PAGE_BREAK--The use of spatial models also turned out to be extremely effective when teaching preschoolers to analyze the sound composition of a word.
Thus, under appropriate learning conditions, imaginative thinking becomes the basis for the mastery of generalized knowledge by older preschoolers. Such knowledge includes ideas about the relationship between part and whole, about the connection between the basic elements of a structure that make up its frame, about the dependence of the structure of animal chalk on their living conditions, etc. The assimilation of this kind of generalized knowledge is very important for the development of a child’s cognitive interests. But it is no less important for the development of thinking itself. By ensuring the assimilation of generalized knowledge, imaginative thinking itself improves as a result of using this knowledge in solving a variety of cognitive and practical problems. Acquired ideas about essential patterns give the child the opportunity to independently understand particular cases of manifestation of these patterns.
The transition to the construction of model images that make it possible to assimilate and use generalized knowledge is not the only direction in the development of imaginative thinking in preschoolers. It is important that the child’s ideas gradually acquire flexibility and mobility, he masters the ability to operate with visual images: imagine objects in different spatial positions, mentally change their relative positions.

1.3. The relationship between a child’s forms of thinking
The mental development of a preschooler is a complex interaction and interconnection of various forms of thinking: visual-effective, visual-figurative and logical.
One of the earliest forms of thinking - visual-effective - arises in close connection with the practical actions of children. The main feature of visually effective thinking is the inextricable connection of thought processes with practical actions that transform the cognizable object. Visual and effective thinking develops only as real transformations of the situation are caused by practical actions. In the process of repeated actions with objects, the child identifies the hidden, internal characteristics of the object and its internal connections. Practical transformations thus become a means of understanding reality.
Another form of mental activity characteristic of preschoolers is visual-figurative thinking, when the child operates not with specific objects, but with their images and ideas. An important condition for the formation of this type of thinking is the ability to distinguish between the plan of real objects and the plan of models that reflect these objects. Actions carried out on models are related by the child to the original, which creates the preconditions for the “separation” of the action from the model and the original and leads to their implementation in terms of ideas. One of the most important prerequisites for the emergence of imaginative thinking is imitation of an adult. A number of psychologists (J. Piaget, A. Vallon, A. V. Zaporozhets, etc.) considered imitation as the main source of formation of the figurative plane. By reproducing the actions of an adult, the child models them and, therefore, builds their image. Play can also be seen as a form of imitation: in this activity, children develop the ability to imagine one thing through another.
Finally, the third form of a child’s intellectual activity is logical thinking, which only develops towards the end of preschool age. Logical thinking is characterized by the fact that here the child operates with fairly abstract categories and establishes various relationships that are not presented in visual or model form.
Quite complex and contradictory relationships develop between these forms of thinking. On the one hand, external practical actions, being internalized, turn into internal ones, and, therefore, practical actions are the initial form of all types of thinking. But the practical action itself requires taking into account and recording changes in the object in the process of objective action. This means that the child must imagine the previous states of the object (which have already disappeared) and compare them with the present ones. In addition, an external objective action includes its goal, a future result, which also cannot be represented in reality and exists only in terms of ideas or concepts. The success of an external action depends on the child’s understanding of the general semantic context and on his past experience. This means that the implementation of practical actions even by a small child presupposes the presence of a figurative plan and is based on it.
N. N. Poddyakov studied a special type of child thinking, which represents the unity of visual-effective and visual-figurative thinking and is aimed at identifying the properties and connections of objects hidden from observation. This type of thinking has been called childhood experimentation.
Children's experimentation is not set by adults, but is built by the child himself. Like experimentation in adults, it is aimed at understanding the properties and connections of objects and is carried out as control of one or another phenomenon: a person acquires the ability to cause or stop it, change it in one direction or another. In the process of experimentation, the child receives new, sometimes unexpected information, which often leads to a restructuring of both the actions themselves and the child’s ideas about the object. In this activity, the moment of self-development is clearly visible: transformations of an object reveal to the child its new properties, which, in turn, allow the construction of new, more complex transformations.
The thinking process involves not only the use of already worked out schemes and ready-made methods of action, but also the construction of new ones (of course, within the capabilities of the child himself). Experimentation stimulates the child to search for new actions and contributes to the courage and flexibility of children's thinking. The possibility of independent experimentation gives the child the opportunity to try different methods of action, while removing the fear of making mistakes and the constraint of children's thinking by ready-made schemes.
In the process of experimentation, the child acquires new, unclear knowledge. Poddyakov put forward the assumption that the thinking process develops not only from ignorance to knowledge (from incomprehensible to understandable, from unclear knowledge to clearer and more definite), but also in the opposite direction - from understandable to incomprehensible, from definite to indefinite. The ability to form your own, albeit still unclear, guesses, to be surprised, to ask yourself and others questions is no less important in the development of thinking than the reproduction of ready-made schemes and the assimilation of knowledge given to adults. It is this ability that best develops and manifests itself in the process of children's experimentation.
The role of the adult in this process comes down to creating special objects or situations that stimulate the child’s cognitive activity and promote children’s experimentation.
N. N. Poddyakov and his colleagues developed many original devices and situations that activate children’s thinking. Thus, in one of his studies the task was to bring children of senior preschool age to an understanding of kinematic dependencies (dependence of time, speed and distance). Children were offered a special installation in which identical balls were rolled along grooves of different lengths. The inclination of each groove could be changed using a rotating knob. After a number of tests, the children unexpectedly discovered that at a certain inclination of the grooves, the ball running down the long groove overtakes the one running down the short one. During the experimentation, the children learned to adjust the inclination of the grooves in such a way that they set themselves various goals and successfully achieved them.
Another installation, developed by Poddyakov, was a box with a handle that could be rotated clockwise or counterclockwise, and depending on this, pictures appeared or disappeared in special windows. In the process of experimenting with this device, children established relationships between rotating the handle and changing pictures.
The emergence of unclear knowledge and the posing of new questions is also facilitated by contradictory situations in which the same object at different points in time has contradictory, mutually exclusive properties. A system of such situations was developed by N. E. Veraksa. For example, the special internal structure of the cylinder allowed it to roll down an inclined plane in some cases, and up in others, causing surprise and guesswork among preschoolers. The children tried to connect these phenomena with each other and actively searched for the reason underlying these contradictory properties of the strange object. The consistent complication of contradictory situations led to the development of flexibility and dynamism in children's thinking, and to the emergence of elements of dialectics in children's reasoning.
These kinds of techniques apparently contribute to the activity and independence of the child’s mental activity.
Thus, the peculiarities of the child’s perception and thinking are explained not by individualism, but by the lack of social means and methods of solving the problem.

2. Understanding speech and developing attention in preschool age
Becoming more independent, preschool children go beyond narrow family ties and begin to communicate with a wider range of people, especially peers. Expanding the circle of communication requires the child to fully master the means of communication, the main one of which is speech. The increasingly complex activities of the child also place high demands on speech development.
The development of speech goes in several directions: its practical use in communication with other people is improved, at the same time speech becomes the basis for the restructuring of mental processes, a tool of thinking. Under certain conditions of upbringing, the child begins not only to use speech, but also to understand its structure, which is important for subsequent mastery of literacy.
In early childhood, the development of attention occurs during the development of walking, object activity and speech. Independent walking makes a wide area of ​​objects accessible to the child, thereby expanding his circle of attention. Moving in space opens up new possibilities for the baby; now he himself chooses the object to which he directs his attention.
Mastering the purpose and functions of objects and improving actions with them allows, on the one hand, to direct attention to a larger number of sides and features in objects, and on the other hand, to improve the properties of attention itself - distribution, switching.
In connection with mastering speech, the baby learns to maintain attention not only on objects, but also on words and phrases. He begins to respond to an adult’s instruction if it is “formulated briefly and points to actions or objects familiar to the child: “Bring the ball,” “Take a spoon.” The baby can listen to a short request to the end and perform an action in accordance with it.
2.1. Development of speech functions

Throughout the preschool period, the child's vocabulary continues to grow. Compared to early childhood, the vocabulary of a preschool child increases, as a rule, three times. Moreover, the growth of vocabulary directly depends on living conditions and upbringing; individual characteristics are more noticeable here than in any other area of ​​mental development.
Communication function. One of the main functions of speech that develops in preschool age is the communicative function, or communication function. Already in early childhood, the child uses speech as a means of communication. However, he communicates only with close or well-known people. Communication in this case arises about a specific situation, which includes adults and the child himself. Communication in a specific situation about certain actions and objects is carried out using situational speech. This speech represents questions that arise in connection with activities or when meeting new objects or phenomena, answers to questions, and finally, certain requirements.
Situational speech is quite clear to the interlocutors, but is usually incomprehensible to an outsider who does not know the situation. Situationalism can be represented in a child’s speech in a variety of forms. For example, typical for situational speech is the loss of the implied subject. It is mostly replaced by a pronoun. The speech is replete with the words “he”, “she”, “they”, and from the context it is impossible to establish to whom (or what) these pronouns refer. In the same way, speech is replete with adverbs and verbal patterns, which, however, do not at all clarify its content. The indication “there” acts, for example, as an indication in form, but not in substance.
The child’s dialogue partner expects clear, expressive speech from him and requires the construction of a speech context that is more independent of the speech situation. Under the influence of others, the child begins to rebuild situational speech into speech that is more understandable to the listener. Gradually, instead of endlessly repeating pronouns, he introduces nouns, which bring some clarity. In older preschoolers, when they try to tell something, a speech structure typical for their age appears: the child first introduces a pronoun (“she”, “he”), and then, as if sensing the ambiguity of his presentation, explains the pronoun with a noun: “She (the girl) went”; “She (the cow) was gored”; “He (the wolf) attacked”; “It (the ball) rolled,” etc. This is an essential stage in the speech development of a child. The situational way of presentation is, as it were, interrupted by explanations focused on the interlocutor. Questions about the content of the story at this stage of speech development evoke a desire to answer in more detail and clearly.
As the circle of contacts expands and as cognitive interests grow, the child masters contextual speech. Contextual speech quite fully describes the situation with that. so that it is understandable without its direct perception. A retelling of books, a story about an interesting fact, or a description of an object cannot be understood by the listener without an intelligible presentation. The child begins to make demands on himself and tries to follow them when constructing speech.
While mastering the laws of constructing contextual speech, the child does not stop using situational speech. Situational speech is not speech of a lower rank. In conditions of direct communication, adults also use it. Over time, the child begins to use either situational or contextual speech more and more appropriately, depending on the conditions and nature of communication.
The child masters contextual speech under the influence of systematic training. In kindergarten classes, children have to present more abstract content than in situational speech; they develop a need for new speech means and forms that children learn from the speech of adults. A preschool child takes only the very first steps in this direction. Further development of contextual speech occurs at school age.
A special type of child speech is explanatory speech. In older preschool age, a child has a need to explain to a peer the content of the upcoming game, the structure of the toy, and much more. Often, even a minor misunderstanding leads to mutual dissatisfaction between the speaker and the listener, to conflicts and misunderstandings. Explanatory speech requires a certain sequence of presentation, highlighting and indicating the main connections and relationships in a situation that the interlocutor must understand.
Planning function. During preschool age, the child’s speech turns into a means of planning and regulating his practical behavior. This is the second function of speech. Speech begins to perform this function in connection with this. that it merges with the child’s thinking.
A child’s thinking in early childhood is included in his practical objective activity. As for speech, in the process of solving problems it appears in the form of appeals to an adult for help. By the end of early childhood, in the speech of children who have taken on the solution of any problem, many words appear that seem to be addressed to no one. Partially these are exclamations expressing the child’s attitude to what is happening, partially they are words denoting actions and their results (for example, a child takes a hammer, knocks and comments on his actions as follows: “Knock-knock... scored. Vova scored!”).
A child’s speech that occurs during activity and is addressed to himself is called egocentric speech. Throughout preschool age, egocentric speech changes. It contains statements that not simply state what the child is doing, but precede and guide his practical activities.
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--PAGE_BREAK--Signed function. As has already been shown above, in playing, drawing and other types of productive activities, the child discovers the opportunity to use object-signs as substitutes for missing objects.
The development of speech as a sign form of activity cannot be understood apart from its relationship with the development of other sign forms. In play, the child discovers the symbolic meaning of a substitute object, and in drawing, the symbolic meaning of graphic constructions. Simultaneous naming, with one word-name, of an absent object and its substitute, or an object and a graphic construction, imbues the meaning of the word with a symbolic meaning. Sign meaning is comprehended in objective activity (the child gradually masters the functional purpose of objects), the word, while remaining the same in its name, changes its psychological content. The word acts as a kind of sign used to store and transmit some ideal information about what lies beyond the limits of verbal designation.
At the stage of development of the sign function in preschool age, the child intensively moves into the space of sign substitutions of objective natural and actually human realities. The sign function of speech is the key to entering the world of human socio-psychological space, a means for people to understand each other.
Expressive function. Genetically, the most ancient function, characteristic of all highly organized animals, is the expressive function. The entire emotional sphere works for the expressive function of speech, coloring its communicative and all other aspects. The expressive function accompanies all types of speech, starting from autonomous (speech for oneself).
In preschool age, especially at the age of three or four years, feelings dominate all aspects of a child’s life, giving them a special coloring and expressiveness. A small child does not yet know how to control his experiences; he almost always finds himself captive to the feeling that has captured him, as autonomous - the child’s speech is permeated with his emotions about unsuccessful actions.
When communicating with other people, the child in speech expresses his emotional attitude towards what he is trying to talk about, or towards the participants in communication themselves. The expressive function permeates not only nonverbal forms of communication, but also influences the construction of the child’s speech. This feature of children's speech makes it very expressive.
The emotional spontaneity of a child’s speech is accepted with affection by the adults around the child. For a well-reflexive child, this can become a means of influencing adults. However, the “childishness” deliberately demonstrated by a child is not accepted by most adults, so he has to make an effort on himself - to control himself and be natural, and not demonstrative.
2.2. The phenomenon of egocentric speech
Piaget considered the phenomenon of egocentric children's speech, which he discovered and described in detail, to be one of the proofs of the egocentrism of children's thought. Piaget drew attention to the fact that children 4-6 years old often accompany their actions with statements addressed to no one. He came to the conclusion that all children's conversations can be divided into two large groups - egocentric and socialized speech. Egocentric speech is distinguished by the fact that the child speaks for himself, not addressing his statements to anyone, not expecting an answer and not being interested in whether they are listening to him or not. The child talks to himself as if he is thinking out loud. This verbal accompaniment of children's activity differs significantly from socialized speech, the function of which is completely different: here the child asks, exchanges thoughts, asks questions, tries to influence others, etc.
Piaget believed that the child’s egocentric speech does not significantly change anything in the child’s activities or experiences; it, like an accompaniment, accompanies the main melody without interfering with its structure. It is, as it were, a by-product of children's activity, in which the mirage forms of the child's thinking are reflected. Since the main sphere of life at this age is play, in which the child lives in the world of his dreams and fantasies, this “non-social” work of the child’s imagination is expressed in egocentric speech. And since this speech does not carry any useful function, it is natural that in the process of child development it gradually dies out, giving way to other, socialized forms of thinking and speech.
This explanation of the nature of egocentric speech directly follows from the main provisions of Piaget’s general concept. Egocentric thought represents a kind of middle ground between autistic and social forms of thought. It contains moments of egocentric thought (aimed at satisfying desires, unconscious, spontaneous) and at the same time has features that bring it closer to the socialized thought of adults (takes into account the surrounding reality and adapts to it, although it is expressed in egocentric speech that does not imply a position another). Thus, egocentric thought, according to Piaget, from a genetic point of view forms a transitional stage in the development of thinking from autism to logic.
However, L.S. Vygotsky gives the phenomenon of egocentric children's speech a completely different, largely opposite interpretation. His research led to the conclusion that egocentric speech very early begins to play an extremely important and unique role in a child’s activity. He tried to understand what causes the child’s egocentric speech and what causes it. To achieve this, a number of complicating aspects were introduced into the child’s activities.
In such speech, the child used words to try to comprehend the situation and plan his next actions. Older children (after 7 years) behaved somewhat differently - they peered, thought, and then found a way out.
The egocentric speech of a preschooler has much in common with the inner speech of an adult. Firstly, both are speech for themselves, not performing any social function. Secondly, they are united by a common structure. As Piaget showed, egocentric speech is incomprehensible to others, it is shortened, and tends to skip or short circuit; if it is divorced from the situation in which it arose, it will have no meaning. All this undoubtedly brings the egocentric speech of a child and the inner speech of an adult closer together. The fact that egocentric speech disappears at school age allows us to say that after 7 years it does not die out, but rather transforms it into inner speech, or goes inward.
Thus, the course of development of thinking and speech, from Vygotsky’s point of view, can be presented as follows. The initial function of a child's speech is purely social - the function of communication, communication between people and influence on others. At a certain stage of development, which occurs in preschool age, the functions of speech are differentiated into egocentric, which becomes a means of thinking, and communicative, which communicates with other people. Both of these functions of speech are equally social, but in different directions. Egocentric speech arises on the basis of social speech through the child’s transfer of social forms of behavior into the sphere of personal mental functions. The child begins to talk to himself in the same way as he previously talked to others. Talking to himself, he begins to think out loud where the situation forces him to do so. On the basis of egocentric speech, separated from social speech, the child’s inner speech then arises, which is the basis of his thinking - both autistic and logical.
Thus, according to this hypothesis, the child’s egocentric speech is a transitional stage from external to internal speech. This transition is carried out through the division of speech functions, the isolation of egocentric speech, its gradual reduction and, finally, through its transformation into inner speech.
2.3. Attention in preschool age
When comprehending speech, the child’s attention to the word and its meaning increases. Now the child, without visual support, listens carefully to short poems, fairy tales, songs, if they are accompanied by expressive speech and facial expressions of the adult telling them.
The development of speech entails the appearance of elements of voluntary attention. An adult can guide him. The word acts as a means of organizing attention.
And yet, despite the fact that the child is able to perform interesting activities for 8-10 minutes, he experiences serious difficulties in switching and distributing attention. The child is often so immersed in work that he does not hear the words of the adult. For example, while drawing, he does not notice that he has knocked over a jar of paint and does not respond to an adult’s instruction to pick it up. On the other hand, the child’s attention is very weakly fixed on an object or activity, and is not stable. It seems to glide across the surface without penetrating deeper. Therefore, the child quickly stops what he started. The kid, who was so enthusiastically playing with the doll, sees a car from his peer - and the doll is forgotten. The ability to concentrate attention is also expressed in the fact that the child fixes insignificant, but the most striking signs of objects. And as soon as their novelty disappears, their emotional appeal is lost, and attention to them fades away.
Let us highlight the features of the development of attention in early childhood: the range of objects, their characteristics, as well as actions with them, on which the child focuses, expands;
- the child is focused on following simple instructions from an adult, listening to literary works, and is attentive to words and speech;
- under the influence of speech, the child begins to develop the prerequisites for the development of voluntary attention;
- the baby’s attention is poorly concentrated, unstable, there are difficulties in switching and distribution, and its volume is small.
In preschool age, changes concern all types and properties of attention. Its volume increases: a preschooler can already operate with 2-5 objects. The ability to distribute attention increases due to the automation of many of the child’s actions. Attention becomes more stable. This gives the child the opportunity to perform certain work, even if uninteresting, under the guidance of the teacher. The kid is not distracted if he understands that the task needs to be completed, even if a more attractive prospect has appeared. Maintaining stability of attention and fixing it on an object is determined by the development of curiosity and cognitive processes. So, a child watches fish in an aquarium for a long time to find out where they sleep, or a hamster to see when it will eat its supplies. The stability of attention depends on the nature of the current stimulus. At the age of 4-7 years, long-term distractions are caused by the noise of the game, and the longest ones are caused by the bell. Throughout preschool childhood, the duration of distractions caused by various stimuli decreases, that is, the stability of attention increases. The most dramatic reduction in the duration of distraction is observed in children aged 5.5 to 6.5 years.
The development of a preschooler’s attention is due to the fact that the organization of his life changes, he masters new types of activities (play, work, productive). At 4-5 years old, the child directs his actions under the influence of an adult. The teacher increasingly tells the preschooler: “Be attentive,” “Listen carefully,” “Look carefully.” While fulfilling the demands of an adult, the child must control his attention. The development of voluntary attention is associated with the assimilation of means of controlling it. Initially, these are external means, a pointing gesture, the word of an adult. In older preschool age, the child’s own speech becomes such a means, which acquires a planning function. “I want to see the monkeys first, and then the crocodiles,” says the kid on the way to the zoo. He sets a goal to “look” and then carefully examines the objects of interest. Thus, the development of voluntary attention is closely related not only to the development of speech, but also to an understanding of the meaning of the upcoming activity and awareness of its purpose. The development of this type of attention is also associated with the development of norms and rules of behavior, the formation of volitional action. For example, a child wants to join the play of other children, but is not allowed. He's on canteen duty today. First you need to help an adult set the table. And the baby concentrates on doing this work. Gradually, he becomes attracted to the process of being on duty, he likes how beautifully the instruments are arranged, and volitional efforts to maintain attention are no longer required.
Thus, the development of post-voluntary attention occurs through the formation of voluntary attention; it is also associated with the habit of making volitional efforts to achieve a goal.
Let us indicate the features of the development of attention in preschool age:
- its concentration, volume and stability increase significantly;
- elements of arbitrariness in the control of attention are formed based on the development of speech and cognitive interests;
- attention becomes indirect;
- elements of post-voluntary attention appear.
Attention is the most important quality that characterizes the process of selecting the necessary information and discarding the unnecessary. The fact is that the human brain receives thousands of signals from the outside world every second. If attention (a kind of filter) did not exist, then our brain would not be able to avoid overload.
Attention has certain properties: volume, stability, concentration, selectivity, distribution, switchability and arbitrariness. Violation of each of these properties leads to deviations in the child’s behavior and activities.
A small attention span is the inability to concentrate on several objects at the same time and keep them in mind.
Insufficient concentration and stability of attention - it is difficult for a child to maintain attention for a long time without being distracted or weakening it.
Insufficient selectivity of attention - the child cannot concentrate on exactly that part of the material that is necessary to solve the task.
Poorly developed ability to switch attention - it is difficult for a child to switch from performing one type of activity to another. For example, if you first checked how your child did his math homework, and then, at the same time, decided to take an exam in Russian, then he will not be able to answer you well. The child will make many mistakes, although he knows the right answers. It’s just hard for him to quickly switch from one type of task (mathematics) to another (in the Russian language).
Poorly developed ability to distribute attention - the inability to effectively (without errors) perform several tasks simultaneously.
Insufficient voluntary attention - the child finds it difficult to concentrate attention on demand.
Such deficiencies cannot be eliminated by fragmentary “attention exercises” included in the process of working with a child and, as research shows, require specially organized work to overcome them.

3. Memory and imagination
3 .1. Features of memory development
Preschool age is characterized by intensive development of the ability to remember and reproduce. In fact, if it is difficult or almost impossible for us to remember anything from the events of early childhood, then the age under discussion already leaves many vivid memories. First of all, this applies to older preschool age.
The memory of a preschooler is mainly involuntary. This means that the child most often does not set conscious goals for himself to remember anything. Memorization and recollection occur independently of his will and consciousness. They are carried out in activity and depend on its nature. The child remembers what his attention was drawn to in the activity, what made an impression on him, what was interesting.
The quality of involuntary memorization of objects, pictures, words depends on how actively the child acts in relation to them, to what extent their detailed perception, reflection, and grouping occur in the process of action. Thus, when simply looking at pictures, a child remembers much worse than in cases where he is asked to put these pictures in their places, for example, to put separately images of objects for the garden, kitchen, children's room, yard. Involuntary memorization is an indirect, additional result of the child’s actions of perception and thinking.
For younger preschoolers, involuntary memorization and involuntary reproduction are the only form of memory work. The child cannot yet set himself the goal of remembering or remembering something, and certainly does not use special techniques for this.
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Mental development is most often considered to be personality changes in the mental sphere, its qualitative and quantitative transformations. This process occurs only when the individual is in society, in the process of constant cognitive activity of the individual.

The mental development of a child is facilitated by the implementation of mental education, when an adult specially organizes activities and trains the child being educated in order to transfer to him the necessary and accessible knowledge for a given age stage. The knowledge acquired by the child influences his mental education and helps shape cognitive processes. They, in turn, contribute to the formation of skills in various areas of the child’s activity.

Some parents don’t understand why their neighbor’s child has clear speech and developed judgment, but their own child somehow develops poorly. He babbles something incomprehensible, doesn’t even try to reason. The time is coming to think about school, but the child doesn’t even show interest in books or writing. He doesn't know the numbers either. Parents begin to sound the alarm, worrying about the child’s mental retardation.

And here I ask you to listen. Not all children have the same level of mental development. And the reason for this is not some kind of backwardness in mental processes. It’s just that all children are different by nature, and each type of child has its own characteristics, its own pace of development, in any area of ​​its activity.

The type of temperament and the means by which this process is carried out greatly influences the mental education of a child.

Let's compare the two types of children in mental equivalent.

Phlegmatic children are very slow, they are long-thinking. Concentration is a big problem for them. Although the child may know the answer to the question, the knowledge is quite solid and thorough. Effective means for the mental education of phlegmatic children are children's books. You can take logical pauses while reading so that the child can gradually comprehend what he heard.

At this time, the sanguine person doesn’t even need to ask questions, he will lay out everything as if in spirit. He knows - he doesn’t know if he has any idea about something. He will tell you everything, and even add and embellish. Tools for effectively developing the mental abilities of sanguine people - didactic games. In them, the child will be able to quickly gain visual experience.

About the types of mental development and their features

Mental education depends on the level of its development, which is divided into types. Although many had no idea about this.
One type of mental development is linguistic.

Children with this type of development have a very extensive vocabulary. These kids can express their thoughts quite clearly and eloquently. Reading and writing are learned very early. They love to look at books and hold a pen or pencil correctly.

They come up with different stories. Children with linguistic development love poetry and simply adore riddles. For precisely this there are the best means of mental development. In order to easily remember information, and they manage to do this really easily, these children pronounce all the phrases out loud.

Now I’m writing about this and remembering my granddaughter. Just the other day I was talking to her and was surprised that she repeated almost every phrase after me. Whatever I say, she says it exactly. Apparently, at just over 2 years old, a linguistic type in mental development is already clearly distinguishable.

Next is logical-mathematical development. Already at preschool age, children can develop a rationalistic approach to the phenomena of life. Children of this type love to rearrange objects, sort them, and are observant of the things around them.

These children find it easy to count and do it in their heads with ease. Checkers, chess and other mental and logical games are easily acquired by children with logical and mathematical development. The best friend of such children is the computer. Although one can argue here. Nowadays, literally any child with any type and type of mental development reaches out to computers and other digital technology.

What can you do. A century of technical transformation.

Children with spatial development have other characteristics; they are very observant. If you rearrange something in the room, they will immediately notice it.

Such kids draw very well and orient themselves in space. Therefore, they are close to such activities as design.

Inventing something is a pleasure for them. “Golden Hands” talk about such people. They can make something out of nothing. But, unfortunately, they cannot listen, much less perceive, a large amount of information. The upbringing of such children consists of instilling fine arts skills in preschoolers, and then they will turn out to be real little “artists.”

Children with musical development deserve special mention. It is these children who will own all the stages of the world in the future. Musical instruments surround them from childhood, because they only play with such toys, and their parents willingly buy them for them.

These children are very musical, they listen to music and sing themselves. And not only on special days, standing on a chair in the middle of the room. They cannot concentrate in silence. There must definitely be music playing. At the same time, musical education will take place. These babies need any kind of musical accompaniment, even to fall asleep.

Motor or kinesthetic development is evident in a different type of child. And these are also special children, and they also have their own characteristics. They can express their feelings very well and are able to control themselves through movements. They are predicted to have an acting and theater future, perhaps a sports future.

Without any movement, such children simply cannot sit still. Forcing them to sit quietly is simply useless; they cannot stand it for long, they begin to crawl around in the chair, fidget with their arms, and move their legs. Children of this type of children are characterized by constant physical activity. By running and jumping, preschoolers of this type constantly attract the attention of others. It is simply impossible not to notice such a child.

The interpersonal type of mental development includes children who love and know how to communicate with others. Very sociable, easily communicates with other children. They are chosen as leaders in any team. Sometimes they even ask to resolve some dispute or conflict. These kids very often act as ringleaders and organizers in all types of children's activities. Other preschoolers are always well disposed towards them and are drawn to them.

And the last type of mental development is intrapersonal. These children are “white crows”. This is what we call a person who is on his own. He does what he wants.

He does what he thinks is right. Most often, these are not attractive qualities, and such a child is lonely in a group. However, sometimes they show some peculiarities and outstanding abilities, and then they begin to be envied, or, at best, admired.

Mental development and mental education of older preschoolers

In older preschool age, their own characteristics of mental abilities appear. At this age, there is a rapid growth of all cognitive processes; thinking plays an important role in the child’s mastery of the surrounding space.

A preschooler becomes imbued with curiosity, tries to set cognitive goals and objectives that are accessible to his age, and willingly solves them through various studies and experiments.

An older preschooler learns to think more logically. It can be very funny to listen to a child who comes to his own conclusions and draws interesting logical conclusions.

From cause to effect

It has been noticed that three-year-old children are able to find the cause of the phenomenon. If a toy falls and breaks, the child can already tell why this happened.

But older children can tell about the consequences of the phenomenon. Before entering school, preschoolers are able to draw conclusions in advance, because at this age the characteristics of all types of thinking develop, and logical thinking processes develop most intensively.

In older preschool age, the development of mental abilities occurs at the highest rate. Now we need to talk more with children, give knowledge, develop all aspects of the child’s personality, because at an older age children become less susceptible to personal formation.

Mental education, tasks of its development in older preschoolers

Many people think that by putting a store of knowledge into a small head, the mental education of a child can be considered fully realized. I dare say that these people are wrong.

The tasks of mental education of older preschoolers are well described in the “Education Program in Kindergarten.” There we see the following tasks: the formation of children’s primary ideas about phenomena occurring or around them, the formation and development of basic mental processes, which include thinking, memory, attention and others, the development of the intellectual aspects of a preschooler’s personality, the education in children of the very first techniques in the implementation mental activity.

Let's briefly look at each of the tasks.

Every day for a child—an older preschooler—is an encounter with a new fact of life, a phenomenon. But a child can acquire knowledge only under the direct guidance of an adult. When encountering something unfamiliar, a child has questions, but he will not be able to find answers without an adult.

Of course, in some cases, by observing certain types of phenomena, a child gains cognitive experience, but this is not typical for all children. We have already talked above about the types of children who are not able to concentrate on anything due to their temperament or type of mental development. This is where the role of the educator lies in forming children’s primary ideas about the environment.

By explaining and explaining, and in most cases, demonstrating with visual materials, the adult introduces the child to the world around him.

The acquisition of knowledge about the surrounding reality is carried out through the means of developing mental processes, which is the second task of the mental education of a child of senior preschool age.

It is necessary to pay attention to the development of sensations and perception, memory and thinking, imagination and speech.

Having learned about the environment through mental processes, the child undergoes mental education and intensive growth in the level of intellectual skills.

The preschooler learns to examine objects, identify essential and non-essential features, compare and differentiate. This is also called logical thought processes, which also include analysis and generalization. These skills and abilities contribute to the successful and effective acquisition of knowledge.

The main techniques for the development of mental activity are the organization of the child’s own experience. This is done through the presentation of visual materials. Use opportunities for observation and experimentation. Children are especially interested in experiments with natural phenomena.

When he pours water into a glass and places it in the freezer, the next day the child sees that there is something solid in the glass. And if a glass is placed in warm water, then this solid falls out of the glass in the form of a second glass, then the child will enjoy learning what happens to the liquid when it is placed in a cold environment.

Such experiences are very useful for children.
How does a child's mental development occur?

Play is often called development practice. She also plays an important role in raising older preschoolers. In gaming activity, it is possible to form basic mental processes, on which a lot, if not everything, depends.

When children play, they communicate a lot, and at this time speech activity develops well. By coming up with a game plot, imagination is formed. And this contributes to the further transfer of gaming conclusions into the child’s everyday situations.

In game situations, thinking is formed through generalization of various images and phenomena. Substitute play objects help the child operate in space, and this leads to the development of logic and mental capabilities of the baby.

We see how a child plays, but we do not see how mental development occurs at this time, mental processes develop, and mental inclinations appear.

A child’s learning is most effective only in those activities that are closest to him. And for preschool children, the leading activity is play.

Upbringing – this is a unique process of interaction with a child, as a result of which certain personality qualities are formed in the child. In modern society, we very often talk about the comprehensive development and upbringing of children. What is meant by this concept? comprehensive education of children ? And they put into it different areas of educational work: moral education (education of moral qualities of the individual); labor education (education of hard work); < (education of physical qualities and desire to lead a healthy lifestyle); (cultivating curiosity and cognitive interest); aesthetic education(cultivating a sense of taste, harmony); patriotic education(cultivating a respectful attitude towards the Motherland, home, family).

Modern parents today pay a lot of attention to the mental education of their children. And mental education in preschool age is extremely important, since it is at this age that all the foundations, the foundation of mental activity, are laid. Mental education should not be confused with mental development, although one does not interfere with the other.

Mental development- this is a set of quantitative and qualitative changes that occur in the child’s thought processes in connection with age and under the influence of certain factors (heredity, a specially created environment, specially organized educational and training influences and the child’s own activity). The mental development of a child is judged by the amount and nature of knowledge, by the level of formation of cognitive processes (sensations, perception, attention, memory, thinking, imagination, speech), by the ability for independent creative knowledge of the world.

Mental education- this is the systematic, purposeful influence of adults on the mental development of a child in order to impart the knowledge necessary for all-round development, for adaptation to the surrounding life, the formation on this basis of cognitive processes, and the ability to apply acquired knowledge in activities.

It is in preschool childhood that higher rates of mental development are observed than in subsequent age periods, so it is very important not to miss opportunities for mental development. Particular attention should be paid to the mental education of young children. Children under two years old live a very busy life and carry out a huge amount of cognitive activity. The child’s brain develops rapidly at this time - by the age of 3 it already reaches 80% of the weight of the adult brain. That is why it is simply necessary to “feed” the child’s brain with the information necessary for full development. In infancy, the development of many cognitive functions is very active. For example, great emphasis should be placed not only on sensory development, but also on. Preschool age is simply ideal for the mental education of a child, and shortcomings in the mental development of a child during preschool childhood are very difficult to eliminate at an older age. For example, if you limit a child’s play with building materials and do not give him plasticine, then in the future there will be difficulties with spatial thinking and imagination, which will ultimately affect difficulties in studying geometry, drawing, and even biology and chemistry.

The main feature of the mental development of a preschooler is the predominance of imaginative thinking, i.e. the child learns about the world through specific visual examples, acting with specific objects. You can tell your child a lot, for example, about a butterfly, but he won’t even develop a cognitive interest in it until you show it at least in a picture. And if you show her, and even discover how many types of butterflies there are, and also watch during a walk how she flaps her wings or how she sits on a flower and compare what butterflies, yellow or white, you saw during your walk, then the child’s cognitive interest will increase many thousands of times and will become quite stable.

In mental education, it is important not to teach children, in the sense of giving ready-made knowledge, but to teach children to learn, in the sense of teaching them to find ways to understand the world around them. Thus, the main function of mental education is the formation of the child’s cognitive activity, i.e. an activity during which a child learns to understand the world around him.

For the harmonious mental development of a child in the first years of life, the development of sensations, perception, thinking and speech plays a special role, therefore the main tasks of mental education will be:

· Sensory education (aimed at developing the child’s senses and developing perception);

· Development of mental activity (aimed at mastering mental operations, developing cognitive processes and abilities);

· Formation of speech ;

· Nurturing curiosity and educational interests (aimed at the formation of motives for activity and cognitive motives);

· Formation of a system of elementary knowledge about the surrounding life as a condition for mental growth.

The main indicators of mental development of preschool children are the development of thinking, attention, memory, imagination

. Development of preschooler thinking . At preschool age, children begin to explore the world through thinking - a socially conditioned mental process, which consists of a generalized and indirect reflection of reality. Its development in preschoolers depends on the development of imagination. The child mechanically replaces some objects with others in the game, providing them with new functions that are unusual, but defined by the rules of the game. Later, objects are replaced by their images, and therefore there is no need for practical action with them.

The main directions of the development of thinking in preschool childhood is the improvement of its scientific imagery associated with the representation of situations and their changes based on imagination, voluntary and mediated memory, the beginnings of the active formation of verbal-logical thinking (the use of concepts, logical constructions) through the use of language as a means of formulation and solution intellectual tasks.

If in early childhood thinking is carried out in the process of objective actions, it begins to outstrip practical actions in the preschooler, since he is already learning to transfer the previously learned method of action to another, not identical to the first, situation.

In preschool age, a child solves life problems in three ways: visually-effective (real testing of the properties of objects), visual-figurative (operating with specific images of objects and this situation) and thanks to logical judgments based on concepts. The older she is, the less often she uses practical attempts and more often visual-figurative, and later logical, methods.

The basis for the development of a preschooler’s thinking is the formation of mental actions. The starting point of this formation is real action with material objects. Then the preschooler takes actions with real material objects in the internal plane, with their images. For example, if a child is told that she has 2 apples and is asked how many apples she will have if she is given one more, then she no longer needs to actually stop picking apples and counting them; she can carry out this action in a figurative form. Next, internal actions become collapsed. For example, if a child is told that she has three candies and is asked how many candies she will have if she is given 2 more, she can immediately say that 5, without resorting to sequential execution in her imagination: 3 13+1+ 1 to 5. And finally, the child begins to perform completely internal actions, in which real objects are replaced by ideas and concepts. So, through the internalization of external actions, visual-figurative and logical-conceptual types of thinking arise.

At the highest stages of development of thinking, in particular, in the process of logical-conceptual, mental actions are carried out with the help of internal speech, the use of various sign systems. However, in the process of thinking, a preschooler operates not so much with signs as with images that either reflect specific objects or are more or less generalized and schematized. At the same time, he imagines solving a problem as a series of detailed actions with objects or their substitutes.

According to research results. J. Piaget, the peculiarities of children's thinking are the absence of reflexivity (the ability, having traced any transformation, to carry it out mentally in the opposite direction, restoring its original position) and the influence of a visual situation on the process of solving a problem. The image of perception turned out to be dominant over weaker, unstable ideas.

However, despite the fact that in some cases the figurative thinking of a preschooler is inaccurate and is accompanied by errors, it is a powerful tool for cognition of the surrounding world and ensures the creation of generalized ideas of the child’s mind about things and phenomena. This is fully manifested in the process of preschool education.

Modern research has shown that many features of the thinking of preschoolers, which were previously considered integral signs of age, are caused by the conditions of their life and activity and can be changed by using other content and methods of preschool education. Thus, the concreteness (attachment to a specific case) of children's thinking disappears, giving way to generalized forms of judgments, if the child is introduced not to individual objects and their properties, but to the general connections and patterns of the phenomena of reality. Children five to six years old easily acquire knowledge about some general physical properties, the state of bodies, the dependence of the structure of the body of animals on the conditions of their existence, the relationship between the whole and parts, etc., using this knowledge in their mental activity. Under appropriate learning conditions (stage-by-stage formation of mental actions), preschoolers master the concepts and methods of logical thinking.

The ability to master logical operations and the ability to master concepts in preschool age does not mean that this should be the main task of children’s mental education. It is the development of visual-figurative thinking, for which the preschool age is the most sensitive and which is of great importance for future life, since it is an integral component of any creative activity.

. Development of preschooler attention . At preschool age, the child begins to direct his mental activity to objects and phenomena that are important to him and interest her. This is evidence of a certain level of development of her * attention - direction and concentration of consciousness on a specific object, phenomenon, etc. Attention as a process and stage of a child’s attunement to perceive significant information and perform assigned tasks in preschool age reflects his interest in surrounding objects and the actions that he performs. The baby is focused only until his interest fades. With the appearance, for example, of a new object, attention switches to it. Therefore, children rarely do one thing for a long time.

Throughout preschool age, due to the complication of children's activities and their progress in general development, attention becomes more focused and stable. If younger preschoolers can play one game. ZO-50 0 min, then at 5-6 years its duration increases to 2 hours. This is due to the fact that their game reproduces complex actions and relationships between people, interest in it is maintained by the constant emergence of new situations.

The main change in the process of developing the attention of preschoolers is that for the first time they begin to control it, consciously direct it to objects and phenomena. The origins of voluntary attention (attention that is consciously directed and supported) lie outside the child’s personality. This means that the development of involuntary attention itself (occurs and is maintained independently of conscious intentions) does not cause the emergence of voluntary attention. It is formed due to the inclusion by adults of the preschooler in new types of activities, direction and organization of his attention, as a result of which the child learns the methods using which she has provided and begins to manage his own attention.

The formation of voluntary attention in preschool age is also associated with a general increase in the role of language in regulating the behavior of children. The planning function of the language helps to focus one’s attention in advance on the desired activity and verbally formulate tasks that should be focused on. Although preschoolers begin to develop voluntary attention, involuntary attention predominates throughout preschool childhood.

. Preschooler memory development . During preschool age, the ability to memorize and reproduce intensively develops. If it is difficult or almost impossible for a person to remember anything from early childhood, then preschool childhood, especially in older preschool age, leaves many vivid memories. The memory of a preschooler is, as a rule, involuntary. Memorization and recollection occur independently of will and consciousness and they are realized in activity and are conditioned by it. Arbitrary forms of memorization and reproduction begin to take shape in middle preschool age and are significantly improved in older preschoolers. The most favorable conditions for mastering voluntary memorization and reproduction are formed in the game, when memorization is a condition for the child to fulfill the role he has taken on.

Some preschoolers develop . Eidetic (Greek eisiov - image) memory - a special type of visual memory, which consists in remembering, fixing and preserving in all details the images of objects and situations after their perception; its images, with their brightness and clarity, approach the images of perception. Remembering previously perceived objects, the child seems to see them again and can describe them with all the details. Eidetic memory is an age-related phenomenon. Many children at school age lose their skills.

. Development of a preschooler's imagination . A child of preschool age is already capable of imagining, that is, creating images of objects and phenomena that she has not directly seen. As a mental activity consisting in the creation of ideas, mental situations, which were not actually perceived by a person, imagination is associated with sign function of consciousness - encoding visual information using diagrams, figures and more complex symbols. The development of the sign function of consciousness occurs along the following lines:

a) replacing some objects with others and their images, and then - the use of linguistic, mathematical and other signs, mastering logical forms of thinking;

b) the emergence and expansion of possibilities for additional understanding and substitution of real things, situations, events as imaginary, building new images from ideas

A child's imagination is formed through play. At the first stages, it is inseparable from the perception of objects and the performance of game actions with them. In the play of children of primary preschool age, the identity of the substitute object with the object that it replaces is essential. Older preschoolers can imagine objects that are completely different from the replacement objects. Gradually the need for external supports disappears. Interiorization occurs - a transition in the game to imaginary actions with an object that in reality does not exist, as well as to the game transformation of the object, giving it new content and imaginary actions with it. Having been formed in play, imagination also passes into children's activities (drawing, creating fairy tales, rhymes).

The transformation of reality in the child’s imagination occurs by combining ideas, giving objects new properties. Preschoolers can represent objects by exaggerating or minimizing them. There is an opinion that a child has a richer imagination than an adult, since she fantasizes for a variety of reasons. However, this opinion is controversial. A child can imagine much less than an adult because he has limited life experience, which means he has less material to imagine.

The intellectual development of preschool children is of paramount importance, because it forms the skills for successful mastery of educational activities. In preschool age, knowledge is accumulated at a rapid pace, cognitive processes are improved, and speech is formed. Preschoolers with developed intelligence quickly master and remember new material, are more confident in their own abilities and, as practice shows, have a greater desire to learn.

In the development of the intellectual abilities of preschoolers, a special place is occupied by didactic games, which are a means of learning and help children to acquire and consolidate knowledge, as well as master methods of cognitive activity. Thanks to the didactic game, which effectively increases children's interest in educational activities, preschoolers learn to classify, compare and generalize. The intellectual development of young children should contribute not only to the assimilation and consolidation of knowledge, but also be aimed at activating the mental activity of preschoolers.

The intellectual development of children in preschool educational institutions should include:

• and speech communication;
• development of spatial thinking and (calendar, time);
• development of logical thinking (classification, correlation);
• formation of sensory coordination and hand motor skills (graphic symbols, shading);
• developing the ability to observe, describe and make assumptions;
• acquaintance with the rules of behavior in relation to the natural world and the world of things created by man;
• instilling respect for oneself and others and developing ethnically valuable ways of communication.

Exercises to develop children's intellectual abilities

1. Compiling a story or story from pictures. The child is shown 4 pictures depicting a fairy tale or events known to him. The child’s task is to arrange the pictures in the correct sequence and compose a short story using illustrations.

2. Recognition of objects by a number of characteristics. The child is given epithets by which he needs to guess what object he is talking about. For example, yellow, sour, oval (lemon).

3. Comparison of two or more objects. The child is asked to name how the words are similar to each other. For example, a cat, a book, a roof. You can ask your child to name how a cat and a dog or a table and a chair are similar. Next, you need to find the differences between objects: a pen and a pencil, a tree and a bush.

4. Select a suitable pair for the subject that will be logically connected with it. For example, the hand is a clock, the wheel is ? (the hand is part of the clock, so the correct answer is a car, because the wheel is a part of the car. Squirrel – hollow, bear - ?; hunter – gun, fisherman – ?; forest – trees, field – ?.

5. Analysis of concepts and identification of features of objects. Which item is extra and why? Night light, floor lamp, lamp; cow, horse, lion; potatoes, carrots, cucumber.

6. Choose a word with the opposite meaning. Buy – sell, open - ?; remember - ?; full - ?; hungry - ?

7. Solving logical problems.

Roma is taller than Vanya, but shorter than Yegor. Who is taller Vanya or Egor?

There were 3 plates of strawberries on the table. Kolya ate 1 plate of strawberries. How many bowls of strawberries are left?

8. Ability to find logical errors. The child must explain the errors of the proposed judgments. The zebra is striped and the fox is cunning; the vase is crystal and the pan is heavy; the cucumber is green and the pear grows on the tree; the refrigerator is white and the mattress is soft.

9. The ability to operate with numbers within 10. The child can be offered the following didactic games: “Name the neighbors” - we name the neighboring numbers to the given one. “Correct the mistake” - we correct the teacher’s mistake, who deliberately skips or swaps numbers.

A special feature of organizing the intellectual development of children is the creation of a good mood and positive emotions in pupils from new knowledge, achievements and success.