08.04.2022

Child psychology of preschool age for educators. Psychology of preschool age


Psychological features children preschool age depend on the emergence of needs, among which are: communication, emotions, impressions, physical activity. Due to the establishment of communications, physical activity, the child gradually masters new skills and abilities. As a result, the process of socialization takes place not in a passive way, but through initiative cognition.

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

Getting new emotions, impressions stimulates the development of mental activity. Acquaintance with the outside world not only contributes to obtaining positive emotions, but arouses interest.

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

Features of the psychological development of the child

As a rule, children aged 4-7 years are classified as preschoolers. Up to this point, the child will have to face the crisis of the age of three. This is a difficult time for the baby and his parents, because the baby behaves badly, is naughty, and shows stubbornness. The period is characterized by the separation of the child as an independent personality, in which character, opinion, views are formed. In order for the crisis to pass as successfully and calmly as possible, adults should show respect, restraint, without belittling their beloved baby. He must feel that he is being listened to, understood.

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

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

Role playing and neoplasms

The psychology of a preschooler is at an early stage. He begins to show interest in the world around him, asks a lot of questions. Development affects memory, mind, neuro-psychic side, hidden talents. If parents were able to recognize the features mental development crumbs, then they will be able to establish harmony in the family, raise the baby correctly.

Kid in game form learns social norms of behavior, establishes contact with others. He wants to distance himself from adults, creates a situation in his head in which he acts as the master of what is happening. However, in real life he is unable to take full part in adulthood, which is explained by insufficient mental, mental, physical development. To feel its importance, the child resorts to role play, in which he builds a certain plot, conditions:

  • repeats after adults;
  • imagines a situation in which toys act as real things;
  • reality is symbolic;
  • The game involves the observance of established rules, prohibitions.

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

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

  • the ability to imaginative problem solving;
  • intentional application of mental processes, the ability to manage, control the reaction to the environment, the ability to evaluate, predict it;
  • the formation of self-esteem;
  • active formation of the speech apparatus;
  • conscious perception of established behavioral and social norms;
  • preparedness for the educational process at school at the psychological level.

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

Problems arising from the mental development of a preschooler

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

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

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

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

Preschoolers

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

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

Fine and gross motor skills are actively developing. Running, warming up hands and fingers, jumping, coordination exercises will benefit.

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

older preschoolers

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

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

Creativity is starting to emerge. He understands what kind of music he likes and dislikes, begins to dance, sing, play any instrument, go in for sports. Memory is no longer involuntary, actions manifest their own desire.

The thinking of an older preschooler has the following features:

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

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

Children of older preschool age begin to feel guilty towards others and responsible for their actions, show interest, initiative. Sometimes six-year-olds consciously express their desire to go to school in order to learn.

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

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

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

The formation of the personality of a preschooler

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

The emotional side of personality

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

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

The motivational side of personality

At preschool age, one of the main levers of personality is formed - the subordination of motives. There are changes in the motivational sphere, which are gradually developing in the future.

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

Self-awareness of a preschooler

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

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

The preschooler begins to realize himself in different times. Remember moments from the past and dream about something in the future.

Equally important is self-esteem. Self-knowledge is based on the relationship of parents to the baby. The main thing is that mom and dad should show support in any endeavors, be true friends to the children. It is worth talking more often with children on a friendly note, asking for their opinion, asking for advice. The kid will learn to express his opinion openly and will not be afraid of it.

In developmental psychology, preschool childhood is considered one of the most difficult and important stages in the mental development of a child. Each parent needs to know the psychological characteristics of preschoolers in order to be able to create favorable conditions for the development of the baby, raise him strong, harmonious personality.

The preschool period is divided into three stages:

  • younger preschool age (3-4 years);
  • medium (4–5 years);
  • senior (5–7 years).

The psychological characteristics of the child largely depend on the age group he applies. In the psychology of younger preschool age, the need for love and attention of adults, gender self-identification come to the fore. Already at the age of three, the child begins to understand whether he is a boy or a girl, admires the parent of his gender and tries to imitate him. For older preschoolers, communication with peers and the development of creative inclinations are of great importance. Accordingly, the approach to education must undergo changes.

Psychological characteristics of preschool children: briefly about the development of mental processes

The development of thinking takes place in several stages.

  1. Visual-effective thinking (typical for the psychology of children of primary preschool age) - thought processes are inextricably linked with the performance of actions. As a result of repeated manipulations with real objects, their physical transformation, the child gets an idea of ​​their properties and hidden connections. For example, many guys like to break, disassemble toys into pieces to see how they are arranged.
  2. Visual-figurative thinking (the dominant type of thinking in the middle preschool age). The child learns to operate not with specific objects, but with their visual images, models.
  3. Verbal-logical thinking. Begins to form at the age of 6-7 years. The child learns to operate with rather abstract concepts, even if they are not presented in a visual or model form.

The psychological characteristics of preschool children must be borne in mind when communicating with them. For example, a 4-year-old baby is interested in when dad will come home. You explain that he will be back in the evening after work. It is likely that a few minutes later the baby will ask the same question. And this is not a prank. Due to the peculiarities of children's thinking, the child simply could not comprehend the answer given to him. Using the words "after", "in the evening", you appeal to the verbal-logical thinking, which the child has not yet formed. In order for the baby to understand you, it will be much more effective to list the activities, events in his life, after which the father will appear at home. For example, now we will play, have lunch, sleep, watch a cartoon, it will get dark outside the window, and dad will come.

Attention in the preschool period is still involuntary. Although it becomes more stable as it gets older. Hold children's attention is obtained only if you maintain interest in activities. The use of speech helps to organize attention on the upcoming activity. It is much easier for older preschool children who say out loud the instructions received from adults to focus on their implementation.

Arbitrary memory begins The most difficult material for a child is easier to learn if its memorization is organized in the form of a game activity. For example, to help a child memorize a poem, you need to play a scene with him based on this work.

At preschool age, the process of mastering speech is basically completed. A transition is made from situational speech (“Give me a doll”, “I want to leave”) to an abstract one, not directly related to the momentary situation. The vocabulary is growing rapidly.

At the age of 3-5 years, egocentric speech is observed - commenting on one's actions aloud without addressing a specific interlocutor in order to influence him. This is an absolutely normal phenomenon, an intermediate form between social and inner speech, performs the function of self-regulation.

A child's mastery of speech is the most important condition for his full-fledged mental development. Much depends on how often and how adults communicate with the baby. It is important not to lisp with the child, not to distort words. On the contrary, carefully monitor the literacy and purity of your speech when talking with a child. After all, children develop their speech skills by actively imitating others. Speak the words clearly, slowly, but emotionally. Talk to your baby and just in his presence as often as possible. Accompany verbal comments to all your actions.

Do not limit yourself to everyday speech. Learn together tongue twisters, rhymes - everything that is good and rhythmically falls on the ear. Play riddle game. This will help to form in the child the ability to analyze, generalize, the ability to determine characteristics subject and draw logical conclusions.

Game as a leading activity

Preschool games can be divided into three categories:

  • movable (ball, tag, blind man's blind man's blind man's blind man's eye), primarily contributing to the development of the physical body;
  • educational (puzzles, lotto) - developing intelligence;
  • role-playing - the most popular among preschoolers and play a major role in their psychological development.

The psychology of preschool children pays close attention to children's fears and phobias, since their specificity can indicate the nature of the existing problems in the psychological development of the baby. For example, recurring nightmares involving a negative female character (Baba Yaga, someone else's aunt) may indicate the child's rejection of certain features of the mother's behavior. But since the parents are idealized by the baby, negative emotions towards them are repressed and personified in the form of negative heroes of fairy tales or evil strangers.

The psychological characteristics of children are such that they can use fears to attract attention to themselves, to arouse sympathy. Such behavior can provoke insufficient emotional responsiveness of parents, jealousy of a child for a younger brother or sister.

There is a direct relationship between the number of fears in the baby and his parents, especially the mother. The channel for the transmission of anxiety becomes maternal care, consisting of some fears and anxieties. In this case, it is not so much the child who needs therapy as the parents themselves. Listening to hypnotic suggestions for fear and panic attacks will help put your nerves in order:

In addition to these factors, children's phobias develop as a result of fixation in the emotional memory of strong fears. However, one should not think that any irrational fear in preschool age is a pathology. Many of the children's phobias, from the point of view of preschool psychology, are considered natural, characteristic of this age period and as the child grows older, they go away on their own. For example, the fear of death, attacks, abductions, fear of closed space, darkness are considered the norm.

Methods for treating children's fears and other psychological problems resemble the favorite activities of preschoolers:

  • art therapy (drawing, modeling);
  • play therapy;
  • fairy tale therapy (Ericksonian hypnosis).

The point of using such techniques is that the logical thinking of preschoolers is not yet sufficiently developed, and a rational explanation to the child of the groundlessness of his fear will not bring results. It is necessary to appeal to figurative thinking - through archetypes and symbols, with which fine art and fairy tales are thoroughly saturated.

Every parent raising a child of 3-6 years old should know the psychological characteristics of preschool children. At this time, cognitive processes are rapidly developing, the main personal characteristics of the future full-fledged member of society, its moral and emotional-volitional sphere are being laid. In order for a child to grow up as a healthy and harmonious personality, it will be necessary to create favorable conditions for its development.

Characteristics of the age stage

At preschool age, the baby develops rapidly both physically and mentally. He has already learned to recognize the signals coming from the outside world, the stage of their analysis and synthesis is coming. There is an accumulation of knowledge, skills, and their improvement.

This age covers the period from 3 to 7 years. It begins with the separation of oneself from parents and ends with the development of self-consciousness. It is divided into 3 stages:

  • younger preschool age (3-4 years);
  • middle preschool age (4-5 years);
  • senior preschool age (5-7 years).

Each period has its own characteristic psychological features of development. At the age of 3-4 years, the baby begins to actively assert itself. He strives to do everything independently and in his own way, praises himself, his actions and demands the same from adults. Often such reactions as disobedience, stubbornness, negativism appear - all these are signs of a crisis of 3 years.

The psychological development of preschoolers aged 3-4 years includes the transition from a visual-effective type of thinking to a visual-figurative one, the period of active speech formation ends, the vocabulary has more than 1000 words. Attention and memory are involuntary.

Older preschoolers form stable attachments to adults; for psychological health, the baby needs parental love, attention and understanding. Creative abilities become more active, arbitrariness of attention and memory appears, emotional reactions become more stable, strong-willed and moral components of the personality develop. A conscience and a sense of duty are formed, the norms and rules of behavior in society, the concepts of good and evil, friendship and love are firmly mastered. Children of this age love funny Games, they are amused by absurdities and fables.

The psychological characteristics of older preschool children are characterized by the fact that at this stage of development, broad cognitive interests come to the fore. This is the age of little "why-why" who want to understand how the world works. A characteristic feature of this age period is curiosity, a keen desire to understand the surrounding reality. It is very important to support it so that in the future it will be transformed into an interest in learning and a love of knowledge.

The role of play and mental neoplasms

The development of mental processes in preschool age is in its infancy. The child actively explores the world and asks a lot of questions. Cognitive processes develop - memory, attention, thinking, speech, emotional-volitional sphere, as well as creative abilities. Knowing the peculiarities of the mental development of preschool children, parents build harmonious relationships with them and educate a healthy personality.

The leading activity of preschoolers is a game, mastering the norms of behavior in society and the world of human relations. The child seeks to separate from adults, forms his own situation, where he is the master of the situation. But in reality, he cannot take a full part in the life of adults due to a number of physical and mental limitations. The symbolic form that helps to assert itself is role-playing game, which satisfies a number of conditions:

  • the child imitates the actions of adults;
  • invents a situation where real things are replaced by toys;
  • the symbolic nature of what is happening;
  • The process includes a number of rules and restrictions.

All this ensures the psychological health of the preschooler, his mental and emotional development. Through the game, he learns to interact with others, learns the world, and thanks to obedience to the rules, arbitrariness of behavior develops.

The psychological features of preschool age include a number of neoplasms characteristic of this stage of development:

  • the formation of visual-figurative thinking, anticipation of the future result of the activity;
  • development of arbitrariness of mental processes (memory, attention), the ability to suspend reactions to assess the situation and predict;
  • expanding the range of motives;
  • the formation and development of self-esteem and self-awareness;
  • active function of speech;
  • in moral development, the conscious acceptance of the norms of behavior in society is carried out;
  • psychological readiness for school (intellectual and personal).

In most cases, upon reaching the age of 7, the child has these neoplasms in one capacity or another.

Difficulties in mental development

The psychology of preschool age is such that rapid growth and development cause a number of contradictions that affect the behavior and emotional manifestations of a preschooler. An abundance of external impressions and new opportunities, increased physical activity, the growing need for communication with peers is the main driving force behind the development of a preschool child.

The mental development of a child in preschool age can be difficult due to a number of problems:

  • emotional and personal problems (bad mood, aggression, anxiety, fears, etc.);
  • slow development of cognitive processes (impaired attention, difficulty remembering, insufficient understanding, limited vocabulary);
  • behavioral problems (deceit, impudence, arrogance);
  • neurological problems of various specifics (sleep disorder, fatigue, enuresis);
  • communication problems (detachment from other children, touchiness, excessive isolation).

Preschool psychology claims that despite the complication of experiences, the psyche of preschoolers is quite flexible and adaptive, able to cope with a number of errors in education and negative factors. Diagnosis of the mental development of children will help to understand such difficulties.

Diagnostic examination of preschool children by a psychologist

In order to study the developmental features of preschoolers, a variety of methods are used. Mostly these are tests that allow you to determine the personality characteristics of the child, the level of his mental development, as well as psychological readiness for school. The psychology of preschool children is engaged in the development of approaches to examination, methods, rules for conducting, interpreting the results.

By the age of 5-6, the child already perceives information well by ear, can retell what he heard, explain the answer to the question. Logical thinking, operations of analysis and synthesis, generalization, classification are developing. Since the arbitrariness of behavior at this age is still being formed, the psychodiagnostics of children should include tasks that affect both the voluntary and involuntary levels of cognitive processes.

Methods for preschoolers are mainly aimed at determining the formation of prerequisites for educational activities, the level of personal and cognitive development preschooler, features of his motivational-need sphere.

Methods of psychodiagnostics of preschool children are not limited to special tasks and tests. Observation of children in the process of playing with peers or alone has the best psychodiagnostic results. As a rule, this process reflects the features of relationships with parents, the degree of conflict and aggressiveness of the child, the ability to obey the rules and norms. Projective, drawing tests are great for young children. A piece of paper displays all the experiences and problems, emotional state and degree of self-confidence.

An important condition for obtaining reliable results is the establishment of psychological contact between a preschooler and a psychologist. Only in this case, the diagnosis of development will be justified. If the child is forced or intimidated, the results of the examination can be greatly distorted. If necessary, it will be recommended to attend correctional and developmental classes with a psychologist, speech therapist, defectologist or other specialist.

Socio-psychological features of the relationship and interaction between a preschooler and an adult, primarily a parent, have a direct impact on the formation of a child's self-esteem. At an early age, it is based mainly on the attitude of the parents towards him, with whom the baby identifies himself and imitates. If adults do not support the activity and spontaneity of the child, he may develop inadequate self-esteem, as a rule, underestimated.

Shy preschoolers cause parents a lot of anxiety. After all, it is difficult to send such a child to a kindergarten or to developmental classes, to leave it under the supervision of another adult. He is closed, does not play with peers on the court, is embarrassed to express himself, often cries and worries. Preschoolers with high self-esteem are better oriented in children's games and relationships, feel confident in a team, active and proactive. But if self-esteem is inflated, it can lead to arrogance and arrogance.

Psychologist's advice to parents on the formation of an adequate self-esteem of a preschooler includes the following recommendations:

  • involve the child in everyday affairs, entrust him with simple duties, performing which, he will feel his importance and usefulness;
  • for shy children, it is important to create a situation of success, to praise and support all undertakings;
  • all educational influences (both praise and punishment) must be adequate to the age and actions of the preschooler;
  • encourage activity and initiative;
  • compare the child only with himself (what he was yesterday and what he has become at the moment);
  • form an adequate attitude to failures, analyze mistakes together and draw conclusions;
  • accept the baby as he is, with all its advantages and disadvantages.

Parents should not forget that along with age-related psychological characteristics, the individual personal development of a preschooler with his inherent unique qualities takes place. Heredity, temperament, parenting style, family atmosphere are factors that have a direct impact on the formation and development of the personality of a preschooler. Respect, acceptance and support from the family will help little man grow up self-confident, active and purposeful.

1. Physical and mental development of a preschooler.

2. Development of the personality of a preschooler.

1. Physical and mental development of a preschooler

Chronological framework (age boundaries) - From 3 to 6-7 years.

Physical development. During this period, the anatomical formation of tissues and organs, an increase in muscle mass, ossification of the skeleton, the development of circulatory and respiratory organs, and the weight of the brain increase. The regulatory role of the cerebral cortex increases, the rate of formation of conditioned reflexes increases, the second signaling system develops

social situation. The child has a great desire to comprehend the semantic basis of the actions of adults. The child is excluded from active participation in the activities and relationships of adults.

Leading activity Role-playing game. At the age of 2-3 years, “single games” are pronounced in children, the child is focused on his own actions. Gradually, children begin to “play side by side”, uniting purely outwardly, since everyone should have their own toy.

At the age of 3-5, “short-term associations” arise, the duration of communication depends on the ability to create and implement a game plan and on the possession of game actions; the content of the game is not yet conducive to sustainable communication.

At the age of 4-6, "long-term associations of players" arise, the child strives to reproduce in the game the actions of adults and their relationships. The child has a need to have a partner. In the game, there is a need to negotiate with each other, to organize a game with several roles together.

Mental development. The development of differentiated sensitivity is noted. There is development sensory standards, the formation of perceptual actions. At 3 years old, the child manipulates the object without trying to examine it, they name individual objects. At 4 years old, the child examines the object, highlights the individual parts and features of the object. At 5-6 years old, the child systematically and consistently examines the subject, describes it, and establishes the first connections. At the age of 7, the child already systematically, systematically examines the subject, explains the content of the picture

Developing perception space, time and movement, the child perceives works of art.

Social perception develops as the ability to perceive and evaluate relationships with other people.

Stability of attention depends on the nature of the perceived objects. This age period is characterized by a different ratio of involuntary and voluntary attention in different types activities. There is a formation of stability and concentration of attention.

Representations are being developed as the basis of figurative memory. There is a transition from involuntary memory to arbitrary. The productivity of memorization is affected by the attitude and nature of the activity. Children develop eidetic memory. The past and the future appear in the structure of the child's self-consciousness.

For thinking characteristic is the transition from visual-effective to visual-figurative thinking (4-5 years), the formation of the simplest forms of reasoning (6-7 years), at the age of six causal thinking appears. There is a development of methods of mediation, schematization, visual modeling (6-7 years). At the age of 4, thinking is formed in the process of objective actions. At the age of 5, thinking precedes objective action. At 6-7 years old, children transfer a certain mode of action to other situations, elements of verbal logical thinking.

Development imagination Depends on the experience of the child, imagination affects the creativity of children. Imagination is accompanied by a bright emotional coloring. Game and visual activity affects the development of imagination.

Speech is mastered as the main mechanism of the child's socialization. Phonemic hearing, active and passive vocabulary develops, the vocabulary and grammatical structure of the language are mastered. At the age of 5 there is an awareness of the sound composition of the word, at the age of 6 children master the mechanism of syllabic reading.

2. Development of the personality of a preschooler

personal development. There is a development of self-consciousness, it is formed due to intensive intellectual and personal development. There is a critical attitude to the assessment of an adult and a peer. Peer assessment helps you evaluate yourself. In the second half of the period, based on the initial purely emotional self-assessment and rational assessment of someone else's behavior, self-esteem. By the end of preschool age, a correct differentiated self-esteem, self-criticism develops. At 3 years old, the child separates himself from the adult; about himself, about his qualities yet does not know. At the age of 4-5, he listens to the opinions of other people, evaluates himself on the basis of the assessments of the elders and his attitude to the assessments; seeks to act in accordance with his gender. At 5-6 years old, assessment becomes a measure of the norms of behavior, evaluates on the basis of accepted norms of behavior, evaluates others better than oneself. At 7 years old, the child tries to evaluate himself more correctly.

The development of the arbitrariness of all processes takes place - one of the most important moments of mental development. The volitional behavior of a preschooler is largely due to the assimilation of moral attitudes and ethical standards. Capriciousness, stubbornness and negativism in crisis periods of development do not indicate a weak development of the will.

At this age, children are characterized by variability in the manifestation of temperament, the maturation of the properties of the nervous system, the type of temperament affects behavior in various types activities. The basic qualities of the personality develop, personal qualities are formed under the influence of self-awareness, and imitation affects the development of character. In various activities, intensively develop capabilities, activity shows talent. Creativity is being formed as a basic characteristic

At preschool age, communication motives develop. There is a formation of subordination (hierarchy) of motives. Children are guided by the assessment of adults, this serves as the basis for the development of motives for achieving success.

Main impact on development emotions and feelings renders one of the neoplasms of age - self-consciousness ( inner world). The inner experiences of the preschooler become more stable, feelings develop. Participation in gaming and other activities contributes to the development of aesthetic and moral feelings.

Communication with adults has a difference at different ages: at 3-5 years old, communication is extra-situational-cognitive (objects and phenomena of the surrounding world are learned). At the age of 5-7 years - extra-situational-personal (recognize the features of the relationship between peers and adults and the characteristics of their personality). Communication with peers has the character of game cooperation, children learn empathy.

Neoplasms at preschool age. The beginning of the development of arbitrariness. The ability to generalize experiences. moral development. Ability to perceptual modeling. socialized speech. The development of visual-figurative and the emergence of verbal-logical thinking. The emergence of the "inner world".

Crisis 7 years - it is a crisis of self-regulation, reminiscent of a crisis of 1 year. According to L.I. Bozovic is the period of the birth of the social "I" of the child. The child begins to regulate his behavior by rules. Basal requirement- respect. Loss of childish spontaneity (mannering, antics). Generalization of experiences and the emergence of inner mental life. The ability and need for social functioning, for occupying a significant social position.

Tasks for independent work

1. Get acquainted with modern research on the problem of preschool childhood. List the main issues considered by the author of the article you like.

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2. Give answers to the following questions:

a) why, when communicating with peers, even dull ones, the child expands his vocabulary much better than when communicating with parents ?;

b) children aged 5-6 were shown films. In them, men and women performed work that is usually done by members of the opposite sex. The man was a nanny, and the woman was the captain of a large ship. After watching the film, they asked the question: “Who was the nanny and who was the captain?” Give a forecast of possible answers;

c) in children early age behavior is rigidly determined by the situation they perceive. Each object pulls the child to touch it, feel it. Objects dictate to him what and how to do. Yes, the door can be opened and closed. This continues until about 3-4 years. How to teach a preschooler to perform an objective action consciously and voluntarily?

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1. Leading activity at preschool age becomes a game. However, throughout the entire period play activity undergoes significant changes.
Younger preschoolers (3-4 years old) mostly play alone.

The duration of the games is usually limited to 15-20 minutes, and the plot is to reproduce the actions of those adults whom they observe in everyday life.

Average preschoolers (4-5 years old) prefer already joint games, in which the main thing is to imitate relationships between people.

Children clearly follow the rules in the performance of roles. Themed games with a large number of roles are widespread.

For the first time, leadership and organizational skills begin to appear.

In the middle preschool age, drawing actively develops. A schematic, x-ray drawing is characteristic, when something that is not visible externally is drawn, for example, when depicted in profile, both eyes are drawn.

Games-competitions begin to arouse an active interest, which contribute to the formation of motives for achieving success in children.

An older preschooler (5–7 years old) is able to play for a long time, even for several days.

In games, more attention is paid to the reproduction of moral and ethical standards.
Construction is actively developing, during which the child learns the simplest labor skills, gets acquainted with the properties of objects, develops practical thinking, learns to use tools and household items.
The drawing of the child becomes voluminous, plot.

Thus, during preschool childhood, games with objects, role-playing games, designing, drawing, and household work are consistently developed and improved.

2. Active at preschool age sensory development. The child improves in the accuracy of perception of color, size, shape, weight, etc. He is able to notice the difference between sounds of different pitch, sounds similar in pronunciation, learn a rhythmic pattern, determine the position of objects in space, intervals of time.

The perception of a preschool child will be more accurate if it is caused by bright stimuli and is accompanied by positive emotions.

By the older preschool age, the meaningfulness of perception increases sharply, i.e., ideas about the environment expand and deepen.

The thinking of a preschooler is represented by three types: visual-effective, visual-figurative, verbal-logical. At the beginning of the preschool period, the child solves most of the problems with the help of practical actions.

By the older preschool age, visual-figurative thinking acquires a leading role. Against the background of its rapid development, the foundation of logical thinking begins to be laid, which will be so necessary during the period of schooling.

The attention of the child throughout the entire preschool age continues to be involuntary, although it acquires greater stability and concentration.

True, most often a child is concentrated if he is engaged in an interesting, exciting activity.

By the end of the preschool period, the child is able to maintain steady attention when performing intellectual activities: solving puzzles, guessing puzzles, charades, riddles, etc.

Memory preschooler has the following features:

  1. the most developed figurative memory, including such a variety of it as eidetic;
  2. memorization occurs better if it is organized in the course of gaming activity, involuntary memorization is characteristic;
  3. when setting a mnemonic task, memorization occurs mechanically, that is, by repetition;
  4. a preschooler listens with pleasure to what he has already heard before, thus training his memory;
  5. emotional memory is well developed, the great impressionability of the child leads to the fact that we retain a large number of vivid images of childhood.

Consider the features imagination preschooler:

  1. imaginative images arise easily.
  2. The “products” of fantasy are distinguished by contradictions: on the one hand, the child is a “terrible” realist (“It doesn’t happen like that”), on the other, a great dreamer;
  3. the images of the preschooler's imagination are distinguished by their brightness, emotionality, originality of ideas, although most often these ideas are repelled from the previously known (recreating imagination);
  4. often the child's fantasies are directed to the future, although in these images he is very fickle.

At preschool age, the child's speech continues to improve actively. This is facilitated by play activities, during which children agree on the rules, distribute roles, etc.

There is a mastery of grammar rules, declensions and conjugations, complex sentences, rules for the use of connecting unions, suffixes and prefixes.
As facilities communication, the child uses the following types of speech:

  1. situational;
  2. contextual;
  3. explanatory.

Situational speech is often understandable only to the interlocutor, it remains inaccessible to outsiders, it contains many verbal patterns, adverbs, there are no proper names, the subject drops out.

As the child masters more complex activities, speech becomes expanded, including explanations of the situation.

Such speech is called contextual. At the senior preschool age, the child develops an explanatory speech, when the sequence of presentation is preserved, the main thing is highlighted.

At preschool age, egocentric speech is also quite common.

This is an intermediate form between external and internal speech and is expressed in commenting on one's actions aloud, without addressing anyone in particular.

So, at preschool age, the arbitrariness of the actions and mental processes of the child increases, knowledge about the world around them deepens and expands.

3. personal development preschool includes:

  1. understanding of the surrounding world and one's place in this world;
  2. development of the emotional and volitional sphere.

The attitude of an adult to a child largely determines the formation of his personality.

At the same time, observance of the norms of public morality becomes important. A preschooler can learn these norms in the following ways:

  1. imitating loved ones;
  2. observing the work of adults;
  3. listening to reading stories, fairy tales, poems;
  4. imitating peers who enjoy attention from adults;
  5. through the media, especially television.

Younger preschoolers learn cultural and hygienic skills, daily routine, rules for handling toys, books; middle and older preschoolers - rules for relationships with other children.

At preschool age, the self-awareness of the child begins to actively form, which is manifested in self-esteem.

On initial stage the child learns to evaluate the characters of fairy tales, stories, then transfers these assessments to real people, and only by the senior preschool age does the ability to correctly evaluate oneself begin to take shape.

Throughout preschool age, feelings accompany the behavior of the child.
The kid is not yet able to fully control his emotional experiences, his mood can quickly change to the opposite, but with age, feelings acquire greater depth and stability.

The "reasonableness" of feelings increases, which is explained by the acceleration of mental development.
Increasingly, one can observe the manifestation of such feelings as a sense of joy and pride in a completed task, or the opposite - feelings of chagrin and shame if the task is not completed, a sense of the comic (children come up with verbal shifters), a sense of beauty.

By the end of preschool age, the child in some cases manages to restrain violent manifestations of feelings.
He gradually masters the understanding of the non-verbal language of emotions.
Thus, the personal development of a child in preschool age occurs as a result of active interaction with adults.

4. Let's dwell on the consideration psychological readiness for schooling, which is understood as “the necessary and sufficient level of a child’s mental development for mastering the school curriculum in the conditions of learning in a peer group” (I. V. Dubrovina, 1997).

In other words, the child, being in a peer group, should be able to learn school material.

There are different opinions on the subject of highlighting the parameters of the mental development of the child.

L. I. Bozhovich singled out:

  • the level of motivational development, including cognitive and social (the desire to take a certain position in a peer group) motives for learning;
  • a sufficient level of development of arbitrariness and a certain level of development of the intellectual sphere, while priority was given to motivational development.

Readiness for schooling implies the formation of the "internal position of the student", which means the child's ability to consciously set and fulfill certain intentions and goals.

Most researchers assign one of the main places to arbitrariness. D. B. Elkonin singled out as the main skills such as the conscious subordination of one’s actions to the rule, orientation to a given system of requirements, attentive listening to the speaker and the exact fulfillment of the task offered orally.

These parameters are the elements of developed arbitrariness.

For successful schooling, it is also important to have the ability to communicate with adults and peers, readiness to accept a new social position: “the position of a student”.

Intellectual readiness to school education, first of all, it does not consist of the amount of acquired knowledge, but of the level of development of cognitive processes, that is, the child’s ability to reason, analyze, compare, draw conclusions, etc. At the same time, a good level of speech development is extremely important.

Summarizing the above approaches, we can distinguish three aspects of school readiness: intellectual, emotional, social.

Intelligent Component It is expressed in the level of outlook, a certain vocabulary, the level of development of cognitive processes (perception, memory, attention, thinking and imagination, speech) and the ability to single out a learning task.

Emotional readiness- this is the ability of a child to perform an unattractive task for a long time without being distracted, a decrease in impulsive reactions, the ability to set a goal and achieve it, despite the difficulties.

Social component manifests itself in the ability and desire to communicate with peers, to obey the laws of the children's group, in the willingness to accept the status of a student.

Some researchers focus on motivational readiness, which manifests itself in a pronounced need to achieve success in learning and communication, the presence of adequate (corresponding to the true position) self-esteem, a moderately high level of claims (the desire to achieve something). So, a child who is psychologically ready for schooling should have all the components listed above.