplessness, lack of initiative, and passivity are formed.

The operational concept of the development of intelligence by J. Piaget

According to the operational concept of the development of intelligence by J. Piaget, the intelligence of a child undergoes the following stages of development:

  • Sensorimotor intelligence 0-2 years old;
  • Representative intelligence and stage of specific operations 2-12 years;
  • Formal operations from 12 years old.

According to this concept, at the age of 3-7 years, the child is at the preoperative stage of intuitive visual thinking.

Periodization of mental development D. B. Elkonin

According to the periodization of D. B. Elkonin, the following stages are distinguished in the development of the child:

  • Infancy 0-1 years old;
  • Early childhood 1-3 years old;
  • Preschool childhood 3-7 years old;
  • Junior school age 7-12 years old;
  • Adolescence is 12-17 years old.

As the leading activity in preschool age, the role-playing game is distinguished - this is a modeling type activity aimed at orienting the child in social relations, the system of meanings, motives of human activity through the adoption of a role.

Write a review on the article "Preschool age"

Notes (edit)

Literature

  1. Vygotsky L. S. Sobr. cit .: in 6 volumes. Vol. 4 Crisis in three years. The crisis is seven years old. M., 1983
  4. Outpatient Pediatrics, ed. prof. Kalmykova M., 2007, p. 95

Excerpt from Preschool Age

Again, a wave of general curiosity, as in the vicinity of the church in Khamovniki, pushed all the prisoners to the road, and Pierre, thanks to his height over the heads of others, saw what had so attracted the curiosity of the prisoners. In three carriages, mingled between the charging boxes, they rode, closely sitting on top of each other, discharged, in bright colors, rouged, something screaming in squeaky voices of women.
From the moment Pierre realized the appearance of a mysterious force, nothing seemed strange or scary to him: not a corpse smeared with soot for fun, not these women hurrying somewhere, not the conflagration of Moscow. Everything that Pierre saw now made almost no impression on him - as if his soul, preparing for a difficult struggle, refused to accept impressions that could weaken it.
The women's train has passed. Behind him were carts again, soldiers, wagons, soldiers, decks, carriages, soldiers, boxes, soldiers, and occasionally women.
Pierre did not see people separately, but saw their movement.
All these people, horses seemed to be chased by some invisible force. All of them, during the hour during which Pierre watched them, floated out of different streets with the same desire to pass quickly; all of them in the same way, when faced with others, began to get angry, to fight; white teeth bared, eyebrows frowned, all the same curses were thrown around, and on all faces there was the same youthfully determined and cruelly cold expression, which in the morning struck Pierre at the sound of the drum on the corporal's face.
Already before the evening, the convoy commander gathered his team and, with a shout and disputes, squeezed into the carts, and the prisoners, surrounded on all sides, went out onto the Kaluga road.
We walked very quickly, without resting, and stopped only when the sun began to set. The carts moved one on top of the other, and people began to prepare for an overnight stay. Everyone seemed angry and displeased. For a long time, curses, angry screams and fights were heard from different sides. The carriage, which was driving behind the escorts, moved over the convoy's wagon and pierced it with a drawbar. Several soldiers from different directions ran to the wagon; some beat the horses harnessed to the carriage on the heads, turning them around, others fought among themselves, and Pierre saw that one German was badly wounded in the head with a sword.
It seemed that now, when they stopped in the middle of a field in the cold twilight of an autumn evening, all these people were experiencing the same feeling of unpleasant awakening from the haste and impetuous movement that gripped everyone when leaving. Having stopped, everyone seemed to understand that it was not yet known where they were going, and that on this movement there would be a lot of hard and difficult things.
The prisoners at this halt were treated even worse by the escorts than during the march. At this halt, for the first time, the meat food of the prisoners was given out in horse meat.
From the officers to the last soldier, there was a seemingly personal bitterness against each of the prisoners in everyone, so unexpectedly replacing the previously friendly relationship.
This anger intensified even more when, when counting the prisoners, it turned out that during the bustle, leaving Moscow, one Russian soldier, pretending to be sick from the stomach, fled. Pierre saw a Frenchman beat a Russian soldier for walking far from the road, and heard the captain, his friend, reprimand the non-commissioned officer for the escape of the Russian soldier and threaten him with court. To the non-commissioned officer's excuse that the soldier was ill and could not walk, the officer said that it was ordered to shoot those who would lag behind. Pierre felt that the fatal force that crushed him during the execution and which was invisible during the captivity now again took possession of his existence. He was scared; but he felt how, in proportion to the efforts that the fatal force was making to crush him, a life force independent of it grew and grew in his soul.
Pierre had supper with a soup of rye flour with horse meat and talked to his comrades.
Neither Pierre and none of his comrades talked about what they saw in Moscow, nor about the rude treatment of the French, nor about the order to shoot, which was announced to them: everyone was, as if in rebuff to the worsening situation, especially lively and cheerful ... They talked about personal memories, about funny scenes seen during the campaign, and hushed up conversations about the present situation.
The sun has set long ago. Bright stars lit up here and there across the sky; the red, fire-like glow of a rising full month spread over the edge of the sky, and a huge red ball vibrated surprisingly in the grayish haze. It was getting light. The evening was already over, but the night had not yet begun. Pierre got up from his new comrades and walked between the fires on the other side of the road, where, he was told, the captured soldiers were standing. He wanted to talk to them. On the road, a French sentry stopped him and told him to turn back.
Pierre returned, not to the fire, to his comrades, but to the unharnessed cart, which had no one. He tucked his legs and bowed his head, sat down on the cold ground at the wheel of the cart and sat for a long time motionless, thinking. More than an hour passed. Pierre was not disturbed by anyone. Suddenly he burst out laughing with his thick, good-natured laugh, so loudly that people looked around in surprise at this strange, apparently lonely laugh.
- Ha, ha, ha! - Pierre laughed. And he spoke aloud to himself: - The soldier did not let me in. Caught me, locked me up They hold me captive. Who me? Me! Me - my immortal soul! Ha, ha, ha! .. Ha, ha, ha! .. - he laughed with tears in his eyes.
Some man got up and came over to see what this strange big man was laughing about. Pierre stopped laughing, got up, walked away from the curious, and looked around him.
The huge, endless bivouac, which had previously loudly rustled with the crackling of bonfires and the chatter of people, fell silent; the red fires of the bonfires went out and faded. A full month stood high in the bright sky. Forests and fields, previously unseen outside the camp, now opened up in the distance. And even farther away from these forests and fields could be seen a light, wavering, inviting endless distance. Pierre looked into the sky, into the depths of the departing, playing stars. “And all this is mine, and all this is in me, and all this is me! Thought Pierre. “And they caught it all and put it in a booth, enclosed by boards!” He smiled and went to go to bed with his comrades.

In early October, another envoy came to Kutuzov with a letter from Napoleon and a proposal for peace, deceptively indicated from Moscow, while Napoleon was already not far ahead of Kutuzov, on the old Kaluga road. Kutuzov responded to this letter in the same way as to the first one sent with Loriston: he said that there could be no talk of peace.
Soon after that, a report was received from the partisan detachment of Dorokhov, who was walking to the left of Tarutin, that troops appeared in Fominsky, that these troops consisted of the Brusier division and that this division, separated from other troops, could easily be exterminated. Soldiers and officers again demanded activity. The staff generals, excited by the memory of the ease of victory at Tarutin, insisted on Kutuzov's execution of Dorokhov's proposal. Kutuzov did not consider any offensive to be necessary. The middle came out, what was to be accomplished; a small detachment was sent to Fominskoye, which was supposed to attack Brusye.
By a strange coincidence, this appointment - the most difficult and most important, as it turned out later - was received by Dokhturov; that same modest, little Dokhturov, whom no one described to us as making up battle plans, flying in front of regiments, throwing crosses on batteries, etc., who was considered and called indecisive and imperceptible, but the same Dokhturov who during all the Russian wars with the French, from Austerlitz until the thirteenth year, we find in command wherever the situation is difficult. In Austerlitz, he remains the last at the Augest dam, gathering regiments, saving what is possible, when everything runs and dies and not a single general is in the arieguard. He, sick with a fever, goes to Smolensk with twenty thousand to defend the city against the entire Napoleonic army. In Smolensk, as soon as he fell asleep at the Molokhov Gate, in a paroxysm of fever, he was awakened by a cannonade across Smolensk, and Smolensk held out all day. On Borodino day, when Bagration was killed and the troops of our left flank were killed in a ratio of 9 to 1 and the entire force of the French artillery was sent there, no one else was sent, namely the indecisive and unprecedented Dokhturov, and Kutuzov was in a hurry to correct his mistake when he sent it there another. And small, quiet Dokhturov goes there, and Borodino is the best glory of the Russian army. And many heroes are described to us in poetry and prose, but almost not a word about Dokhturov.
Again Dokhturov is sent there to Fominskoye and from there to Maly Yaroslavets, to the place where the last battle with the French took place, and to the place from which, obviously, the death of the French begins, and again many geniuses and heroes describe to us during this period of the campaign , but not a word about Dokhturov, or very little, or doubtful. This silence about Dokhturov most obviously proves his dignity.
Naturally, for a person who does not understand the movement of the machine, at the sight of its action, it seems that the most important part of this machine is that sliver that accidentally fell into it and, interfering with its progress, flutters in it. A person who does not know the structure of a machine cannot understand that it is not this splinter that spoils and interferes with the business, but that small transmission gear, which turns silently, is one of the most essential parts of the machine.
On October 10, the very day that Dokhturov passed half the road to Fominskoye and stopped in the village of Aristove, preparing to exactly fulfill the given order, the entire French army, in its convulsive movement, reached the position of Murat, as it seemed, in order to give the battle, suddenly for no reason turned to the left on the new Kaluga road and began to enter Fominskoye, in which only Brusye had previously stood. In addition to Dorokhov, Dokhturov had two small detachments of Figner and Seslavin under his command at that time.

When working with children in preschool age, educators should take into account a wide variety of aspects. This will help prepare your baby for school and help shape his personality traits.

It is also required to take into account all the nuances of preschool age when raising children. Moreover, it is necessary to pay attention to the peculiarities of the development of a small person at all stages of his preparation for entering adulthood.

Preschool period

The beginning of this time interval is the moment when the baby turns 2 or 3 years old. This is the time when a small person begins to understand that he is a part of society. The preschool age lasts until the baby is 6-7 years old. That is, until the period when the child is able to start learning in an educational institution. Up to 5 years old, children are considered younger preschoolers, later, at 5-7 years old, - older.


As you can see, this period does not have clear age boundaries. The fact is that the importance is not attached to the calendar date. Social factors play the main role here, as well as the individual characteristics of the child.

The maximum preschool age lasts from 2 to 7 years. At this time, the child begins to lay:

  • the foundations of his individual psychological characteristics;
  • the foundation of the social and moral formation of his personality.

Features of preschool age

The life span from 2 to 7 years is characterized by the following differences:

  • the very high value and role of the family, on which the child's material well-being depends, as well as his cognitive interests and spirituality;
  • the dominant role of adults in meeting the basic needs of life and the needs of children;
  • the inability of babies to protect themselves from the adverse effects of external factors.

All the features of preschool age in psychological and physiological terms should be taken into account by parents and teachers when working with kids. This will make the process of education and training as effective as possible. The task of an adult is to help a child easily join the social process, while forming the best human qualities with which he would become a worthy citizen.


Preschool age can be considered the period in a child's life when he opens up new horizons and opportunities for himself almost every day. At this time, the baby especially actively learns the world around him with its diversity of human relations, phenomena and activities of adults. During this period, new horizons are opening up for him. He ceases to consider the world within the framework of only his family and gradually merges into society.

Of course, there are still very few elements in the activities of preschool children that would allow them to take an active part in adult life. However, the kids already really want this. This explains their desire for independence, which is accompanied by the notorious phrase "I myself!" The desire of children for independence is also expressed in active attempts to show initiative. An example of this is the imitation of adults in the form of a desire to grate carrots, wash dishes, etc.

Features of the development of preschoolers

In the period from 2 to 7 years, children are most actively improving the foundations of self-awareness. Toddlers begin to assess themselves from a variety of points of view. It is important for them to understand how kind and attentive friends they are, capable and diligent people, obedient daughters and sons, etc. All information ceases to be perceived by children emotionally. She is perceived by them more consciously. Children of preschool age begin a purposeful search for certain information, subjecting them after analysis.

Throughout the entire period of preparation for school, children are developing their visual-active thinking.


At the same time, the foundation of their logical and visual-figurative direction is born. At the same time, imagination arises, the first manifestations of which can be observed in children of younger preschool age. By the age of 3, the child has time to accumulate a certain life experience, thanks to which the child receives the necessary material for fantasies.

The development of thinking and imagination have a direct impact on the formation of speech. And if by the age of 3 the baby sometimes just starts to speak, then by the age of seven he does it quite well.

The development of speech directly affects the formation of voluntary attention. Children of younger preschool age, with whom classes are conducted on the conscious memorization of words, actions or objects in the form of assignments, games or assignments for performing feasible domestic work, very quickly learn this.

Mental improvement

Let's consider in more detail the most important aspects of the development of preschool children. And let's start with their mental formation, which is influenced, first of all, by heredity, as well as those close people who surround the child. In this regard, in the process of such a development of preschool children, it is very important for dads and mothers to learn to understand and accept their child, while interacting with him as effectively as possible. Special trainings organized on the basis of various development centers can help in this matter.

In preschool children, the formation of the arbitrariness of such leading mental characteristics occurs:

  1. Perception. Preschool children love to examine objects of the world around them, observe them, and then analyze the information received. They begin to describe things, indicating their sizes and shapes, colors and shades. At the same time, they successfully master the system of sensory signs. For example, they can indicate that an object is round, like a ball.
  2. Memory. As early as 3 years old, she is involuntary in a child. He is able to fix in memory only what caused his emotions. But already as he approaches the senior preschool age (4-5 years), he begins to consciously memorize, for example, the rules and elements of the game.
  3. Thinking. In preschool children, it smoothly passes from a visual-effective form to a visual-figurative one. At the same time, the initial form of logic and reasoning begins to develop. So, at the age of 4, thinking is based on objective actions. At 5 years old, it is able to anticipate them. A 6-7 year old child can transfer thinking to similar situations.

Emotional becoming

Preschool age is a period when children begin to actively develop social experiences and moral feelings, which are based on the manifestation of new motives, needs and interests. And if earlier the children themselves were objects of emotions that adults poured out on them, then a little later the little person himself becomes the subject of such relationships. This is expressed in his empathy for others.

Emotions in an individual of preschool age help him to realize the reality, as well as to react to it. The basic set of feelings during this period expands significantly. If earlier it was only joy and fear, then preschoolers are able to be jealous and angry, sad, etc. During this period, children master the language of views, movements and gestures, through which they often convey their emotions to others. They also use different intonations of the voice.

Proceeding from the fact that harmonious development in preschool age becomes possible only thanks to the environment of the child, it is important for adults to fill the baby's world with emotional experiences and vivid events, specially organized music lessons, theatrical performances, and games. A significant role in this case is assigned to communication with peers, as well as work.

Cognitive development

A similar trend in children is congenital. It is not for nothing that nature endows children with this trait. After all, with its help, babies are easier to adapt to life. But in preschool age, the cognitive direction develops into cognitive activity. Thus, the child forms the primary image of the world.

Cognitive activity in preschoolers can be traced in the form:

  • imagination, thinking, attention, perception and memory;
  • obtaining information, as well as its analysis;
  • emotional reactions to events, people, phenomena or objects.

All of the above components are inextricably linked. That is why work on the cognitive development of preschool children should be carried out with each of these elements. It is important for adults to ensure that children receive information that is in accordance with their cognitive abilities. Moreover, it is necessary to take it only from reliable sources.

Speech development

How early a child starts talking depends on many factors, including the psychological characteristics of both the baby and his environment. But, as a rule, children of older preschool age use language not only as a means of communication, but also use it in thinking. A child's vocabulary by the age of 6 increases to 3-3.5 thousand words, that is, it becomes approximately 3-3.5 times more than at three years. The older preschooler demonstrates good command of all types of spoken language and can communicate using extended messages, including monologues and stories.

When learning their native language, children imitate those around them. That is why the key to the successful development of the speech of preschoolers lies in communication with peers, relatives and other people. At the same time, it is important that adults communicate with babies without lisping, not adjusting to their pronunciation of words. In order to promote the development of a preschooler's speech, parents and educators should listen to him, ask leading questions, and respond to the child in a friendly and patient way with all his “why”. Adults should certainly encourage the child's desire to "chat".

Physical formation

In the preschool period, the child undergoes an intensive process of formation of the most important systems of the body, the skeleton ossifies, the circulatory systems, respiration, etc. develop.


That is why the improvement of the baby at this age in the physical plane is no less important than in the psychoemotional one. In addition, the physical activity of preschoolers with moderate sports loads is an excellent stimulus for their emotional and mental development.

Upbringing a preschooler

The process of becoming a small person as a person can be conditionally divided into two parts:

  • preparation for school;
  • development of the child's personal characteristics.

It is safe to say that preschoolers who attend kindergartens and master educational programs in them, at this period of their lives receive the education they need in full.

A child in a family

What do parents need to know about preschool education? It is important for dads and moms to have an idea of ​​simple rules and strictly follow them. Parents should educate their children by example. This should not be forgotten. Indeed, in the child, as if in a mirror, all the negativity existing in the family will subsequently be reflected - rudeness and quarrels, untidiness and inattention to a loved one, as well as bad habits.

Parents are encouraged to hug their son or daughter more often. At the same time, the child will feel protection and love. Preschoolers are in dire need of tactile contacts. According to the researchers, there should be at least eight of them during the day.


In addition, the child needs to be praised. How many times a day? The more often this is done, the better for education. But at the same time, you should not show excessive fanaticism and flatter the baby. He will feel the falsity right there. But praise will certainly increase the self-esteem of the little person, motivating for self-improvement and good deeds.

Toddlers in preschool age should certainly be optimistic. To do this, it is necessary to teach them to perceive the world that surrounds them, only positively.

Parents need to talk a lot with their children. After all, all education begins precisely with words. The kid must learn to hear adults, as well as be able to express their problems.

It is important for dads and mothers to be interested in what their child lives, to ask him about what is happening to him outside the house, what are his relationships with peers. The kid should trust his parents. A bonus of this direction of upbringing will be teaching the child to communicate and the ability to conduct a dialogue.

Also, parents should instill in their child a sense of responsibility. After all, a preschooler is not always aware of what may be asked of him for his actions, as well as for what was entrusted to him by adults. This should be taught to him. How can you get a good result? Just by showing your own example. So, if dad helps mom set the table, and after lunch or dinner he washes the dishes, then the son will begin to understand that a man should help a woman. What activities at preschool age can be entrusted to the baby at home? This is cleaning your belongings, caring for your beloved animal, etc. Growing up, the child will begin to understand that any person in life should be responsible for something.

It is important for parents to constantly develop in their child the desire for knowledge, for learning new things. To do this, you will need to provide the child with educational games, organize viewing of encyclopedias, reading fairy tales, etc.

In preschool children, perseverance should be developed. This will be necessary when they sit down at the desk.

Child in a preschool educational institution

In kindergartens, educators carry out the entire learning process in the form of classes. When conducting them, teachers interact with preschoolers, forming their sports and work skills, as well as contributing to the aesthetic and mental development of children.


At the same time, certain teaching methods take place, among which:

  1. Verbal. They involve conducting a dialogue with the kids, answering their questions and verbally explaining the assignment.
  2. Visual. This method involves the use of pictures and objects, didactic materials and illustrations.
  3. Practical. In such classes, the kids use the acquired skills in real life. Practical skills are improved through special exercises included in the curriculum.
  4. Gaming. This technique involves modeling life situations through play. It should be noted that such upbringing of preschoolers is the most effective. Educational programs for preschool educational institutions most often include educational didactic games that offer children several answers. This approach allows preschoolers to develop logic, calculating the consequences of their choice.

Crisis diagnosis 7 years

8. Attentions in preschool age.

Development The success of mastering systematized knowledge and mastering one or another activity depend largely on the level of development and individual characteristics of the child's attention, since attention as a prerequisite ensures the success of each mental process.

In psychology, there is a point of view according to which attention is not a special, independent process, but only acts as a side or moment of any other mental process or human activity. Others believe that attention is a completely independent mental formation, a specific internal process that has its own characteristics that are not reducible to the characteristics of other cognitive processes. As a substantiation of this point of view, it is indicated that in the human brain it is possible to find and distinguish a special kind of structures associated precisely with attention, anatomically and physiologically relatively autonomous from those that ensure the functioning of other mental processes. The author points out, in particular, the role of the reticular formation in ensuring attention, the orienting reflex as its possible innate mechanism and, finally, the dominant studied and described by A.A. Ukhtomsky. Without going into a detailed analysis of both points of view, we note that the human psyche has a systemic character and the isolation of any mental process is to a certain extent artificial and is a kind of abstraction. Taking into account the age and individual characteristics of attention as a mental process allows you to properly organize the activities of children, create favorable conditions for their learning and development.

Attention is usually understood as the voluntary or involuntary orientation and concentration of mental activity. Attention can be directed to objects in the outside world or to one's own inner life. It not only creates the best conditions for the mental activity of both an adult and a child, but also helps to timely respond to various changes in the environment and in oneself.

Depending on the severity of the target orientation and the level of necessary volitional efforts, involuntary and voluntary attention are distinguished.

Involuntary attention is distinguished by its spontaneity and lack of effort to preserve it. Involuntary attention is caused by two series of reasons: objective features of surrounding objects (their brightness, unusualness, novelty, contrast) and subjective factors, in which the child's selective attitude towards the environment (actual needs and interests, past experience) is manifested. also from the structure of the operation. So, it has been established that attention is attracted by the purpose of the activity and, to a lesser extent, by the methods of its implementation.

Involuntary attention manifests itself quite early, in the first months of life, and actively develops throughout childhood. In older preschool age, involuntary attention reaches a fairly high level of development and differs significantly from the attention of younger children. It becomes more stable. If younger preschoolers can play one game for 30-50 minutes, then by the end of preschool age the duration of the game increases to 1.5-2 hours, while the number of distractions is significantly reduced (approximately 2-3 times). The stability of attention increases when children look at pictures, listen to stories and fairy tales. Thus, the duration of viewing a picture increases by about two times by the end of preschool age, children 6-7 years old are better aware of the picture than younger preschoolers, highlight more interesting sides and details in it, the very activity of examining an unfamiliar object will acquire a more systematic and organized character. ...

In the organization of children's attention, factors of a subjective (internal) nature begin to acquire increasing importance: cognitive needs and interests, knowledge and experience. By the older preschool age, the sphere of interests of the child expands significantly, therefore the range of objects and phenomena that can attract his attention also becomes wider. Individual features of attention are manifested, it becomes more selective. A child of 6-7 years old can pay attention to an object that does not possess brightness, unusualness and novelty, but only due to the fact that it is somehow connected with his experience and allows him to expand knowledge in some area of ​​interest to the child. Not only immediate interests, but also the specific system of knowledge and ideas that has developed by this age are factors that cause the child's attention to certain objects of the surrounding reality. It is known with what attention a child of the seventh year of life, having learned to put words out of letters, reads all the inscriptions that come across his eyes.

By this age, changes occur in the structure of children's activities, the child learns to accept and independently set goals available to him. Everything related to the purpose of the preschooler's activity evokes and retains his attention for a long time. The activity itself becomes more stable. So, for example, the same game can continue for several days; without finishing the construction, the child returns to it and completes what he started the next day. By the age of seven, the stability of attention to intellectual activity increases noticeably. Children engage in games with enthusiasm and concentration - puzzles, riddles, solving simple arithmetic problems, memorizing letters, etc.

Unlike involuntary, voluntary attention arises in a situation where certain volitional efforts are required to achieve a consciously set (by the child or an adult) goal. The development of voluntary attention is one of the most important new formations of the preschooler's psyche. Children begin to control their attention, consciously direct it to objects and phenomena and hold it for some time. As a result, the nature of the child's mental activity changes, it begins to become arbitrary.

Involuntary and voluntary attention in children's activities are closely interrelated. So, for example, showing a picture or a new object in class evokes involuntary attention in children, on the basis of which, with the acceptance of the task (compose a story from a picture, name the properties of an object), voluntary attention begins to act. Accepting the task, the child makes a certain effort to complete it correctly. Gradually, in the process of activity, the need for volitional efforts may disappear, the task itself becomes interesting to the child, and post-voluntary attention appears. The latter differs from involuntary attention in that a conscious goal that requires concentration remains, and volitional efforts to maintain the required level of activity intensity are no longer required.

At the same time, it should be noted that there are significant differences between these types of attention. Involuntary attention is based on an innate orienting reflex and is biological in nature. This is one of the forms of adaptation of the individual to the environment, which manifests itself already in infancy. Involuntary attention is characteristic not only of humans, but also of animals. In contrast, voluntary attention is a purely human property of the psyche, by its nature socially, is formed in a child under the influence of an adult in the process of communication and purposeful learning.

Vygotsky was the first to point out the social roots and the mediated nature of higher forms of attention (3). He found that in the early stages of development, the function of voluntary attention is divided between two people - an adult and a child. The first one distinguishes an object from the environment, pointing at it with a gesture or designating with a symbol, the second responds to this signal, fixing the named object with a gaze or grabbing it with his hand. Pointing to an object with a gesture or word organizes the child's attention, changing its direction. Thus, the given object stands out for the child from the external field. When a child develops his own speech, he can name the object himself and arbitrarily select it from the rest of the environment. The function of analyzing the environment, which was previously divided between an adult and a child, now becomes internal for the baby and is performed by him independently. The development of voluntary attention in children first ensures the realization of only those goals that the adult sets for him, and then those that are set by the children independently.

Thus, the origins of voluntary attention lie outside the personality of the child. This means that involuntary attention is not an initial stage and does not grow into voluntary attention by itself. The latter is formed due to the fact that adults, with the help of certain means (gesture, words), direct and organize children's attention; subsequently, the child learns to independently use these means to control his attention. As the planning function of speech develops, the child becomes able to organize attention in advance in the upcoming activity, verbally indicating the sequence of actions and the parameters of the expected result.

The value of verbal self-instruction for organizing attention was shown in the work of G.V. Petukhova (9). In the experiment, preschool children were asked to select from ten cards with animal images those that had at least one of the indicated images (for example, a chicken or a horse), while it was impossible to take cards with forbidden images (for example, a bear). It was proposed to select the cards several times in a row. At first, the children were not given any instructions as to the course of action. In these conditions, preschoolers had difficulty in completing the task, they often made mistakes. The quality of the assignment improved significantly when they were asked to repeat the instructions aloud ("After carefully examining the images on the cards, remember and tell me which cards you can take and which you cannot."). Starting from the senior preschool age, after reading the instructions, the children gave the correct solutions, even if new animals were introduced into the subsequent tasks. They actively used speech to organize their attention in the process of selecting cards.

The use of speech for organizing one's own attention in various types of activity among older preschoolers increases significantly. This is manifested, in particular, in the fact that, completing the task according to the instructions of an adult, children of this age recite the instructions 10-12 times more often than younger preschoolers.

The development of voluntary attention in older preschool children is the basis for the formation of a new type of activity regulation: the child begins to master his activity, it becomes voluntary. The older preschooler can already keep attention on the task and the ways to achieve it, analyze the result and evaluate it (in the types of activities available to him). An important neoplasm of this age is the formation of elementary actions of self-control.

G.Ya. Galperin considered voluntary attention as an internal (mental), abbreviated action of control. He noted that "not all control is attention, but all attention is control" (6. p. 91). The process of control, carried out as a detailed objective (external) action, is not yet attention, on the contrary, it in itself requires attention. Only when the action of control turns into mental and abbreviated, only then does it become attention, understood as a specific mental process. Voluntary attention is planned attention. This is the control of the action, carried out on the basis of a pre-drawn plan, with the help of predetermined criteria and methods of their application. The presence of such a plan, criteria and methods of action allows us to control, and at the same time direct attention to what we want to direct it to, and not to what "catches the eye" (in the case of involuntary attention). Such a planned action by its origin and nature is social and presupposes the participation of speech in its organization. Like any action acquired according to a social model, it first appears and is assimilated in its external form (at this stage it is not yet attention) and only then (in speech form) it passes into the mental plane, then, a detailed statement of the action "for itself" shrinks and takes the form of thought about action, becomes actually voluntary attention.

Due to its objective social organization and gradual assimilation, such an action does not depend either on the directly attractive properties of the object (brightness, unusualness, novelty), or on the states of the person himself (desires and experiences) - it is arbitrary in the proper sense of the word.

This understanding of the psychological essence of the process of voluntary attention allows us to say that attention, like any other mental activity, needs to be taught. In this case, one should start not with attention, but with the organization of control as a certain external action, which only then will be transformed into an act of voluntary attention. In order to form the child's attention to a particular action, it is necessary, along with the explanation of this action, to give the task to check it, indicating for this the criteria, methods and sequence of control. All this must first be given externally, in material form, using diagrams, models, various visual material (chips, tags, etc.). At the next stage, this action is spoken by the child in the form of "loud speech", then "to himself". Mentally, in the process of repeated repetition of the required action, the action of control is generalized, reduced and automated and turns, thereby, into an act of attention that ensures the fulfillment of the desired task.

The formation of actions of self-control, first external and then internal, in the form of voluntary attention, is facilitated by games, which can be conventionally called "Controller". In these games, the child must first memorize a number of requirements and rules, and then, focusing on them, perform control and verification actions. For the same purposes, game tasks can be used, involving the search for differences and errors in two or more images, as well as tasks in which it is necessary to find a fragment of the image presented separately in the picture, the games "Compose a picture", "Compose a broken dish", "Compose from the fragments of a vase "and others. Based on the method of stage-by-stage formation of mental actions P.Ya. Galperin (5, 6), these and other play tasks, in combination with purposeful teaching of the action of self-control in the classroom, make it possible to form in children of the seventh year of life the level of voluntary attention necessary for starting school.

The development of voluntary attention allows older preschoolers to master a new type of activity (educational) for them and assimilate systematized, generalized knowledge. A child of this age who has received the necessary training can keep his attention on the task and the ways to achieve it, see and correct mistakes, compare the result obtained with what needs to be obtained, evaluate his activity. The arbitrary regulation of activity is one of the most important components of the psychological structure of readiness to learn, a condition for successful schooling. According to our research, significant differences were revealed in the levels of voluntary attention development in “successful” and “unsuccessful” students both at the beginning and at the end of the first year of study.

Speaking about the formation of an arbitrary level of regulation of activity, it should be remembered that such opportunities in older preschool children are still very limited. Under the conditions of a new, unusual activity for the child, he can control his actions (show voluntary attention) only within the limits of a certain particular task, provided that the actions are familiar to him and well learned. The more unusual, and, consequently, more difficult for the child, the activity, the more difficult it is for him to concentrate on its implementation, the greater participation in the management and implementation of this activity is required from the teacher. At the same time, it is important that the child knows how to listen carefully and correctly follow the instructions of the adult.

In our study, we studied the ability of children to complete tasks according to step-by-step instructions from an adult using the "Graphic dictation" technique. After the training series, in which the children were explained how they should perform the task and were given the opportunity to try, they were given two tasks, differing in the degree of difficulty: it was proposed to draw a pattern according to the experimenter's instructions. On a checkered sheet of paper, children had to draw lines in a certain number of cells and in a certain direction in accordance with the instructions. The instruction was given step by step, for example: "one cell up, one cell to the right, two cells up, one cell to the right, two cells down, etc." The pattern consisted of simple repeating shapes. After starting to dictate, after a while the experimenter said: "Now continue this pattern to the end of the line yourself." The results of the experiment made it possible to establish the ability of children to arbitrarily control their actions according to the instructions of an adult and to perform these actions independently, i.e. using self-control.

For children of the middle group (4-5 years old) this task turned out to be very difficult, they did not cope with it. In the older group (5-6 years old), some children could draw a pattern according to the instructions of an adult, but when doing it on their own, they experienced significant difficulties: they either made a large number of mistakes, or drew completely different, simpler figures, or refused to complete the task. In the preparatory group (6-7 years old), 20% of children completed both parts of the assignment correctly: they drew a pattern without mistakes, both according to the instructions and independently; 30% of children completed the task correctly and without errors according to the instructions of an adult, but made minor mistakes when completing it on their own; 30% of children made mistakes in both parts of the assignment, while in the part where they worked according to the instructions of an adult, there were fewer mistakes; 20% of children did not complete the task. In the group as a whole, the results of the first part of the task (performing the pattern according to the instructions of an adult) exceed the results of the second part (completing the task independently).

The results of the conducted studies indicate that in children 6-7 years of age, voluntary attention reaches a higher level of development than in younger children. At the same time, significant individual differences have been established in the development of this mental quality in older preschool children. Children with a low level of voluntary attention, entering school, experience significant difficulties in assimilating knowledge and most often fall into the category of poor students.

As our other study, conducted in the first grade of a general education school, has shown, voluntary attention is actively developing in the process of systematic learning. By the end of the academic year, 40% of the students completed the tasks of the "Graphic Dictation", 15% of the children did not cope with them. At the same time, 65% of the first grade students did not make mistakes when completing the assignment according to the instructions of an adult. Note that our study was carried out in the class of "six-year-olds", ie. the subjects were children 6-7 years old. Therefore, we can conclude that the level of development of voluntary attention in older preschool age is determined not so much by the age characteristics of children, but by the nature of their activities, in particular, by the organization of education.

The manifestations of the main properties of attention (volume, stability, switching and distribution) in older preschool age are very individual and depend on a number of factors: the nature of the activity, emotional states and personality traits of the child, the level of development of other mental processes, the characteristics of the nervous system and the state of health.

Stability of attention (the duration of maintaining intense attention) increases significantly from younger preschool age to older. A.A. Lyublinskaya noted that older preschoolers not only can do work of little interest for them for a longer time at the direction of adults, but also make less distractions from it. It should be remembered that at the age of 6-7, involuntary attention remains the leading one. In play activities, the attention of older preschoolers can be stable for one and a half to two hours, in the classroom - 10-15 minutes. This is due to the fact that educational activity is still difficult for the child and causes rapid fatigue.

Visual and practical teaching methods are widely used to maintain the required level of attention throughout the lesson. It should be remembered that bright, catchy details and unnecessary details (for example, in a drawing), which are often used to arouse interest in children, quickly tire them and distract attention from the main and essential in the material to be learned. Good results in teaching preschoolers are given by playing forms of classes. But at the same time, as noted by K.D. Ushinsky, you should not turn learning into a game, "... not everything can be entertaining in learning, but certainly there are boring things, and should be. Teach your child to do not only what takes, but also what does not , - to do for the pleasure of fulfilling their duty. "(11. P.252).

The manifestation of the stability of attention is influenced by the age and individual characteristics of the higher nervous activity of children. So, it is known that at this age the processes of arousal prevail over the processes of inhibition, therefore, after a noisy, emotionally rich game, it is difficult for children to concentrate on the lesson. In children with balanced nervous processes, the stability of attention is 1.5 - 2 times higher than in excitable children (with unbalanced nervous processes).

The stability of the preschooler's attention in the classroom also depends on their content. Too hard, saturated material quickly tires, too easy - it causes boredom and, therefore, distraction.

The distribution of attention largely depends on the degree of mastery of those activities or actions that need to be performed. The more familiar an action is for a child, the easier it is to combine it with the performance of another action. The range of skills (actions, the performance of which has been brought to the level of automatism) at preschool age is still very limited, therefore, the possibilities for distributing attention are also small.

The possibilities for switching attention are largely determined by the age and individual characteristics of the child's higher nervous activity, as well as by the nature of the activity motivation. It is noted that older preschoolers quite easily switch from play activities to classes, provided that the latter are of interest to them.

The attention span of older preschoolers is greater than that of younger children and amounts to 3-4 units. By developing the child's thinking, in particular the ability to establish connections between similar objects, combining them into groups, thereby it is possible to expand the field of his attention. In this case, there is a "enlargement" of objects of attention.

I.V. Strakhov (10), studying the peculiarities of attention in primary school students, identified four states of mindfulness, which, as practice shows, can also be observed in children of the preparatory group during classes.

1. Real attentiveness is expressed in the readiness to complete tasks already at the beginning of the lesson, in the child's mental activity and curiosity during lessons, which is expressed in questions to the teacher, in amendments and additions to the answers of other children. The signs of real attentiveness are the working posture and the mimic expressiveness of concentration during the lesson.

2. Apparent attentiveness is characterized by a discrepancy between the external form of attention (the child sits calmly, does not talk with other children, looks at the teacher) and the child's working state. Outwardly, he seems attentive, but he cannot answer the questions, not because he does not know, but because he does not participate in the work of the group.

3. Apparent inattention occurs when the external signs of attention are poorly expressed. Some children are passive, lethargic, uninitiated in the classroom, but internally they can be focused, answer questions correctly and complete assignments. Other children, on the other hand, are very mobile, often change their posture, talk with other children, and express thoughts aloud. However, the questions of the teacher do not take them by surprise, despite the excessive physical activity, they work together with the group.

4. Children with real inattention are constantly distracted, motor disinhibited, make a large number of mistakes or do not complete the task at all.

The influence of individual peculiarities of attention of older preschoolers (in particular, stability and switching) on ​​the quality of performing monotonous activities was investigated by us using Pieron-Ruser's figured tables. In the course of the experiment, the children were offered a standard form, on which four geometric shapes (square, circle, rhombus, triangle) were randomly arranged line by line. Children were asked to put a certain sign in each figure (for example, a cross in a square, a point in a triangle, etc.). The task had to be performed in a certain order: start from the beginning of the line and look through all the figures to its end, then go to the beginning of another line. The time for completing the task is 5 minutes. Depending on the nature of the mistakes made during the task, the following four types of attention can be distinguished in older preschoolers:

A large number of mistakes at the beginning of work testifies to the length of the period of "training", it is difficult for a child to immediately mobilize his attention, to tune in to work;

A large number of mistakes at the end - indicates increased fatigue, depletion of attention;

A large number of errors in the middle of the task shows fluctuations in attention, its instability;

A small number of errors (1-2) or their absence indicate a sufficient level of development of voluntary attention in a child.

Definition of preschool age, the importance of preschool age for the mental development of a person.

PRESCHOOL AGE is a stage of mental development, which in Russian periodization occupies a place between early and primary school age - from 3 to 6 - 7 years. In preschool age, three periods are distinguished: junior preschool age (3-4 years), middle preschool age (4-5 years) and senior preschool age (5-7 years)

The preschool period is of great importance for the mental development and formation of the personality of an adult.

At this age, the foundations of the future personality are laid: a stable structure of motives is formed; new social needs are emerging; a new type of motivation arises; the child learns a certain system of social values, moral norms and rules of behavior in society. During this period, new personal mechanisms of behavior develop. It is in preschool childhood that the child begins to realize his place among other people, he forms an internal position and a desire for a new social role corresponding to his needs and capabilities. The child begins to realize and generalize his experiences, this or that type of self-esteem is formed and the corresponding attitude to success and failure in activity is formed.

Preschool childhood is a period of active development and formation of the child's cognitive activity. Beginning at the age of five, children single out cognitive tasks proper; by the end of preschool age, there is a clear preference for intellectual activities over practical ones. Scattered, concrete, unconscious impressions about the surrounding reality become more and more clear, clear and generalized, some holistic perception and comprehension of reality appears, the rudiments of a worldview appear.

Significant changes are taking place in the child's activities. Starting with imitation of an adult, through the flowering of plot-role play, the child comes to mastering more complex types of activity that require a new (voluntary) level of regulation, based on the awareness of the goals and objectives of the activity and the ways to achieve them, the ability to control their actions and evaluate their results.

These changes in children's consciousness lead to the fact that by the end of preschool age the child becomes ready to accept a new social role of a schoolchild, assimilate new (educational) activities and a system of generalized knowledge that constitute the foundations of the sciences. In other words, he develops a psychological readiness to learn at school.

Senior preschool age is a special period in mental development, the originality of which is not limited to the laws of adjacent ages. A six or seven year old child is not yet a schoolboy, but not a preschooler either. The psychological meaning of this age stage lies in the transition from preschool childhood to school age, but so far the specificity of the transition period of seven years has been insufficiently studied.

There are a large number of articles and monographs devoted to the study of the psychology of preschoolers and younger students. If a child of 6-7 years old is considered as an older preschooler, then, first of all, attention is paid to the development of those mental characteristics that make it possible to correlate him with children of middle and younger preschool ages. If they study it as a future schoolchild, then they investigate the origin of mental formations that bring them closer to students in the first grades of school. The patterns and specificity of the qualitative leap associated with the transition from preschool to primary school age remain practically unexplored.

Knowledge of the peculiarities of the mental development of a child in senior preschool age is necessary in order to properly organize the educational process, choose the necessary tactics of pedagogical influence, provide conditions for the development of the personality of each child, and prepare for school.

Preschool age is characterized by going beyond the limits of one's family relations and establishing relationships with a new adult world for a person. The period that a child passes from the moment of his birth to entering school life is the richest in terms of the degree of mental and physical development. It is at this stage that all the necessary qualities are formed that make him a person. Preschool age ensures the general development of the child, which serves as the foundation for the acquisition of various special knowledge and skills in the future. This period contributes to the assimilation of various areas of activity in the future. It is the preschool age that forms the properties and qualities of the psyche of a small person, which are a distinctive feature of behavior, character, and attitude towards the world around them.

Preschool age is the period of life and development of children between the ages of three and seven. It is these years that are characterized by the further as well as the growth of the child's intelligence. Children's movements become more free. The child speaks well. The world of children's experiences, sensations and ideas is rich and varied.

The growth and weight gain of the child during this period is characterized by unevenness. The skin also changes in preschool age. It thickens and becomes much more elastic. At the same time, the number of blood vessels in it decreases. Thus, the skin is more resistant to various mechanical influences. Ossification of the bones of the skeleton does not end by the age of five or six, but the spine takes on the same shape as in an adult.

Preschool age is characterized by great mobility. In children, the muscle system is developing especially actively, which significantly increases the load on the skeleton.

The cardiovascular system is also undergoing changes. Her performance and endurance are greatly enhanced. Reaches a high level and at the same time improves the intellectual relationship of a small person with the world around him. The vocabulary is gradually growing. At this age, with sufficient certainty, the child can express his emotional state - grief and joy, embarrassment and fear, pity and disappointment. It is in the preschool period that moral understandings of the situation develop and become definite. At the same time, the concept of assigned responsibilities appears.

Teaching preschool children is done through role-playing games. At the same time, the child has a desire for adulthood. At the age of three to seven years, play is the main activity, as it contributes to changes in the psyche of a little person. At the same time, the formation of the iconic child takes place especially clearly.

By producing a small person is able to replace various items, as well as take on a certain role. It is in this process that the relationship that takes place between adults opens up for the child.

The development of preschool children is also carried out thanks to a variety of types of creativity. A special place in this process is occupied by the fine arts, in particular - drawing. By the nature of the images on paper, one can judge the child's perception of the world around him, his imagination and memory, as well as thinking. It is with the help of drawings that children convey their knowledge and impressions that they receive.

An important role in the development of children is also played in this period, thinking, speech and imagination are connected. This factor underlies the full-fledged teaching of languages ​​(both native and foreign). In the process of upbringing, moral norms, rules and forms of cultural relations are learned. The pinnacle of the development of the personality of a small person in the preschool period is the formation of his self-awareness, which recognizes his own qualities of character and abilities, as well as the reasons for failure and success.