The age of 5–6 years is called senior preschool. That is, not only preceding, but also conducive to further learning. This is facilitated by all the psycho-emotional and physiological changes that occur with the little person. This is the basic period for establishing basic character traits and behavior. Knowledge of the main age-related features of the development of children 5–6 years old will help parents evaluate and adjust many significant aspects.

What do we approach school with?

The most important change that occurs with a child during this period is the replacement of involuntariness with voluntariness. What does it mean? Now the child can force himself to think purposefully, remember, be diligent, attentive, concentrate on the task of adults, and manage his behavior. Previously, these processes were regulated by the degree of emotional interest. Therefore, now is the most favorable period for the development of cognitive abilities and the formation of motivation to learn.

Most of the age-related characteristics of children of this age are psychological aspects.

• The image of “I” is formed. Now this is not just self-affirmation. The child begins to evaluate himself from the position of his peers (strives to be successful, popular), parents (it is important for them to be smart, correct, good), and - attention! - yourself. That is, he can not only critically evaluate his actions or their results, not only understand how smart or kind he is, but also imagine what he wants to become in the future. At the same time, his parents’ assessment is examined critically and compared with his own assessment of his “I”. Now more than ever, it is important to give your child the feeling of “I can do it.” Through small successes, he will be more willing to strive for big ones. Moreover, competitive success among peers becomes extremely important. The child needs to be taught to win and lose with dignity. Forming such an attitude towards one’s personality is the key to developing motivation to learn. The child will strive for knowledge in order to grow up literate, educated, and successful.
• Communication in a children's group, the attitude of his peers towards the child, and the opportunity to build relationships based on the motive of personal affection are becoming increasingly important. Although friendships are now mostly same-sex, children are already able to characterize their preferences in choosing friends (she is kind, cheerful, not greedy, he does not scream, does not take away toys, agrees with me). Among children, a division begins into more and less popular, friendly, authoritative.
• Imagination, which can rightfully be called the basis of success in any creative activity, develops with particular activity in a child at the age of 5. This is a period of vigorous imagination, when children can compose intricate plots and imagine pictures of the work they are reading. Imagination is especially widespread in play and creative activities. Preschoolers can develop the most incredible game scenarios for themselves, and an idea appears in creativity, and the child works to realize it. In addition, a productive imagination develops when a child, based on what he hears (for example, while reading a book to him), can imagine images of wizards unknown to him , distant worlds or planets, space in general, inhabitants of other galaxies.
• Children begin to understand social relationships and subordination in different areas of adult activity. They transfer these roles into games. Therefore, they often have disputes about who should play a less significant role from this point of view - who should be subordinate.

Choose games for your child that will make him think, reflect, look for a solution, build a logical chain of actions, act consistently, identify a pattern (find a way out of a maze, build a pyramid according to a pattern, assemble a puzzle, a Rubik’s cube, according to a diagram).

Unchildish outlook

The main thing for parents is to develop cognitive interest in a 5-6 year old child and broaden his horizons. The previously accumulated knowledge about the surrounding reality must be constantly replenished, the horizons of known concepts expanded, while pushing the child to reason. An adult’s answer to any question from a child of this age should not only be complete, but also encourage him to think logically. In such a dialogue, it is important to ask him questions with the wording “justify”, “prove”, “explain”, “why do you think, why” (why is it cold now, why can’t you light a fire in the house, why can’t you beat animals, eat poisonous mushrooms, walk on ice in the thaw). All this should be built into a chain of unobtrusive speech and mental exercises that prepare a preschooler to become a schoolchild.

Already now a preschooler can:

• name and distinguish types of transport, their purpose (public, freight, special, agricultural, land, water, air);
• name and distinguish not only primary colors, but also several of their shades;
• combine objects into classes according to certain characteristics, determine what materials they are made of;
• talk about natural phenomena and the actions of people at different times of the year;
• explain why plants, animals, and humans need air, water and sun;
• name your exact address, the city in which you live, your homeland, its capital;
• treat nature with rationality, thrift, and care.

There are still problems with the sense of time (the child may be confused about the time of year or days of the week).

But parental attention and wisdom will help the child expand his horizons even more.

The best source of reliable scientific information for older preschoolers is children's encyclopedias. From them he can extract complete information about animals, plants, human structure, space, countries and much more in an accessible form.

Attention, logic, thinking, counting

The characteristics of the age characteristics of an older preschooler in terms of intellectual development are also quite comprehensive. As already mentioned, the preschool age is the most favorable for the development of all areas of a child’s life, and intelligence in the first place. Thanks to the emergence of arbitrariness, the baby is already able to accept that remembering or doing something is necessary, useful, and not just interesting.

Now he is already able to surprise his parents with his intellectual knowledge and achievements:

• can remember up to 8 pictures in a couple of minutes;
• remembers and recites several poems by heart with expression;
• can find up to 6 differences between pictures;
• retell what you read close to the text;
• complete tasks without switching or being distracted for 10 to 20 minutes;
• find a logical pattern in the chain of events;
• explain the difference between objects and phenomena;
• detect and explain inconsistencies with reality in the pictures;
• find the odd one out of 4-5 items based on some characteristic, explaining this characteristic;
• fold the cut picture or puzzle into at least 9 parts;
• use quantitative and ordinal numbers correctly;
• equalize groups of objects;
• explain the position of an object relative to yourself, other people or other objects (behind you, to the left of the chair).

Always set a good example for your child, because at this age children are still learning from it. A child will be more successful if he is calm, comfortable, and there is no resentment, fear, guilt, or anxiety.

Speech, emotions, creativity

The psychology of a 5-6 year old child is distinguished by a burst of imagination - this can also be called the main age-related feature of children of this age. And the development of fantasy inevitably entails an expansion of the emotional palette and rapid development of speech skills. An older preschooler has access to the full range of human emotions, which he actively demonstrates in play, communication with peers, adults, retelling, and reading poetry. The child’s speech is now rich in intonation, changes in tempo and volume. It is actively supplemented by facial expressions and gestures.

Now the child is developing and developing such qualities as curiosity and love for loved ones, and surprise is very clearly manifested.

Moral, aesthetic qualities, and intellectual feelings are also formed:

• feeling of pride;
• humor;
• shame;
• beautiful, heroic;
• friendship.

Speech becomes even richer. An older preschooler can express his opinion, play a role in a poem or a small scene. Can compose a story based on one plot picture or several consecutive pictures. Can name genres of works read (short story, fairy tale, poem), as well as favorite children's author, favorite work.

By this point, under normal conditions, the child is able to clearly pronounce almost all sounds (sometimes with the exception of [r]). Now he is quite ready to read syllables (or already knows how to do it).

The works of young artists at this stage are often objects depicted schematically. But at the same time, an older preschooler is able to depict a plot composition.

Self-care and assistance for adults

By the time they reach preschool age, most children are almost completely self-sufficient: they can confidently handle all types of fasteners on clothes and shoes, cutlery, and know the rules of hygiene, etiquette, and traffic they need.

They can be entrusted with a fairly large list of household chores:

• to wash the dishes;
• clear the table;
• neatly fold clothes in your closet;
• tidy up the desk, bookshelf (arrange or arrange books by size, thickness, binding strength - a kind of useful logic puzzle);
• To water flowers;
• feed the pets,
• walk the dog (if it is not large);
• sweep the floor (path in the yard);
• wipe the dust;
• wash shoes;
• carry purchases;
• Some children can already make small purchases themselves at a nearby store, use a microwave or stove to heat up food.

A child at this age should have his own “job responsibilities” around the house. Try to make doing daily chores his good habit, and not an “obligation.” Find the right positive incentives for him, present homework in the form of a game, or even better, a competition in which your child will certainly surpass you.

Recognizing SOS signals

Every parent understands that very soon the child will go to school. And since now is the right time to prepare for it, then this preparation begins. Unfortunately, quite often we, adults, so actively begin to prepare a child for school, cramming into him all the required and even “super-required” knowledge (so that he surpasses ourselves, so that we are proud of him), that the child’s psyche cannot cope: the child becomes very nervous, aggressive. We demand, put pressure, oblige, limit the child, “drill” into him, as it seems to us, everything necessary so that he will later “thank us.” But instead we get endless whims, tears, protests, hysterics, stubbornness - everything that has not been noticed in a child before (at least for a long time).

Of course, we are driven by the most noble intentions; we want only the best for our child. But the child stubbornly does not want to study, looks for any excuse to avoid class, may call in sick or present an ultimatum to his parents... Didn’t expect it? For sure. Why is this happening?

There are many reasons for this behavior.

• Too much workload (drawing, foreign language, dancing, gymnastics, modeling and God knows what else) deprives the child of a normal childhood. He is exhausted both mentally and physically. Such a schedule must be trimmed down to a state where the child becomes comfortable. Or perhaps among these activities there are some that the child does not like (or there is no common language with the teacher).
• Trying to catch up. This is the desire of parents to cram into the child everything that he is not capable of, based on the indicative requirements for future first-graders. But they themselves did not give this to him systematically - during the previous 4 - 5 years of his life. Why should the tender child’s psyche now be responsible for the mistakes of adults?
• Lack of attention and communication. Perhaps protests against learning are a child’s attempt to attract the attention of his parents, which he so lacks. Children often act on the principle: “even if they yell or punish, it’s still attention to me.”
• I don’t want to, but I have to! This is a situation in which a child lives his entire life within strict limits (daily routine, rules of decency, responsibility to parents), constantly subordinating his needs to their desires and demands. The little personality will sooner or later face the problem of getting out of the situation. And then the preschooler will either begin to limit himself as much as possible in everything, or will declare war on any rules and canons established by adults.
• Hyperactivity. The phenomenon is not uncommon today. At the same time, the preschooler protests against any activities, because during them he is forced to sit quietly and not be distracted for quite a long time. And with such a peculiarity of the psyche, this is a complete nightmare for him.
• Developmental delay. If a preschooler has neurological or mental disabilities, he may simply lag behind his peers in development. Before “pushing” him to the age of one, you need to undergo an examination to identify possible causes and correct them.

Advice from a psychologist will help you avoid problems with preparing your child for school.

• Choose the optimal time to study. Perhaps it is better for a child to remember in the morning and think, for example, after a walk. Need to experiment a little with this. If the timing is wrong, the little person's brain will not work efficiently.
• Make educational activities a daily ritual, like washing your face or brushing your teeth. After all, this is correct and useful.
• Make it more difficult consistently. Starting with the simplest developmental tasks, gradually complicate them. Otherwise, having not mastered the task once, the child will not want to do even a simple task and will lose faith in himself. And this is a loss of motivation. Without it, no training will be possible.
• Avoid harsh criticism, reprimands, and punishment for failure. This will not only discourage you from studying, but also deprive you of confidence.
• Entrust your child to choose when purchasing a toy, game, or aid among those that he currently needs (by color, shape, or some other characteristic). He should be interested in playing it and studying it. If only because his opinion was taken into account.
• Set an example for your child. Show that you yourself are constantly learning something, developing: reading, solving crossword puzzles, playing checkers, dominoes.
• Totally positive. Any training should be filled with positive emotions. Only then will it bring the child both joy and, importantly, benefit. And he will have more interest in the activities themselves.

Thus, if, on the threshold of first grade, you discourage (or fail to develop) a child’s motivation to learn, miscalculate his capabilities, and overload the preschooler’s nervous system, you can ensure his failure not only in learning, but also in further socialization. Therefore, parents have a lot of work to do. And most importantly - consistent.

One of the characteristic features of senior preschool age, as already noted, is the intensive development of abstract thinking, the ability to generalize, classify, understand the categories of time and space, and search for answers to the questions: “Where did everything come from?”, “Why do people live?”

At this age, the experience of interpersonal relationships is formed, based on the child’s ability to accept and play roles, anticipate and plan the actions of another, understand his feelings and intentions. Relationships with people become more flexible, versatile and at the same time purposeful. The following are formed: a system of values ​​(value orientations), a sense of home, kinship, an understanding of the importance of family for procreation.

Until the age of 5, boys can solemnly declare to their mother their desire to marry her when they grow up, and girls can marry their father. From 5 to 8 years old, they “get married” or “get married” mainly to peers, thus reproducing in a play situation the form of adult relationships.

In general, children of senior preschool age are characterized by sociability and the need for friendship. There is a noticeable predominance in the kindergarten group of communication with peers of the same sex, acceptance among whom is essential for self-affirmation and adequate self-esteem.

6-year-old children have already developed an understanding that in addition to good, kind and sympathetic parents, there are also bad ones. The bad ones are not only those who treat the child unfairly, but also those who quarrel and cannot find agreement among themselves. We find reflection in the typical age-related fears of devils as violators of social rules and established foundations, and at the same time as representatives of the other world.

Obedient children who have experienced the age-specific feeling of guilt when violating rules and regulations in relation to authority figures that are significant to them are more susceptible to the fear of devils.

At the age of 5, transient obsessive repetitions of “indecent” words are characteristic; at the age of 6, children are overcome by anxiety and doubts about their future: “What if I won’t be beautiful?”, “What if no one will marry me?”, in a 7-year-old, there is suspiciousness: “Won’t we be late?”, “Are we going?”, “Will you buy it?”

Age-related manifestations of obsession, anxiety and suspiciousness themselves go away in children if parents are cheerful, calm, self-confident, and also if they take into account the individual and gender characteristics of their child.

Punishment for inappropriate language should be avoided by patiently explaining its inappropriateness and at the same time providing additional opportunities to relieve nervous tension in the game. Establishing friendly relations with children of the opposite sex also helps, and this cannot be done without the help of parents.

Children's anxious expectations are dispelled by calm analysis, authoritative explanation and persuasion. With regard to suspiciousness, the best thing is not to reinforce it, to switch the child’s attention, to run with him, to play, to cause physical fatigue, and to constantly express firm confidence in the certainty of the events taking place.

As already mentioned, the parent of the same sex enjoys exceptional authority among older preschoolers. He is imitated in everything, including habits, behavior and style of relationship with a parent of the opposite sex, who is still loved. In a similar way, a model of family relationships is established.

Note that emotionally warm relationships with both parents are possible only in the absence of conflict between adults, since at this age children, especially girls, are very sensitive to relationships in the family (as well as to the attitude of other people significant to them).

The authority of the parent of the same sex is reduced due to behavior that is emotionally unacceptable for the child and the inability to stabilize the situation in the family. Then, in the imaginary game “Family,” children, especially girls, are less likely to choose the role of a parent of the same sex; there is no desire to do everything like “dad” or “mom.” They try to be only themselves or choose the role of a parent of the other sex, which in both cases is atypical in older preschool age.

If, for various reasons, in childhood there are problems, friction, and conflicts in relationships with a parent of the same sex, then this contributes to the emergence of problems, friction, and conflicts in raising one’s own children. So, if a girl experienced the authoritarian influence of her mother in childhood, then, having become a mother herself, she will be emphatically strict and principled with the child in some way, which will cause him to have a reaction of protest or neurotic disorders.

A boy who was not the Son of the Father in childhood, deprived of his positive influence, may not become the Father of the Son and pass on to him his adequate experience of gender-role behavior and protection from everyday dangers and fears.

In addition, parental divorce in children of older preschool age has a greater adverse effect on boys than on girls. The lack of influence of the father in the family or his absence can most complicate in boys the formation of gender-appropriate communication skills with peers, cause self-doubt, a feeling of powerlessness and doom in the face of, albeit imaginary, danger that fills the consciousness.

So, a 6-year-old boy from a single-parent family (his father left after a divorce) was terrified of the Serpent Gorynych. “He breathes - that’s all,” - this is how he explained his fear. By "everything" he meant death. No one knows when the Serpent Gorynych may arrive, rising from the depths of his subconscious, but it is clear that he can suddenly capture the imagination of a boy defenseless in front of him and paralyze his will to resist.

The presence of a constant imaginary threat indicates a lack of psychological defense, not formed due to the lack of adequate influence from the father.

The boy does not have a defender who could kill the Serpent Gorynych, and from whom he could take an example, like the fabulous Ilya of Muromets.

Or let us cite the case of a 5-year-old boy who was afraid of “everything in the world”, was helpless and at the same time declared: “I am like a man.” He owed his infantility to his anxious and overprotective mother, who wanted to have a girl and did not take into account his desire for independence in the first years of his life. The boy was drawn to his father and strived to be like him in everything. But the father was removed from upbringing by an overbearing mother, who blocked all his attempts to exert any influence on her son.

The inability to identify with the role of a squeezed and unauthoritative father in the presence of a restless and overprotective mother is a family situation that contributes to the destruction of activity and self-confidence in boys.

One day we noticed a confused, shy and timid 7-year-old boy who could not draw a whole family, despite our request. He drew either himself or his father separately, not realizing that both his mother and his older sister should be in the picture. He also could not choose the role of father or mother in the game and become himself in it. The impossibility of identification with the father and his low authority were caused by the fact that the father constantly came home drunk and immediately went to bed. He was one of the men who “lived behind the closet” - inconspicuous, quiet, disconnected from family problems and not involved in raising children.

The boy could not be himself, since his domineering mother, having suffered defeat with his father leaving her influence, tried to take revenge in the fight for her son, who, according to her, was in every way like her despised husband and was just as harmful , lazy, stubborn. It must be said that the son was unwanted, and this constantly affected the mother’s attitude towards him, who was strict towards the emotionally sensitive boy, endlessly reprimanding and punishing him. In addition, she overprotected her son, kept him under constant control and stopped any manifestations of independence.

It is not surprising that he soon became “harmful” in his mother’s mind, because he was trying to somehow express himself, and to her this reminded her of his father’s previous activity. This is precisely what frightened the mother, who does not tolerate any disagreement, seeking to impose her will and subjugate everyone. She, like the Snow Queen, sat on a throne of principles, commanding, pointing, emotionally unavailable and cold, not understanding the spiritual needs of her son and treating him like a servant. The husband started drinking at one time as a sign of protest, defending himself from his wife with “alcoholic non-existence.”

In a conversation with the boy, we discovered not only age-related fears, but also many fears coming from previous age, including punishment from the mother, darkness, loneliness and confined space. The fear of loneliness was most pronounced, and this is understandable. He has no friend or protector in his family; he is an emotional orphan with living parents.

Unjustified severity, cruelty of the father in relations with children, physical punishment, ignoring spiritual needs and self-esteem also lead to fears.

As we have seen, forced or conscious substitution of the male role in the family by a mother who is domineering in nature not only does not contribute to the development of self-confidence in boys, but also leads to the emergence of lack of independence, dependence, and helplessness, which are fertile ground for the proliferation of fears, inhibiting activity and interfering with self-affirmation .

Mental development of a child of the sixth year of life. Part 1.

A child of the sixth year of life continues to improve through play, drawing, communication with adults and peers, but gradually learning becomes the most important activity.

From the age of five, a child must be prepared for future schooling. Of course, learning was woven into all of the child’s activities even at an early age. He learned to sculpt, cut, design, make appliqués, etc. But such training did not yet contain a system characteristic of the acquisition of knowledge. Now the time has come for a gradual transition to such learning, when the child can and wants to do what the adult requires of him.

As the experience of psychological counseling with children of primary school age shows, learning problems are most often associated with their insufficient social maturity and unformed voluntary behavior. At the same time, the child’s intellectual development can even be very high.
Here are the complaints expressed by parents and elementary school teachers:
- The child does not obey the prescribed rules of behavior at school.
- Doesn’t listen to the teacher’s explanations, minds his own business.
- Instead of a notebook, he takes toys out of his backpack and plays during the lesson.
- It is difficult to attract a child's attention if you do not address him specifically.
- The child cannot calm down and start the lesson for a long time.
- During classes, he talks with other children, can get up and walk around the class.
- Without listening to the teacher’s question, he shouts out the answer from his seat.
- You can’t sit me down for homework. He can do homework until late in the evening, constantly being distracted by extraneous matters.
- If something doesn’t work out, he gives up everything and refuses to do his homework at all.

I think that this prospect does not suit you, which means that you will take full responsibility for the development of your child’s social behavioral skills in group learning conditions. The child must understand that desire in itself is not a reason for action and that first you need to think and then do.
But, of course, the principle of gradualism must be strictly followed. Most of the time, the child should be engaged in activities that interest him; he still feels a great need to play. Therefore, learning, while becoming more targeted, should still be generally playful in nature.

The intellectual development of a five- to six-year-old child is determined by a complex of cognitive processes: attention, perception, thinking, memory, imagination. The attention of a child of this age period is characterized by involuntariness; he cannot yet control his attention and often finds himself at the mercy of external impressions. This manifests itself in rapid distractibility, inability to concentrate on one thing, and in frequent changes of activities.

An adult's guidance should be aimed at the gradual formation of voluntary attention, which is closely related to the development of responsibility. This involves carefully completing any task - both interesting and not so interesting.

The most important characteristics of attention are: stability of attention, as the ability to maintain concentration for a longer period of time, switching of attention, as the ability to quickly navigate a situation and move from one activity to another, and distribution of attention - the ability to concentrate simultaneously on two or more different objects.

The role of emotional factors (interest), mental and volitional processes clearly affects the development of attention.

All properties of attention are well developed as a result of exercises.

A child’s perception develops literally from the first months of life. By the age of five or six, a child usually distinguishes well the colors and shapes of objects (he names various geometric shapes).

The child is well oriented in space and correctly uses a variety of symbols of spatial relationships: “You need to go down, turn right, reach the corner, turn left, go to the other side.”

More difficult for a child is the perception of time - orientation in the time of day, in assessing different periods of time (week, month, season, hours, minutes). It is still difficult for a child to imagine the duration of any task.

Based on visual-effective thinking, which develops especially intensively in a child from three to four years of age, visual-figurative and a more complex form of thinking is formed - verbal-logical.

Various games, construction, modeling, drawing, reading develop in the child such mental operations as generalization, comparison, abstraction, and establishment of cause-and-effect relationships. Thanks to this, the child can understand the main idea of ​​a fairy tale, picture, combine several pictures based on a common feature, sort pictures into groups based on an essential feature, etc.

Classes with a child can improve thinking indicators by 3-4 times.

In a child of the sixth year of life, memory is still involuntary, based on emotions and interest. That is, the child easily remembers what interests him. But even in this case, forgetting occurs very quickly. Parents of five-year-old children are often surprised that children forget some information so quickly.

Already at this age, individual differences appear: some children have better developed visual memory, others have better auditory memory, others have better emotional memory, and others have better mechanical memory.

In activities with a child, one should develop all types of memory, but still strive to teach memorization based on mental activity and understanding.

As already mentioned, the leading activity of a preschool child is role-playing play, during which the imagination develops. It is imagination that allows the child to imagine himself as a pilot, sailor, driver, etc. while playing.

Some parents are frightened by the child's excessive (as it seems to them) fantasy, and they ask: “Is this normal?” For a five- to six-year-old child, fantasy is a necessary prerequisite for a creative attitude towards reality. The tireless work of imagination is one of the paths leading to knowledge and mastery of the world.

In the sixth year of a child’s life, the most serious attention should be paid to the development of his speech. Does the child pronounce all sounds correctly? Doesn't it "eat up" the beginnings and endings of words? Can he express his thoughts coherently? etc. If you answered “no” to at least one of these questions, then you need to sound the alarm. A book published by the staff of the Psychological and Pedagogical Center "Health" of the Petrograd district of St. Petersburg (M. N. Ilyina, L. G. Paramonova, N. Ya. Golovneva. Tests for children. Are you ready) will help you understand your child's speech problems in more detail. is your child ready for school? St. Petersburg, "Delta", 1997), in one of the sections of which speech therapist L. G. Paramonova describes special test tasks to assess sound pronunciation, vocabulary, grammatical structure and coherence of speech in a child. In addition to test tasks, correctional exercises are also given for the development and improvement of “sagging links”.

If you yourself are unable to achieve positive results, you should not neglect this problem and you should definitely seek advice from a specialist - a speech therapist.

By the way, in the same book you will also find a section devoted to how to teach a child to count and solve problems (it was written by N. Ya. Golovneva).

According to the general opinion of child psychologists, in the sixth year of a child’s life one should begin to teach reading. Most children of this age themselves show an interest in mastering literacy, especially if you have prepared him for this. You constantly talked and played with your child, answered his questions and stimulated his cognitive interests, read a lot, learned poems and simple songs. Many parents and their children collect cubes with pictures for each letter of the alphabet: M - ant, I - apple, etc. You can also write the corresponding letter above each picture and every day, looking at the pictures, ask the child to name this letter . Children really like these activities.

To read aloud, choose bright, colorful books with interesting stories; "magic books" are very good for this purpose. Let the child choose the book himself. Sit him on your lap or next to you on the sofa, in an armchair, so that he can “read” with you. This is very important from the point of view of developing interest in the reading process, not to mention the fact that it brings you closer to each other emotionally.

There are cases when parents bring their seven- or eight-year-old child to consultations, who is already going to school, but cannot learn to read, or count (solve examples), or writes with a huge number of errors. Parents complain about their child: “He doesn’t want to do anything, we’re exhausted with him. We can’t put him in prison for his lessons, he refuses any classes. He hates school,” etc. This is usually followed by refusal to attend school, uncontrollable behavior, and then the search for a suitable company of “comrades in misfortune”. They have a common problem - a damaged sense of self-esteem.

But all this could have been avoided. If parents had worked with their child, they would have noticed these problems in time and sought help from specialists (psychologists, speech therapists) who would have helped them overcome the difficulties of their future school life in a timely manner. (At five years old, you can already make a relative prediction of the difficulties that the child will face when he starts school.) To avoid difficulties in schooling, work with your child.

In exercises for children of all ages, but especially for children of the sixth year of life, the section contains a large number of tasks and games that develop fine motor skills of the fingers. The development of fine motor skills is the main indicator of readiness to master writing, reading, correct speech and intelligence in general: the hands, head and tongue are connected by one thread, and any violations in this chain lead to a lag.

Therefore, a normally developing child of six years old should be able and love to draw, sculpt, cut with scissors, use a needle, various natural materials, etc.

In addition to the exercises described in the section, excellent means for developing fine motor skills are: a) the art of origami - creating various products from paper. Special publications are dedicated to this technique, which came to us from Japan (books on origami are sold in our stores); b) the art of tying knots from strings (teaching manuals have also been published).

Always encourage your child's activities if they involve finger training.

Tests of mental development of a child of the sixth year of life

1. Test to assess the stability of attention

The figure shows 7 intertwined lines. These are paths along which animals can get to their favorite treat.

The child needs to carefully follow each path with his gaze from its beginning (left) to the end (right). Do not use a pencil or finger. The child first names the drawn animal, then, looking through the entire line, names what he came up with. Discuss the result, the mistake, and the game repeats again.

The child completes this task almost without errors.

2. Test to assess the speed of distribution and switching of attention

The figure shows geometric shapes (circle, square, triangle, cross, star). A sample is given above. The task is to place signs in each figure as quickly as possible within two minutes, in accordance with this pattern. First let the child practice, then at your command he begins. (The child must work sequentially, looking at each icon).

3. Test for assessing the integrity of perception

The picture shows various objects, but in each object something is missing (not completed).
Ask your child to look carefully at each drawing and name the missing part.
A five- to six-year-old child successfully copes with this task.

4. Test to assess the ability to differentiated perception

Show your child a drawing depicting 12 quadrilaterals, among which are 5 completely identical squares and 7 quadrilaterals that are slightly different from the squares: the vertical sides are slightly longer and slightly shorter than the horizontal ones, or any of the corners of the quadrilateral is less than or greater than a right angle.

Invite your child to show all the same shapes (squares).
Mostly, children five to six years old cope with this task (they may make one mistake).

5. Color vision test

Give your child the task: “Paint each fruit in the appropriate color.” Offer your child drawings of various fruits and colored pencils. First, ask your child to name all the fruits drawn. If unsuccessful, tell your child which fruit is drawn. Instead of fruits there may be images of animals, vegetables, flowers and other objects. Children five to six years old perform this task correctly.

6. Visual-figurative thinking test

Assignment: you need to complete the second half of the drawing.

7. Test to assess verbal and logical thinking

The picture shows various objects: 4 on each card. There are 8 cards in total.
Show your child the first (training) card and explain to him that out of the four objects drawn on the card, one is extra. Ask him to identify this extra item and tell him why it is extra. After this, invite the child to think and say what one word can be used to name the remaining three objects.

A five- to six-year-old child finds an extra object in four or five cards, but finds it difficult to name a generalizing word.

Examples of tasks:

8. Test to assess verbal-logical thinking and general awareness

Ask your child to answer the questions:

1. State your name, surname, address.
2. What city do you live in? In which country? Name the capital of our homeland.
3. Which museums have you been to? Tell me what you saw there.
4. Have you been to the circus or the zoo? Explain what a circus or a zoo is.
5. In the morning you wake up. And in the evening?
6. It’s light outside during the day, but at night?
7. The sky is blue, and the grass?
8. Bus, tram, trolleybus, ... - what is this?
9. The cat has babies - kittens. The dog has babies -...?
10. What is the difference between a bicycle and a car?

Typically, children five to six years old give fairly reasonable answers to 7-8 questions.

9. Visual memory test

Show your child 10 pictures one at a time. The display time for each picture is 1-2 seconds. After introducing the child to all ten pictures in turn, ask him to name the objects that he remembers. The order doesn't matter.

Typically, five- to six-year-old children remember 5-6 items out of 10.

10. Auditory memory test

Read the following 10 words to your child: table, notebook, clock, horse, apple, dog, window, sofa, pencil, spoon. Ask him to repeat the words he remembers in any order. Five- to six-year-old children repeat 4-5 words. This is an indicator of good auditory memory.

11. Test for assessing semantic memory

Read the following phrases to your child:

1) It rains in autumn.
2) Children love to play.
3) Apple and pear trees grow in the garden.
4) The boy helps his grandmother.

Ask your child to repeat the phrases that he managed to remember. At the same time, the main thing is to convey the meaning of each phrase; it is not at all necessary to repeat it word for word. If the child was unable to repeat all the phrases the first time, read them again.

Children five to six years old repeat 3-4 phrases the second time.

12. Test to assess the ability to act according to a model

Give your child a blank sheet of paper and pencils of the required colors, and then ask him to look carefully at the sample and try to draw the same house on his sheet of paper as accurately as possible.

When the child reports the end of the work, invite him to check if everything is correct. If he finds inaccuracies in his drawing, he can correct them.

Children five to six years old usually copy the drawing accurately; in some cases, they make mistakes related to maintaining the size of the entire drawing or its individual details.

13. Test to assess the ability to act according to the rule

Ask your child to answer questions, but do not say the words “yes” or “no.”

When you are sure that your child understands the rules of the game, ask him questions:

1. Do you like watching cartoons?
2. Do you like listening to fairy tales?
3. Do you want to play hide and seek?
4. Do you like to get sick?
5. Do you like brushing your teeth?
6. Are you good at drawing?
7. Do you know how to assemble a nesting doll?

Children five to six years old make no more than 1-2 mistakes, which mean the words “yes” and “no”.

14. Test-observation "Culture of communication"

A child of five to six years old must communicate calmly with adults and children of different ages, speak quietly in public places without attracting undue attention, respect the work of adults, willingly carry out requests and instructions from adults, follow the rules of behavior in a group of children (rules of the game) .

15. Test-observation "Assessment of the emotional-volitional sphere"

In the process of working with a child, the peculiarities of his emotional and volitional qualities appear.

Please pay attention to the following questions:

1. What mood is your child usually in? (Cheerful, depressed, anxious, whiny, excitable, etc.)
2. Is he happy when an adult invites him to play? (Does the child have a need to communicate with other people?)
3. How does the child react to praise? (Is he happy, wants to do something better, or is he indifferent?)
4. How does he react to comments? (Does he correct his behavior in accordance with the remark or does it require stronger influence in the form of punishment, does he show aggression?)
5. If a child is faced with a difficult task, with failure in an activity, does he try to independently correct mistakes and achieve results? (Or he prefers to turn to an adult for help, immediately loses interest at the first difficulty, silently refuses further work, behaves aggressively, thoughtlessly and chaotically goes through options for solving the problem.)

What should alarm you about your child’s behavior?

1. Depressive, euphoric mood background.
2. Lack of desire to communicate with adults and children. Constant privacy from other children.
3. Indifference to praise, encouragement, approval.
4. Lack of reaction to a remark in a child over three years old. Frequent cases of self-punishment.
5. Passive withdrawal from completing a task in case of failure, aggressive reactions (destructive actions), disinhibition, manifested in rapid manipulations with objects.

If your child passes all the tests, but you observe similar emotional reactions in him, be sure to contact a child psychologist.

Exercises and educational games for a child of the sixth year of life

1. Exercises to develop attention

Exercise to develop the ability to switch attention

Tell your child different words: table, bed, cup, pencil, notebook, book, sparrow, fork, etc. He must, by agreement, respond to certain words. The child listens carefully and claps his hands when he comes across a word that means, for example, an animal. If the child gets confused, repeat the task again.

In the second series, you can suggest that the child get up every time, as agreed, he hears a word for a plant.

In the third series, you can combine the first and second tasks, that is, the child claps his hands when pronouncing a word denoting an animal, and stands up when pronouncing a word denoting a plant.

These and similar exercises develop attentiveness, speed of distribution and switching of attention, and in addition, expand the child’s horizons and cognitive activity. It is especially interesting to conduct such games with a group of children when competition between children manifests itself.

Exercise to develop concentration

To conduct classes, you need to prepare 2 pairs of pictures containing 10-15 differences; several unfinished drawings or drawings with absurd content; several half-colored pictures.

In the first task, the child is asked to compare the pictures in the given pair and name all their differences.

In the second task, the child is shown sequentially unfinished pictures and asked to name what is not completed or what is mixed up.

In the third task you need to color the second half of the picture in the same way as the first half was colored.

For all three tasks, performance is assessed - the number of correctly named differences,
the number of missing parts and absurdities named, as well as the number of parts correctly colored.

Exercise to develop voluntary attention

The child is given a sheet of paper, colored pencils and asked to draw 10 triangles in a row. When this work is completed, the child is warned about the need to be attentive, since the instruction is pronounced only once: “Be careful, shade the third and seventh triangles with a red pencil.” If a child asks what to do next, answer that let him do as he understands.
If the child has completed the first task, you can continue to complete the tasks, inventing and gradually complicating the conditions.

Exercise to develop attention span

Two drawings are required for this exercise.

In the top picture, the dots are placed in a certain way in 8 squares. The child is asked to look at the first square (the remaining 7 squares are closed) and try to place these dots in the empty square in the same way (prepare in advance and give the child a drawing with empty squares).

The display time of one card is 1-2 seconds; the child is given no more than 15 seconds to reproduce the dots.

The child’s attention span is determined by the number of dots that he was able to correctly reproduce on any of the cards (the one on which the largest number of dots was accurately reproduced is selected).

2. Exercises to develop perception

Exercise to develop the perception of geometric shapes

The child is offered a drawing depicting various geometric shapes. Ask him to name the figures that the child knows, tell him the names of those figures that he does not yet know.

Next time ask him to draw the shapes that you tell him (circle, square, rectangle, quadrangle, triangle, ellipse, trapezoid).

Exercise to develop accuracy of perception: “Complete the figures”

The child is shown drawings in which various geometric shapes are depicted with lines, but they are not completed. Ask your child to finish drawing them. After this, have the child name the shapes.

Exercise to develop color discrimination

Select multi-colored cardboard, cubes, pencils, felt-tip pens, scraps, etc. Ask the child to name the colors, tell him if he can’t cope. Repeat this exercise until the child masters this color scheme.

Exercise to develop the perception of the duration of a time interval

Show your child a stopwatch or a watch with a second hand, let him follow the movement of the arrow in a circle and understand what 1 minute is.

Then ask him to turn away and sit quietly for one minute. When, in his opinion, a minute has passed, he must report this (the child should not see a clock or stopwatch).

Cut the paper with scissors into strips - 3 cm wide (prepare a sheet of paper lined in width in advance);
- draw some shapes (for example, geometric ones);
- move the sticks from one table to another and put them in a box.

Each time, give the command to start the action, and the child himself must stop performing it as soon as, in his opinion, a minute has passed.

Exercise "Clock"

Teach your child to tell time using a clock. The figure shows a clock with two dials (hour and minute). It is better to make such a clock out of cardboard.

The numbers indicating hours should not touch the circle with minute divisions and should be covered by the hour hand. The hour hand needs to be made thick and short, and the minute hand thin and long so that it follows the lines of the minutes. Draw the child's attention to the fact that the arrows are different and that they always spin in the same direction. (The child must be able to understand numbers.)

If a child is familiar with numbers up to 12, then he learns to first determine only “how many hours?” To do this, you always put the large hand at 12, and move the small one to the hour and each time ask the child: “What time is it?”

After the child has mastered this skill, you can move on to determining time in minutes. (But first, make sure your child can recognize the numbers that represent minutes.)

Set the small hand to 9 o'clock and the large hand to 3 minutes and ask the child:
“How many hours and how many minutes does the clock show?”

By teaching your child to tell time using a clock, you simultaneously tell him what a day is (how many hours in a day), what an hour is (how many minutes in an hour), what a minute is, and how you can use this knowledge in your life and games.

Exercise to develop ideas about parts of the day

Prepare drawings dedicated to each time of day - morning, afternoon, evening, night. Then the child is asked questions: “What do you do in the morning? When do you come to kindergarten? What do you do in the morning in kindergarten?” etc.

After this, show your child the pictures and ask what time of day each one is about. The child copes with this task. After this, invite him to arrange these pictures himself in accordance with the sequence of parts of the day. Ask in more detail what the child does during each part of the day.

Exercise to develop ideas about the seasons

Learn a poem or an excerpt from it with your child.

Four artists
So many pictures!
Painted it with white paint
All in a row one.
The forest and field are white,
White meadows. -
Near the snow-covered aspens
Branches like horns...

The second one is blue
Sky and streams.
Splashing in blue puddles
A flock of sparrows.
Transparent in the snow
Ice lace.
The first thawed patches,
First grass.

In the picture of the third
There are so many colors to count:
Yellow, green,
There is a blue one...
Forest and field in greenery,
Blue River,
White, fluffy
There are clouds in the sky.

And the fourth is gold
Painted the gardens
Fruitful fields
Ripe fruits.
Berries beads everywhere
Ripening through the forests...
Who are those artists?
Guess yourself.

(E. Trutneva)

Show your child 4 pictures depicting natural phenomena in the four seasons. For example, signs of autumn: a bunch of rowan; yellow leaf; head of cabbage; the squirrel stores up; children in autumn clothes walk with baskets in the forest; trees with yellow leaves; harvested field, aster.

Ask your child about the seasons: “When does it snow? When the leaves fall from the trees? When do the snowdrops appear? When do the birds build their nests?” etc. After 1-2 days, the child is successively shown 4 pictures depicting the seasons and asked to name what season is depicted and explain why he thinks so.

If the child finds it difficult to determine the seasons, continue this game further, prepare other pictures (humorous ones would be good), try to add variety to the questions.
The same approach can be used in developing a child’s ideas about months.

Exercise to develop spatial concepts

Prepare in advance: 5 toys (for example, a doll, a bunny, a bear, a duck, a fox); pictures depicting 9 objects arranged in columns of 3; checkered sheet of paper, pencil.

Invite your child to complete several tasks:

1. Show right, left arm, leg; right, left ear.

2. Toys are placed on the table in front of the child as follows: in the center - a bear, on the right - a duck, on the left - a hare, in front - a doll, behind - a fox, and are asked to answer questions about the location of the toys: "Where is the bear sitting? Which toy is in front "A bear? Which toy is behind the bear? Which toy is to the left of the bear? Which toy is to the right of the bear?"

3. The child is shown a picture and asked about the arrangement of objects: “What is drawn in the middle, above, below, in the upper right corner, in the lower left corner, in the lower right corner?”

4. The child is asked to draw a circle on a piece of checkered paper in the center, a square on the left, a triangle above the circle, a rectangle below, 2 small circles above the triangle, and a small circle below the rectangle. The child completes the task consistently.

5. Toys are placed on the left and right, in front and behind the child at a distance of 40-50 centimeters from him and asked to tell where which toy is located.

6. The child is asked to stand in the center of the room and tell what is to the left, right, in front, behind him.

Observe the child while performing tasks, determine how the characteristics of the perception of space depend on the reference point, the distance of objects, etc.

Invite your child to solve the problem. Mom, dad and Masha were sitting on the bench. In what order did they sit, if it is known that mom sat to the right of Masha, and dad sat to the right of mom.

Observation exercise

Offer your child a game: “Look carefully around the room and find objects that have a circle or a circle.” The child names objects: a clock, the base of a pencil, a switch, a vase, a table and much more.

Play this game in a competitive manner: “Who can name the most of these objects?”

Show your child pictures with different objects drawn on them, and ask him to name all these objects that are, as it were, “hidden”.

3. Exercises to develop thinking

Exercise: "Relationship of Concepts"

Make pictures that show four stages of branch development - from bare in winter to showered with berries (fruits) in autumn.

Place these pictures in random order in front of your child and ask him to determine the order in which the pictures are placed according to their meaning.

If this task is difficult for the child, start with an easier one: five circles, increasing in size in each picture.

Or another option: five squares, which should be placed in reverse order - from largest to smallest.

By analogy, come up with more exercises that develop the child’s ability to relate concepts and form analogies.

An exercise to develop the thought processes of generalization, abstraction, and highlighting essential features “Find the extra picture”

Select a series of pictures, among which every three pictures can be combined into a group based on a common characteristic, and the fourth is redundant.

Lay out the first four pictures in front of the child and offer to remove the extra one. Ask: “Why do you think that? How are the pictures you left similar?”

Note whether the child identifies essential features and groups objects correctly). If you see that this operation is difficult for the child, then continue to patiently work with him, selecting other series of similar pictures. In addition to pictures, you can also use objects. The main thing is to interest the child in the playful form of the task.

Exercise to develop mental flexibility and vocabulary

Invite your child to name as many words as possible that denote a concept.

1) Name the words for trees (birch, pine, spruce, cedar, rowan...).
2) Name words related to sports (football, hockey...).
3) Name the words denoting animals.
4) Name the words for domestic animals.
5) Name the words denoting ground transport.
6) Name the words denoting air transport.
7) Name the words denoting water transport.
8) Name the words for vegetables.
9) Name the words for fruits.

4. Games that develop thinking and intelligence

Game "How can I use it"

Offer your child a game: find as many options as possible for using an object.
For example, you name the word “pencil”, and the child comes up with ways to use this object. Names the following options: draw, write, use as a stick, a pointer, a beam in construction, a thermometer for a doll, a rolling pin for rolling out dough, a fishing rod etc.

Game "Speak backwards"

A) Learn a poem with your child:

I'll say the word "high",
And you will answer - ( "low"),
I'll say the word "far",
And you will answer - ( "close"),
I'll tell you a word "coward",
You will answer - ( "brave"),
Now "Start" I will say,
Well, answer - ( "end").

B) Offer the child a game: “I will say a word, you can say it too, but only in reverse, for example: big - small.” The following pairs of words can be used:

cheerful - sad
fast - slow
beautiful - ugly
empty - full
thin - fat
smart - stupid
hardworking - lazy
heavy - light
cowardly - brave
White black
hard - soft
rough - smooth
etc.

This game helps expand the child's horizons and intelligence.

Game "It happens - it doesn't happen"

Name some situation and throw the ball to the child. The child must catch the ball if the named situation occurs, and if not, then there is no need to catch the ball.

For example, you say: “The cat is cooking porridge,” and throw the child a ball. He doesn't catch it. Then the child himself comes up with something and throws the ball to you. And so on.

Different situations can be proposed:

Dad went to work.
The train flies across the sky.
The cat wants to eat.
A man builds a nest.
The postman brought a letter.
The bunny went to school.
Salted apple.
The hippopotamus climbed a tree.
Rubber cap.
The house went for a walk.
Glass shoes.
Cones grew on the birch tree.
A wolf wanders through the forest.
A wolf sits on a tree.
A cup is boiling in a saucepan.
The cat is walking on the roof.
The dog is walking on the roof.
The boat floats across the sky.
The girl draws a house.
The house draws a girl.
The sun shines at night.
There is snow in the winter.
Thunder rumbles in winter.
The fish sings songs.
A cow chews grass.
The boy wags his tail.
The tail runs after the dog.
The cat runs after the mouse.
The rooster plays the violin.
The wind shakes the trees.
The trees dance in a circle.
Writers write books.
A builder is building a house.
The driver drives the trolleybus.

Guess game

Tell your child riddles.

Sleeps during the day
flies at night,
scares passersby.
Answer: owl, owl

Take a special eye
He will quickly look at you,
And will be born
The most accurate portrait of you.
Answer: camera

The tail wags,
Too toothy, but not barking.
Answer: pike

In our kitchen all year long
Santa Claus lives in the closet.
Answer: fridge

There is a bathhouse in the belly,
There's a sieve in the nose,
There is a button on the head,
One hand
Yes, and the one on the back.
Answer: kettle

One is drinking
The other one is pouring
The third one is growing.
Answer: rain, earth, plant.

Game "Find a pair"

The picture shows socks.
The child is given the task: “Find a pair for each sock.”

5. Exercises to develop memory

Exercise to develop visual memory

Place sticks on the table in front of the child, from which you can make a simple shape (house, square, triangle, etc.). Ask your child to look carefully at this figure for two seconds, then close this figure and ask him to repeat it, fold it the same way.

You can complicate this exercise by folding this figure out of sticks of different colors. The child must remember the location of the sticks by color and then put the shape together independently.

This exercise trains not only visual memory, but also the ability to count.

Memory game: “I put it in a bag”

This game can be played with children, for example, during long trips.

An adult starts this game and says: “I put apples in the bag.” The next player repeats what was said and adds something else: “I put apples and bananas in the bag.” The third player repeats the entire phrase and adds something of his own. And so on. You can simply add one word at a time, or you can select words united by a common characteristic (fruits, vegetables, etc.): “Pears and plums grow in my grandmother’s garden...” (The order is the same.)

In these games, it doesn't matter who is the winner and who is the loser. It is important that the child develops the ability to remember while enjoying it.

Game "I am a camera"

Invite your child to imagine himself as a camera that can photograph any object, situation, person, etc.

For example, a child carefully examines all the objects on the desk for a few seconds. Then he closes his eyes and lists everything he managed to remember.
This way you can develop not only memory in children, but also attention.

Remember: what is interesting to a child is always better remembered. Therefore, try to come up with different games. For example, play detective or scout with your child.

Techniques to help you remember

1. If your child finds it difficult to repeat the words you told him, give him paper and colored pencils. Offer to make a drawing for each word that would help him remember these words later.
You can ask the child to do the same when reading phrases. The child chooses what and how he will draw. The main thing is that this will help him later remember what he read.

This technique can significantly increase memorization productivity.

For example, say seven phrases.

1. The boy is cold.
2. The girl is crying.
3. Dad is angry.
4. Grandma is resting.
5. Mom reads.
6. Children are walking.
7. It's time to sleep.

For each phrase, the child makes a drawing. If he asks: “What should I draw?”, explain that he can choose what exactly to depict. The main thing is that it helps you remember all seven phrases.

After a drawing has been made for each phrase, ask the child to accurately reproduce all seven phrases and repeat them word for word. If difficulties arise, please help with a hint.

The next day, ask your child to repeat the phrases again using his drawings. Note how many phrases the child repeats every other day, and whether the drawings help him. If you remember 6-7 phrases, this is a very good result.

2. Read a short story to your child, then ask him to briefly retell the content of what he read. If the child was unable to do this, read the story again, but ask him to pay attention to certain specific details. Ask him the question: “What is this story about?” Try to connect what you read with something that is familiar to the child, or with some similar story, compare these stories (what are the similarities and differences). When answering your questions, the child thinks, generalizes, compares, expresses his thoughts in speech, and is active. Such a conversation significantly activates the child’s memory and thinking. Ask your child to retell the story again and you will see how accurate and meaningful it has become.

3. Various techniques are known to facilitate memorization. For example, the colors of the light spectrum - red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet - are easily remembered using the phrase: “Every hunter wants to know where the pheasants go” (the first letters of the words resemble the names of colors spectrum).

When memorizing, for example, a telephone number, you can come up with some analogies for each number that are close to the child.

4. Out of 10 words, a child can remember 5-6. Try to apply the so-called semantic system, and the results will improve.

10 words are called: night, forest, house, window, cat, table, pie, ringing, needle, fire

Now try to organize this series of words into one semantic system that is easier to remember:
At night in the forest, a cat climbed into the house through the window, jumped onto the table, ate the pie, but broke the plate, a ringing sound was heard - he felt that a splinter had dug into his paw like a needle, and he felt a burn in his paw, as if from fire.

In the natural desire to develop a child's memory, keep in mind: regardless of whether his memory is good or bad, overloading it is harmful. This especially applies to memorizing incomprehensible things that will never have to be used in practice and, therefore, they will be quickly forgotten by the child - this is empty knowledge that only causes anxiety and tension in the child.

6. Exercises to develop imagination

Game "Pantomime"

This game is designed to develop imagination and creativity.
Ask your child to use gestures, facial expressions, and sounds to represent an object ( train, car, kettle, plane) or some action ( washing, combing, drawing, swimming).
Play a guessing game: the child guesses what you are depicting, and then vice versa - you must guess what the child is depicting.

Exercise to develop visual imagination

The child is offered a drawing with various unfinished images that he must complete. Stimulate your child's imagination.

Exercise "Points"

Show your child with an example how you can make a drawing by connecting the dots.
Invite him to draw something himself, connecting the dots. You can use any number of points.

Exercise "Combination"

Together with your child, imagine and draw as many objects as possible using geometric shapes: circle, semicircle, triangle, rectangle, square. Each shape can be used multiple times, and some shapes can not be used at all. The sizes of the figures can be changed.

Exercise to develop verbal (verbal) imagination

Offer your child a game: “Try to imagine what would happen if... For example, imagine that cats learned to speak! Or they opened a kindergarten for dogs,” etc.
The more developed a child’s imagination is, the more interesting and original options he offers.

7. Exercises to develop the voluntary sphere

- "Color the shapes"

The child is shown a drawing with drawn geometric shapes and asked to color each of them with a colored pencil. Warn your child that he must do this very carefully, time does not matter.

As soon as the child becomes careless, the work stops.
A six-year-old child paints 10-15 figures. This is a good indicator of voluntary regulation of activity, patience when performing uninteresting and monotonous work.

- "Copying a sample"

Ask your child to copy the sample shown in the picture as accurately as possible.

Analyzing the result, see how well the number and location of points correspond to the sample. A slight (but no more than 2 times) increase or decrease in the overall size of the picture is possible. Most six-year-old children cope with this task with a slight deviation of the dots from the row or column.

- "Find the same object"

You need to find the silhouette that matches the drawn car.

The time the child thinks about the task and the number of errors are recorded.

If the response speed is 10 seconds or less, then this is high impulsiveness. If the answer is correct, then this indicates the child’s speed and flexibility of thinking.

A high rate of responses when they are inaccurate indicates the child’s general tendency to act rashly, obeying an emotional impulse.

Consultation for parents "Age characteristics of children of senior preschool age"

Age 5-6 years no- This is the senior preschool age. It is a very important age in the development of the child’s cognitive sphere, intellectual and personal. It can be called the basic age, when many personal qualities are formed in the child, the image of “I” and gender identification are formed. At this age, children have an idea of ​​their gender identity based on significant characteristics. An important indicator of this age of 5-6 years is the child’s evaluative attitude towards himself and others. Children can be critical of some of their shortcomings, can give personal characteristics to their peers, and notice the relationship between adults or an adult and a child. 90% of all child’s personality traits are formed at the age of 5-6 years. A very important age when we can understand what a person will be like in the future.
The leading need for this age ste– the need for communication and creative activity. Children's communication is expressed in free dialogue with peers and adults, expressing their feelings and intentions through speech and non-verbal means (gestures, facial expressions). Creative activity manifests itself in all types of activities; it is necessary to create conditions for the development of creative potential in children. The leading activity is play; in play activities, children can already assign roles and build their behavior, adhering to the role. Game interaction is accompanied by speech. From the age of 5, a child begins to adequately evaluate the results of his participation in competitive games. Satisfaction with the result begins to bring joy to the child, promotes emotional well-being and maintains a positive attitude towards oneself. The leading function is imagination; children’s imagination rapidly develops. Imagination is the most important mental function, which underlies the success of all types of human creative activity. Children need to be taught the ability to plan upcoming activities, use imagination to develop an internal plan of action, and exercise external control through speech.
At 5-6 years old, a child absorbs all cognitive information like a sponge. It has been scientifically proven that a child at this age remembers as much material as he will never remember later in his life. In cognitive activity, the perception of color, shape and size continues to improve. Children name not only primary colors, but also their shades, and know their shapes. At this age, the child is interested in everything related to the world around him and expanding his horizons. The best way to get scientific information is to read a children's encyclopedia, which clearly, scientifically, in accessible language describes to the child any information about the world around him. The child will gain an understanding of space, the ancient world, the human body, animals and plants, countries, inventions and much more.
This is the period of highest opportunities for the development of all cognitive processes: attention, perception, thinking, memory, imagination. For the development of all these processes, the game material becomes more complex, it becomes logical, intellectual, when the child has to think and reason. The designer develops logical thinking well. The important point here is folding according to a pattern - a pattern, starting with simple patterns. Cubes, various puzzles, mosaics must be laid out according to the picture, focusing on color, shape, size. In logic games, the child must see the sequence, trace the logical pattern and justify it.
Logic games also reveal the personal aspect of the preschooler. Having correctly solved the exercise, the child rejoices, feels self-confidence and the desire to win. There are children who give up, do not believe in themselves, and the task of parents is to develop in the child the desire to win. It is important that the child must know that “I can.” It is necessary to instill an interest in thinking and reasoning, finding solutions, and teach them to experience pleasure from the efforts made and the results obtained. It is important that children succeed.
The main thing in the development of children 5-6 years old is their cognitive development and broadening their horizons. And all games aimed at this will give good results. Do not answer in monosyllables - “yes” or “no”. Answer your child in detail, ask his opinion, make him think and reason. Why is it winter now? Prove it. Why can't you light a fire in the forest? Justify. Children have a lot of unconscious information in their heads; the task of adults is to help them with this.
ATTENTION:
- complete the task without distraction for 10-12 minutes, there is a transition from involuntary to voluntary attention;
- finding 5-6 differences between objects, completing tasks according to the proposed model, finding pairs of identical objects - this is concentration of attention;
MEMORY:
- memorize 6-8 pictures within 1-2 minutes;
- recite several poems by heart;
- retell the read work close to the text;
THINKING:
- determine the sequence of events;
- fold the cut picture into 9 parts;
- find and explain inconsistencies in drawings;
- find and explain differences between objects and phenomena;
- find an extra one among the 4 proposed items, explain your choice.
MATHEMATICS
Counting within 10, familiarization with numbers.
Correctly uses cardinal and ordinal numbers (within 10), answers the questions: “How much?” “Which one?”
Equalizes unequal groups of objects in two ways.
Compares objects (by length, width, height, thickness); verifies accuracy by specific application or application.
Expresses the location of an object in relation to itself and other objects.
Knows some characteristic features of familiar geometric shapes.
Calls morning, day, evening, night; has an idea of ​​the changing parts of the day.
Names the current day of the week.
SPEECH DEVELOPMENT
Has a fairly rich vocabulary.
Can participate in conversation and express his opinion.
Makes up a story based on a plot picture, a set of pictures; consistently, without significant omissions, retells short literary works.
Determines the place of a sound in a word. Learning to read must begin with the formation of a phonemic analysis of the word.
COGNITION
Distinguishes and names types of transport, objects that facilitate human work in everyday life.
Classifies objects, determines the materials from which they are made.
Knows the name of his hometown, country, its capital, home address.
Knows about human interaction with nature at different times of the year.
Knows about the importance of the sun, air, water for humans, animals, plants.
Treats nature with care.
READING FICTION
Knows poems, counting rhymes, riddles.
Names the genre of the work.
Dramatizes short fairy tales, reads poems based on roles.
Names a favorite children's author, favorite fairy tales and stories.
In visual activities, a 5-6 year old child can freely depict objects of round, oval, rectangular shape; usually the drawings are schematic images of various objects; children love to draw and sculpt. Children successfully cope with cutting out rectangular and round objects; the ability to cut along a contour is one of the indicators of readiness for school.
In the development of the emotional sphere, it is necessary to form a positive emotional attitude towards oneself and one’s name, towards members of one’s family, towards friends, teach children to empathize, help whenever possible, and take care of the younger ones. The child can voluntarily control his behavior, as well as the processes of attention and memory, and emotional reactions.
Parents MUST be an example for their children. If the parents convey positive information, if the child is good at heart, there is no fear, resentment, or anxiety, then any information (personal and intellectual) can be instilled in the child.

At the age of 5, a child experiences a crisis, the difficulties of which both the child and his parents have to face. During this period, children are often capricious, throw tantrums over trifles, and some generally withdraw into themselves. In order for a difficult time to pass easily and painlessly, you need to show great patience with your child.

Constant hysterics and whims indicate a crisis in the child.

Why does a crisis occur at 5 years?

With normal development, by the age of five, the baby is no longer poorly spoken and is able to talk about his needs. The child really wants to appear big, to be like adults. You can often see him spying on or eavesdropping on their conversations; he is also interested in being among his peers.

The brain is already sufficiently developed, and the baby is able to manage his emotions. He understands that boys and girls are different. At this age, it is common for a child to show imagination and have his own opinion about the world around him. This period is characterized by the most vivid manifestation of character traits.

Children are interested in everything that happens around them, they can even tell fictional stories. At the age of 5, communication with other children is important for a child, but he does not always achieve this, which is why he may find himself alone. Sometimes he just doesn't have the opportunity to talk to someone about it.

All this can cause a crisis in which the child becomes too capricious and hysterical. In order for the child not to withdraw into himself and easily survive the crisis, he must be in comfortable conditions and always feel the support of adults.

The child is withdrawn, does not want or cannot talk to anyone - another circumstance indicating a crisis

Be patient, because everything is in your power. You should not immediately seek help from a psychologist or other specialist. Otherwise, the child may become even more frightened because of strangers.

How long can the crisis last?

It is impossible to predict exactly when a difficult period will occur. It can last from several weeks to several months, it all depends on the individual characteristics of each child. However, there is no need to give up, give the baby time, provide him with support, surround him with care and love. In difficult moments, your child especially needs your attention and affection.

Signs of the beginning of a crisis

The five-year crisis has distinctive features by which it can be distinguished from other crises in a child’s life:

• if your baby suddenly becomes less talkative, withdrawn, and stops sharing joy with you for his successes and achievements, although he used to do this;
• if the child behaves insecurely, looks scared, is afraid of everything new and unknown;
• the baby gets irritated and angry over trifles, talks rudely to adults or to his peers (for example, he may get angry if you didn’t give him his favorite toy);
• the child began to throw tantrums over trifles, cry for a long time and be capricious (for example, he may be annoyed by the fact that he is forced to sleep during the daytime);
• too often the child copies the manners of adults and makes faces (depicts mom in the process of cooking or cleaning, or how dad repairs something);
• the baby defends his independence, wants to be on an equal footing with adults, demands more freedom (expresses a desire for his parents not to walk with him on the street).

During this period, the child tries to be independent everywhere and everywhere.

A crisis cannot be avoided anyway, so try to make this process easier for your baby. Pay him more attention, take part in joint games, give him your love and affection. Don’t take his whims and tantrums too seriously, because you have more experience and are responsible for your baby.

During this difficult period for the baby, Dr. Komarovsky encourages parents to act gently, but at the same time persistently. The biggest mistake adults make is to threaten and punish a child when he is naughty. This is not a way out of this situation. Komarovsky recommends adhering to the following tips:

• find out the reason for this behavior, perhaps the child simply does not have enough of your attention;
• create a comfortable and calm environment;
• try to figure out the problem the child is facing and offer to solve it together;
• never show your anger and irritation;
• do not scold or shout at the baby during whims and hysterics, wait until he calms down and talk to him calmly.

Attention and care will help establish a warm relationship with your child.

What should parents do?

Parents often do not know what to do in such a situation. You just need to follow some rules and you will achieve a positive result. First, you need to find out the cause of the crisis:

• the child wants to seem like an adult, but it doesn’t work out;
• at the age of five, children are trying to learn to control their emotions;
• kids begin to understand the difference between the opposite sex;
• Children fantasize and have a different opinion about life.

Parents must adhere to the following rules:

1. Pay more attention to your child: communicate, ask with interest about his affairs, and do not forget to talk about yourself.
2. Be sure to explain to your child so that he understands why you are doing something (for example, you need to go to bed during the day, as this is good for health).
3. If a child shows aggression and fights, have a conversation with him about how it is unacceptable to do this (we recommend reading:).

Listen to the child, to his opinion, accept the baby’s help, then your child will feel needed

It is important for your child to know that you have serious intentions and you are talking to him as an equal. Spend a lot of time with him, take part in joint games, imagine yourself as a small child too. Try to give him a little more freedom without showing your concern for him. Accustom your child to perform adult responsibilities, gradually transferring some of them to him.

If the child does not need your help, it is better not to meddle in his affairs. Do not forbid him to do difficult things, let him understand that he was wrong and in vain did not listen to the advice of adults. Give your child support and don't forget to praise him. Close your eyes to the child’s whims, antics and imitation of adults. If you don't focus on this behavior, it won't become normal.

According to psychologists, the most important thing during a crisis in children aged five is to surround the child with love and care. Set a good example for your child.

How to behave with a child at 6 years old?

If your child has not yet started school by the age of 6, you need to mentally prepare him for it. Your task is to tell him how to behave correctly at school, what daily routine awaits him. If you have the opportunity, you can introduce your child to his future teacher. Show him which route is best to get to school.

Show interest in the child’s life, his clubs, school and everything that the child likes

If your child is already attending school, do not forget to praise him for good grades and new achievements. Let him see that you are proud of him and do not doubt his abilities. Ask him with interest how the next day at school went, what new things did he learn in class? Let's give an adequate assessment of his actions. If it seems to you that the baby couldn’t cope with something, gently tell him about it. In the future, the child will try to avoid such mistakes.

Discuss with your child the possibility of visiting a club that interests him or any sports section. At this time, the baby strives for new knowledge, he pays special attention to the educational process. It is important for him to know that he is doing important things and to feel that those around him need him. Children who are active, excel in sports, or have other talents earn respect in the eyes of their peers. During a crisis, it is very important for a child to communicate and maintain friendships with peers.

Parents are obliged to provide their child with support and assistance in self-affirmation as an individual. Consider his opinion and choice. Give him a little more freedom. If parents behave correctly, then the difficult period for the child will pass easily and quickly.

Actions that parents should not do

Do not take it out on your child under any circumstances, this can only worsen the problem (we recommend reading:)

During a difficult period for the baby, parents are strictly prohibited from performing the following actions:

1. Don't take your anger out on your child and don't be rude. It is necessary to have a conversation with him in a calm atmosphere about why he did not do the right thing.
2. If a child behaves rudely, you need to explain to him that such behavior is unacceptable. You can even not talk to him on principle, so that he feels how much he offends you with such behavior.
3. If a child repeats a swear word after someone, you should not scold him. Try to explain to him how bad it is to use this word, or simply ignore it, and the child will no longer remember it.
4. We must act immediately. If you see that the baby needs your help, immediately provide it, and your business will not go anywhere.

The child should feel that he occupies the main place in the life of his parents, that you will always have time for him. Let your baby know how much you need him, and you will never leave him in a difficult situation.

Clinical and perinatal psychologist, graduated from the Moscow Institute of Perinatal Psychology and Reproductive Psychology and Volgograd State Medical University with a degree in clinical psychology