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

The preschool period is divided into three stages:

• junior preschool age (3–4 years);
• intermediate (4–5 years);
• senior (5–7 years old).

The psychological characteristics of a child largely depend on what age group he relates. In junior psychology preschool age the need for love and attention from adults and 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 the same sex and tries to imitate him. For older preschoolers, communication with peers and the development of creative inclinations become 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 (characteristic of 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 and their physical transformation, the child gains an understanding of their properties and hidden connections. For example, many children like to break and take toys apart to see how they work.
2. Visual-figurative thinking (the dominant type of thinking in middle preschool age). The child learns to operate not with specific objects, but with their visual images and models.
3. Verbal- logical thinking. Begins to form at the age of 6–7 years. The child learns to operate with fairly abstract concepts, even if they are not presented in a visual or model form.

The psychological characteristics of preschool children must be taken into account when communicating with them. For example, a 4-year-old baby wonders when dad will come home. You explain that he will return in the evening after work. It is likely that a few minutes later the baby will ask the same question. And this is not self-indulgence. 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 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 and 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 and dad will come.

Attention in the preschool period is still involuntary. Although it becomes more stable as it gets older. It is possible to retain children's attention only if you maintain interest in the activity. The use of speech helps organize attention to the upcoming activity. Children of older preschool age who recite instructions received from adults out loud find it much easier to concentrate on following them.

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

At preschool age, the process of mastering speech is basically completed. There is a transition from situational speech (“Give me the doll,” “I want to leave”) to abstract speech, not directly related to the immediate situation. Vocabulary is growing rapidly.

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

A child’s mastery of speech is the most important condition for his full mental development. Here, a lot depends on how often and in what way adults communicate with the baby. It is important not to coddle with the child, not to distort words. On the contrary, carefully monitor the literacy and purity of your speech when talking to 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 all your actions with verbal comments.

Don't limit yourself to everyday speech. Learn tongue twisters, rhymes together - everything that fits well and rhythmically with the ear. Play a game of guessing riddles. This will help develop the child’s ability to analyze, generalize, and identify characteristic features subject and draw logical conclusions.

Game as a leading activity

Games for preschoolers can be divided into three categories:

• mobile (ball, tag, blind man's buff), primarily contributing to the development of the physical body;
• educational (puzzles, lotto) - developing intelligence;
• role-playing - 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 existing problems in the child’s psychological development. For example, recurring nightmares involving a negative female character (Baba Yaga, someone else's aunt) may indicate the child's rejection of certain characteristics of the mother's behavior. But since parents are idealized by the child, negative emotions towards them are repressed and personified in the form of negative fairy tale heroes or evil strangers.

The psychological characteristics of children are such that they can use fears to attract attention and evoke sympathy. This behavior can be provoked by insufficient emotional responsiveness of the parents, or by the child’s jealousy of his younger brother or sister.

There is a direct connection between the amount of fears a baby has and his parents, especially the mother. Maternal care, consisting of only fears and anxieties, becomes a channel for transmitting anxiety. In this case, it is not so much the child who needs therapy, but the parents themselves. Listening to hypnotic suggestions for fear and panic attacks will help put your nerves in order:

In addition to the factors listed above, childhood phobias develop as a result of the fixation of strong fears in emotional memory. However, you should not think that any irrational fear in preschool age is a pathology. Many of the childhood phobias, from the point of view preschool psychology, are considered natural, characteristic of a given age period and go away on their own as the child grows older. For example, fear of death, attack, kidnapping, fear of confined spaces, and darkness are considered normal.

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

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

The point of using such techniques is that logical thinking in preschoolers is not yet sufficiently developed, and a rational explanation to a child of the groundlessness of his fear will not bring results. You need to appeal to imaginative thinking - through archetypes and symbols, which permeate fine art and fairy tales.

We should never forget that the psychology of children, their perception of others is significantly different from adult perception. Understand why the child acts this way and not otherwise, help him, if necessary, correct his behavior better side, reach his consciousness and receive desired results The materials collected in this thematic section will help you in your education. All publications are systematized according to current topics. Such as psychological preparation and adaptation to school, hyperactivity, typical children's psychological crises and conflicts, fears and aggressions. Much attention is paid various methods psycho-gymnastics and relieving nervous tension: isotherapy, fairy tale therapy, relaxation, sand therapy, issues of competent encouragement and (where would we be without it!) punishment.

• Psychology of preschool children. Consultations and recommendations for psychologists
• Hyperactivity. Hyperactivity disorder in children, attention deficit
• Psycho-gymnastics and relaxation. Relieving emotional stress

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

Each of them develops differently. However, there are common components that Psychology studies are based on the basic principles of education and development: to raise a person who is able to take responsibility. This is a critical task and should not be overlooked. Responsibility for one’s own actions and actions does not arise on its own; you need to put some effort into it.

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

Age limits

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

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

Leading activity

Each period of development is characterized by its own occupation, which at this moment is the most popular and most important for the individual. The psychology of children of primary preschool age is such that they like to play with various objects. For now, they are more comfortable interacting only with toys: building “houses” from cubes, sculpting from plasticine, assembling a mosaic or a pyramid. Communication with other children is sporadic and often ends in arguments.

At five or six years old, a child begins to have a strong need to interact with peers. If by this time he still for some reason has not started attending nursery educational institution, then its development may even begin to lag. The fact is that for successful socialization a child needs to be in a group of peers. Comparing yourself with others provides a powerful incentive for the development of all attention, memory, thinking, imagination, and speech.

The leading activity at five to six years old is role-playing play. The child strives to interact with peers. If you observe children in the older and preparatory groups, then you can see that they are broken up into small islands. Such small subgroups are usually united by interests. When choosing a particular micro-collective, personal sympathies play a big role. And if the psychology of early preschool age is based on the need to be approved by an adult, then for older children the opportunity to express their individuality is of great importance. The disclosure of needs occurs in the process of interaction with peers.

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

Neoplasms

In every age period The individual faces a certain task that needs to be solved. In preschool childhood there are several such neoplasms:

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

Crisis period

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

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

A crisis period always shows what parents should strive for in their relationships with their children and helps to understand the interests of the child himself. At three years old, the baby has a need to emotionally separate from mom and dad: he begins to feel like an individual. A feeling of negativism arises, a desire to contradict adults in everything, to demonstrate independence in every possible way. “I myself” is a characteristic feature of three years old, associated with the need to defend one’s individuality.

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

Gender identification

Already at three years old, a child knows whether he is a boy or a girl. In addition, the baby undoubtedly knows how to determine the gender of his classmates. At first, the baby identifies itself with a parent of the same sex and tries to imitate him. Boys pay attention to their fathers, they want to be as strong and courageous. Girls relate themselves to their mother and imitate her. At five or six years old, a daughter may well begin to help in the kitchen and participate in all the daily affairs of the family.

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

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

The main need of the child

Every little person first of all wants to feel loved. It is important for a child to understand that he is fully accepted in the family for who he really is, and not for any merits. Otherwise, he will begin to consider himself bad, unworthy of love and better attitude. When parents impose a certain model of behavior on their children, they, of course, do not think about how much they hurt the child’s inner world and make them feel deceived, confused, and unnecessary. The main need of a child is love. And the parents' job is to help him feel fully accepted.

Preschool psychology studies the inner world and emotional needs of a child. If they are not taken into account, the little person enters a state of frustration, which cannot in any way have a positive effect on the overall development of the individual.

Building self-esteem

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

The psychology of preschool age is such that the child takes everything much more seriously than it actually is. He cannot yet form an independent image of himself without the participation of an adult. To do this, he lacks life experience and basic self-confidence. When we praise a child, it is deposited in his subconscious that he, as a person, is worth something and is valuable in himself. In the case of frequent criticism (especially unfair), our child only becomes isolated and stops trusting the world around him. In other words, self-esteem is determined by how adults treat a child. Let your child know that you are always on his side. A son or daughter should know that there are no unsolvable situations. Show by your own example that you can take advantage of everything.

Development of cognitive processes

Psychology of preschool age is an amazing and useful science. She is able to promptly tell parents the right way out of the current situation, give reasons for support and additional joy. Sometimes it is quite difficult for adults to cope with a disturbing problem. And then pedagogy comes to the rescue. Psychology of preschool age is focused specifically on issues of child development, including any psychological difficulties.

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

Development of creative abilities

Every person is talented in some way. AND Small child, who is only four years old, is no exception. Parents should be the first to notice their child’s abilities in order to develop talents from an early age, and not hide them. Unfortunately, one can often observe the following picture: real natural inclinations are destroyed at the root, opportunities are closed. And parents do all this unconsciously, placing a whole bunch of restrictions on their child. In this case, is it any wonder that children grow up uninitiated, passive and lazy?

A small child learns everything by playing. He still doesn’t know how to take everything in life seriously. The development of creative abilities should begin with a conscious intention to bring more bright colors and impressions into the child’s life. It is better to enroll a four-year-old child in several thematic interest groups. During classes, you should definitely observe him and draw the appropriate conclusions: what turns out better, what worse, what your heart is in, what natural inclinations you have.

In order for abilities to truly develop, you need to free your consciousness from all kinds of fears. Parents sometimes fear possible failure even more than the children themselves, which is why the desire to move forward disappears. Don’t be afraid to experiment and spend money to gain new experience. Acquiring useful skills is a top priority. Make your baby truly feel important and valued.

Adults often wonder this important issue: how to develop a child as a full-fledged member of society with high moral values? What should you pay special attention to? Where can I get additional support? What should you consider when raising a baby?

1. Teach him to respect himself. There are so many people in modern society who can shake our self-esteem! Do not deprive your child of the opportunity to value himself. Never humiliate - neither in private, nor especially in public. The child should not feel vulnerable or feel ashamed in front of society. Otherwise you will only help him form
2. Develop his individuality. A person cannot be happy if he fulfills other people's goals in life and solves problems that are not his own. Allow the child to have his own guideline; do not interfere with the development of an individual opinion on any issue. Time will pass, and you will see the results of such upbringing: the baby will become more self-confident.
3. Harmonious development of personality. A truly happy person is interested in everything, not just work. He has many hobbies in his arsenal, his inner world is characterized by unprecedented wealth. Such an individual is always open to new experiences and enjoys receiving the knowledge he needs. He will never humiliate another or hurt others. A harmonious person strives to live in peace with his own emotions and respects the feelings of other people. It is precisely this ideal that one should strive for when raising a child.

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

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

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

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

According to D.B. Elkonin, the entire preschool age revolves around its center, around an adult, his functions, his tasks. The adult here acts as a bearer of social functions in the system of social relations (adult - dad, doctor, driver, etc.). Elkonin saw the contradiction of this social situation of development in the fact that the child is a member of society, he cannot live outside society, his main need is to live together with the people around him, but he cannot realize this, since the child’s life passes in conditions of indirect, and not direct connection with the world.

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

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

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

D.B. Elkonin argued that a game is a symbolic-modeling type of activity in which the operational and technical side is minimal, operations are reduced, and objects are conventional. It is known that all types of preschooler activities are modeling in nature, and the essence of modeling is the recreation of an object in another, non-natural material.

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

In the game, an internal action plan is formed. This happens as follows. The child, while playing, focuses on human relationships. In order to reflect them, he must internally play out not only the entire system of his actions, but also the entire system of the consequences of these actions, and this is only possible by creating an internal plan of action.

As shown by D.B. Elkonin, play is a historical education, and it arises when a child cannot take part in the system of social labor, because he is still too small for this. But he wants to go in adult life, so he does it through the game, having a little contact with this life.

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

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

Table 6

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

IN middle period of preschool childhood the child needs a peer with whom he will play. Now the main focus of the game is simulating relationships between people. Themes of role-playing games vary; Certain rules are introduced, which the child strictly adheres to. The focus of the games is varied: family, where the heroes are mother, father, grandmother, grandfather and other relatives; educational (nanny, kindergarten teacher); professional (doctor, commander, pilot); fairy tale (goat, wolf, hare), etc. Both adults and children can participate in the game, and they can be replaced with toys.

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

During the game they develop mental processes, in particular, voluntary attention and memory. If a child is interested in a game, he involuntarily focuses on the objects included in the game. game situation, on the content of the actions being played out and the plot. If he is distracted and does not perform his assigned role correctly, he may be expelled from the game. But since emotional encouragement and communication with peers are very important for a child, he has to be attentive and remember certain game moments.

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

During the course of the role-playing game, the imagination. From replacing some objects with others and the ability to take on various roles the child begins to identify objects and actions with them in his imagination. For example, six-year-old Masha, looking at a photograph of a girl who rests her finger on her cheek and thoughtfully looks at a doll sitting near a toy sewing machine, says: “The girl thinks as if her doll is sewing.” Based on this statement, one can judge the girl’s typical way of playing.

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

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

There is interest in drawing and designing. This interest first manifests itself in game form: a child, while drawing, acts out a certain plot, for example, the animals he has drawn fight among themselves, catch up with each other, people go home, the wind blows away apples hanging on the trees, etc. Gradually, the drawing is transferred to the result of the action, and a drawing is born.

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

Since the child pays special attention to role-playing play, let’s consider it in more detail.

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

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

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

2. Game actions. These are actions with meanings; they are figurative in nature. During the game, meanings are transferred from one object to another (an imaginary situation). However, this transfer is limited by the possibilities of showing the action, since it is subject to a certain rule: only an object with which it is possible to reproduce at least a picture of the action can replace an object.

Becomes of great importance symbolism of the game. D.B. Elkonin said that abstracting from the operational and technical side of objective actions makes it possible to model a system of relations between people.

Since the game begins to model a system of human relationships, the need for a comrade arises. You cannot achieve this goal alone, otherwise the game will lose its meaning.

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

3. Rules. During play, a new form of pleasure arises for the child - the joy that he acts as the rules require. When playing hospital, a child suffers as a patient and rejoices as a player, satisfied with the fulfillment of his role.

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

First level:

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

2) roles are determined by action. The roles are not named, and the children in the game do not use in relation to each other the real relationships that exist between adults or between an adult and a child;

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

Second level:

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

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

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

Third level:

1) the main content of the game is the execution of actions arising from the role. Special actions begin to stand out that convey the nature of the relationship with other participants in the game, for example, turning to the seller: “Give me some bread,” etc.;

2) roles are clearly defined and highlighted. They are called before play, determine and guide the child’s behavior;

3) the logic and nature of actions are determined by the role taken. Actions become more varied: cooking, washing hands, feeding, reading a book, going to bed, etc. Specific speech is present: the child gets used to the role and speaks as required by the role. Sometimes during the game, real-life relationships between children may appear: they begin to call names, swear, tease, etc.;

4) the violation of logic is protested. This is expressed in the fact that one says to the other: “It doesn’t happen like that.” The rules of behavior that children must obey are determined. The incorrect execution of actions is noticed from the outside, this causes grief in the child, he tries to correct the mistake and find an excuse for it.

Fourth level:

1) main content - performing actions related to relationships with other people, whose roles are performed by other children;

2) roles are clearly defined and highlighted. During the game, the child adheres to a certain line of behavior. The role functions of children are interconnected. The speech is clearly role-based;

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

4) violation of the logic of actions and rules is rejected. The child does not want to break the rules, explaining this by the fact that this is actually the case, as well as the rationality of the rules.

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

IN infancy the child manipulates the toy, it stimulates him to active behavioral manifestations. Thanks to the toy, perception develops, that is, shapes and colors are imprinted, orientations to new things appear, and preferences are formed.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

At this age, as studies by L.A. have shown. Wenger, there is an intensive development of sensory standards, i.e. color, shape, size, and the correlation (comparison) of objects with these standards. In addition, the standards of phonemes of the native language are assimilated. About phonemes D.B. Elkonin said the following: “Children begin to hear them in a categorical manner” (Elkonin D.B., 1989).

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

Thinking. The assimilation of standards, changes in the types and content of the child’s activities lead to a change in the nature of the child’s thinking. By the end of preschool age, there is a transition from egocentrism (centration) to decentration, which also leads to the perception of the surrounding world from a position of objectivity.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2) the child learns a system of concepts denoting relationships and learns the rules of logical reasoning.

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

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

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

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

4) the problem is solved by the child according to a pre-compiled, thoughtful and internally presented plan;

5) the child first thinks through a plan for solving the problem, mentally imagines this process, and only then begins to implement it. The purpose of this practical action is to reinforce the answer found in the mind;

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

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

In preschool age they begin to develop concepts. At 3–4 years old, a child uses words, sometimes not fully understanding their meaning, but over time, the semantic awareness of these words occurs. J. Piaget called the period of misunderstanding the meaning of words a stage of the child’s speech and mental development. The development of concepts goes in parallel with the development of thinking and speech.

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

At the initial stage of the transition of attention from involuntary to voluntary, means of controlling the child’s attention and reasoning out loud are of great importance.

Attention during the transition from younger to older preschool age develops as follows. Younger preschoolers look at pictures that interest them and can engage in a certain type of activity for 6–8 seconds, and older preschoolers can do it for 12–20 seconds. At preschool age, different degrees of attention stability are already observed in different children. This may be due to the type of nervous activity, physical condition and living conditions. It has been observed that nervous and sick children are more likely to be distracted than calm and healthy children.

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

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

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

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

Children's memory productivity during play activities is much higher than outside play. At the age of 5–6 years, the first perceptual actions aimed at conscious memorization and recollection are noted. These include simple repetition. By the age of 6–7 years, the process of voluntary memorization is almost complete.

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

Many children of primary and middle preschool age have well-developed immediate and mechanical memory. Children easily remember and reproduce what they see and hear, provided that it arouses their interest. Thanks to the development of these types of memory, the child quickly improves his speech, learns to use household items, and orients himself well in space.

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

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

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

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

In older preschool age, reproductive imagination turns into imagination, which creatively transforms reality. Thinking is already involved in this process. This type of imagination is used and improved in role-playing games.

The functions of the imagination are as follows: cognitive-intellectual, affective-protective. Cognitive-intellectual imagination is formed by separating the image from the object and designating the image using words. Role affective-defensive function is that it protects the growing, vulnerable, weakly protected soul of the child from experiences and traumas. The defensive reaction of this function is expressed in the fact that through an imaginary situation, tension can be discharged or a conflict can be resolved, which is difficult to achieve in real life. It develops as a result of the child’s awareness of his “I”, psychological separation of himself from others and from the actions he commits.

The development of imagination goes through the following stages.

1. “Objectification” of the image with actions. The child can control, change, clarify and improve his images, that is, regulate his imagination, but is not able to plan and mentally draw up a program of upcoming actions in advance.

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

3. The emergence of substitute actions, which, when implemented, can relieve the emotional tension that has arisen. By the age of 6–7 years, children can imagine and live in an imaginary world.

Speech. In preschool childhood, the process of language acquisition is completed. It is developing in the following directions.

1. Sound speech is developing. The child begins to become aware of the peculiarities of his pronunciation, and his phonemic hearing develops.

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

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

4. Awareness of the verbal composition of speech appears. During pronunciation, the language is oriented towards the semantic and sound aspects, and this indicates that the child is not yet aware of the speech. But over time, the development of linguistic sense and the mental work associated with it occurs.

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

During development, speech performs various functions: communicative, planning, symbolic, expressive.

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

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

Among older preschoolers, the following tendency can be observed: the child first names a pronoun, and then, seeing that he is not understood, pronounces a noun. For example: “She, girl, went. The ball rolled." The child gives more detailed answers to questions.

The child’s range of interests grows, communication expands, friends appear, and all this leads to situational speech being replaced by contextual speech. There are more than detailed description situations. As the child improves, he begins to use this type of speech more often, but situational speech is still present.

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

Planning the speech function develops because speech turns into a means of planning and regulating practical behavior. It merges with thinking. Many words appear in the child’s speech that seem to be addressed to no one. These may be exclamations that reflect his attitude to the action. For example, “Knock, knock... scored. Vova scored!”

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

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

Expressive function is the oldest function of speech, reflecting its emotional side. A child’s speech is permeated with emotions when he fails at something or is denied something. The emotional spontaneity of children's speech is adequately perceived by surrounding adults. For a well-reflexive child, such speech can become a means of influencing an adult. However, the “childishness” specifically demonstrated by a child is not accepted by many adults, so he has to make an effort and control himself, to be natural and not demonstrative.

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

The idea of ​​oneself, one’s “I”, begins to change. This is clearly visible when comparing answers to the question: “What kind of person are you?” A three-year-old child answers: “I’m big,” and a seven-year-old child answers, “I’m small.”

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

Appears in the second half of preschool age self-esteem, based on self-esteem in early childhood, which corresponded to a purely emotional assessment (“I’m good”) and a rational assessment of other people’s opinions.

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

There is awareness of oneself in time, one remembers oneself in the past, realizes oneself in the present and imagines oneself in the future. This is what children say: “When I was little. When I grow up big."

The child is experiencing gender identification. He becomes aware of his gender and begins to behave according to the roles of man and woman. Boys try to be strong, brave, courageous, and not cry from resentment and pain, and girls try to be neat, efficient in everyday life and soft or flirtatiously capricious in communication. During development, the child begins to appropriate behavioral forms, interests and values ​​of his gender.

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

Perhaps the most conducive to the emotional development of a preschooler is children's group. During joint activities The child develops an emotional relationship with people and develops empathy.

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

It is at preschool age that the child begins to master ethical standards, he develops ethical experiences. Initially, he can only evaluate the actions of others: other children or literary heroes, but is not able to evaluate his own. Then, in middle preschool age, the child, evaluating the actions of a literary character, can justify his assessment based on the relationships between the characters in the work. And in the second half of preschool age, he can already evaluate his behavior and tries to act in accordance with the moral standards that he has learned.

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

1. The emergence of the first schematic outline of a complete children's worldview. A child cannot live in disorder; he needs to put everything in order, to see the patterns of relationships. In order to explain natural phenomena, children use moral, animistic and artificial reasons. This is confirmed by the children’s statements, for example: “The sun moves so that everyone can be warm and light.” This happens because the child believes that at the center of everything (from what surrounds a person to the phenomena of nature) there is a person, which was proven by J. Piaget, who showed that a child in preschool age has an artificialistic worldview.

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

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

2. The emergence of primary ethical authorities. The child tries to understand what is good and what is bad. Simultaneously with the assimilation of ethical standards comes aesthetic development(“Beautiful cannot be bad”).

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

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

5. The emergence of personal consciousness. The child strives to occupy a certain place in the system interpersonal relationships, in socially significant and socially valued activities.

6. The emergence of the student’s internal position. The child develops a strong cognitive need; in addition, he strives to get into the adult world by starting to engage in other activities. These two needs lead to the child developing the internal position of a schoolchild. L.I. Bozhovich believed that this position may indicate the child’s readiness to study at school.

Psychological readiness– this is a high level of intellectual, motivational and voluntary spheres.

Many scientists have studied the problem of a child’s readiness to study at school. One of them was L.S. Vygotsky, who argued that readiness for schooling is formed in the learning process: “Until we begin to teach the child in the logic of the program, there is still no readiness for learning; Usually, readiness for schooling develops by the end of the first half of the first year of study” (Vygotsky L.S., 1991).

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

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

The experiments of D.B. were devoted to the degree of development of voluntary behavior. Elkonina. He took children aged 5, 6 and 7 years old, put a pile of matches in front of each of them and asked them to move them one by one to another place. A seven-year-old child, with well-developed volition, scrupulously completed the task to the end, a six-year-old child rearranged matches for a while, then began to build something, and a five-year-old child brought his own task to this task.

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

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

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

2) mastery of the means and standards of cognitive activity that allow the child to move on to understanding the conservation of quantity;

3) transition from egocentrism to centralization.

Motivational development must also be included here. By tracking a child's development taking into account these parameters, it is possible to determine his readiness for school.

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

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

Motivational readiness. The presence of internal motivation is of particular importance: a child goes to school because it will be interesting for him and he wants to know a lot. Preparing for school implies the formation of a new “social position”. This includes the attitude towards school, educational activities, teachers, and oneself. According to E.O. Smirnova, it is also important for learning that the child has personal forms of communication with adults.

Volitional readiness. Her presence is very important for the further successful education of a first-grader, because hard work awaits him, and he will be required to be able to do not only what he wants, but also what is necessary.

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

1. Three-year crisis: seven stars of symptoms……………………………………………………….4

2. Social situation of personality development in the preschool period………….13

3. Leading activity of a preschooler……………………………………17

Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………….20

Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………….21

Introduction

Childhood, as a sociocultural phenomenon, is of a specific historical nature and has its own history of development. The nature and content of individual periods of childhood are influenced by the specific socio-economic and ethnocultural characteristics of the society where the child grows up, and, first of all, by the system of public education. Within successively changing types of children's activities, the child appropriates historically developed human abilities. Modern science has abundant evidence that the psychological new formations that develop in childhood are of enduring importance for the development of abilities and the formation of personality.

Preschool age is a stage of mental development of children, covering the period from 3 to 6-7 years, characterized by the fact that the leading activity is play, and is very important for the formation of the child’s personality. Within its framework, three periods are distinguished:

1) junior preschool age - from 3 to 4 years;

2) average preschool age - from 4 to 5 years;

3) senior preschool age - from 5 to 7 years.

During preschool age, a child discovers, with the help of an adult, the world of human relationships, different types activities.

The purpose of the study is the psychology of preschoolers.

The object of the study is a preschool child.

The subject of the study is the human psyche, the psyche of a preschool child.

1. Three-year crisis: seven stars of symptoms

The first symptom that characterizes the onset of a crisis is the emergence of negativism. We must clearly imagine what we are talking about here. When they talk about children's negativism, then it must be distinguished from ordinary disobedience. With negativism, all the child’s behavior runs counter to what adults offer him. If a child does not want to do something because it is unpleasant for him (for example, he is playing, but he is forced to go to bed, but he does not want to sleep), this will not be negativism. The child wants to do what he is drawn to, what he has aspirations for, but he is forbidden; if he does do this, it will not be negativism. This will be a negative reaction to the adult's demand, a reaction that is motivated by the child's strong desire.

Negativism refers to such manifestations in a child’s behavior when he does not want to do something just because one of the adults suggested it, i.e. This is a reaction not to the content of the action, but to the adults’ proposal itself. Negativism includes, as a distinguishing feature from ordinary disobedience, what the child does not do because he was asked to do so. The child is playing in the yard, and he doesn’t want to go into the room. He is called to sleep, but he does not obey, despite the fact that his mother asks him to do so. And if she had asked for something else, he would have done what pleased him. With a negativity reaction, the child does not do something precisely because he is asked to do it. There is a kind of shift in motivations here.

Let me give you a typical example of behavior, which I will take from observations in our clinic. A girl in her 4th year of life, with a prolonged crisis of three years and pronounced negativism, wants to be taken to a conference where children are discussed. The girl is even planning to go there. I'm inviting a girl. But since I call her, she won't come for anything. She resists with all her might. "Well, then go to your place." She doesn't go. “Well, come here” - she doesn’t come here either. When she is left alone, she begins to cry. She's upset that she wasn't accepted. Thus, negativism forces the child to act contrary to his affective desire. The girl would like to go, but because she was asked to do it, she will never do it.

With a sharp form of negativism, it comes to the point that you can get the opposite answer to any proposal made in an authoritative tone. A number of authors have beautifully described similar experiments. For example, an adult, approaching a child, says in an authoritative tone: “This dress is black,” and receives the answer: “No, it is white.” And when they say: “It’s white,” the child replies: “No, it’s black.” The desire to contradict, the desire to do the opposite of what one is told is negativism in the proper sense of the word.

A negative reaction differs from ordinary disobedience in two significant ways. Firstly, here the social attitude, the attitude towards another person, comes to the fore. In this case, the reaction to a certain action of the child was not motivated by the content of the situation itself: whether or not the child wants to do what he is asked to do. Negativism is an act of a social nature: it is primarily addressed to the person, and not to the content of what the child is asked for. And the second significant point is the child’s new attitude towards his own affect. The child does not act directly under the influence of passion, but acts contrary to his tendency. Regarding the attitude to affect, let me remind you of early childhood before the crisis of three years. What is most characteristic of early childhood, from the point of view of all research, is the complete unity of affect and activity. The child is completely in the grip of affect, completely inside the situation. In preschool age, a motive also appears in relation to other people, which directly follows from the affect associated with other situations. If the child’s refusal, the motivation for the refusal lies in the situation, if he does not do it because he does not want to do it or wants to do something else, then this will not be negativism. Negativism is a reaction, a tendency where the motive is outside the given situation.

The second symptom of the three-year crisis is stubbornness. If negativism must be distinguished from ordinary stubbornness, then stubbornness must be distinguished from perseverance. For example, a child wants something and persistently strives to get it done. This is not stubbornness; this occurs even before the crisis of three years. For example, a child wants to have a thing, but cannot immediately get it. He insists on having this thing given to him. This is not stubbornness. Stubbornness is a child’s reaction when he insists on something not because he really wants it, but because he demanded it. He insists on his demand. Let's say a child is called from the yard into the house; he refuses, they give him arguments that convince him, but because he has already refused, he does not go. The motive for stubbornness is that the child is bound by his original decision. Only this will be stubbornness.

Two things distinguish stubbornness from ordinary persistence. The first point is common with negativism and has to do with motivation. If a child insists on what he now wants, this will not be stubbornness. For example, he loves sledding and therefore will strive to be outside all day.

And the second point. If negativism is characterized by a social tendency, i.e. a child does something opposite to what adults tell him, then here, with stubbornness, a tendency towards himself is characteristic. It cannot be said that a child freely moves from one affect to another, no, he does this only because he said so, he sticks to it. We have a different relationship of motivations to the child’s own personality than before the crisis.

The third point is usually called the German word “Trotz”. The symptom is considered so central to age that the entire critical age is called trotz alter, in Russian - the age of obstinacy.

Obstinacy differs from negativism in that it is impersonal. Negativism is always directed against the adult who is now encouraging the child to take one action or another. And obstinacy is, rather, directed against the norms of upbringing established for the child, against the way of life; it is expressed in a kind of childish discontent, causing “come on!”, with which the child responds to everything that is offered to him and what is done. Here, an obstinate attitude is reflected not in relation to a person, but in relation to the entire way of life that developed before the age of 3, in relation to the norms that are proposed, to the toys that were previously of interest. Obstinacy differs from stubbornness in that it is directed outward, in relation to the external, and is caused by the desire to insist on own desire.

It is quite understandable why, in a family authoritarian bourgeois upbringing, obstinacy appears as the main symptom of the crisis of three years. Before that, the child was caressed, obedient, he was led by the hand, and suddenly he becomes an obstinate creature who is dissatisfied with everything. This is the opposite of a silky, smooth, soft child, this is something that constantly resists what is done to it.

Obstinacy differs from the child’s usual lack of compliance in that it is biased. The child rebels, his dissatisfaction, causing “come on!” tendentious in the sense that it is actually imbued with a hidden rebellion against what the child has dealt with before.

There remains a fourth symptom, which the Germans call Eigensinn, or self-will, self-will. It lies in the child’s tendency towards independence. This didn't happen before. Now the child wants to do everything himself.

Of the symptoms of the analyzed crisis, three more are indicated, but they are of secondary importance. The first is a protest-riot. Everything in the child’s behavior begins to have a protesting character in a number of individual manifestations, which could not have happened before. The child’s entire behavior takes on the features of protest, as if the child is at war with those around him, in constant conflict with them. Frequent quarrels between children and parents are common. Associated with this is the symptom of devaluation. For example, in a good family a child begins to swear. S. Buhler figuratively described the horror of the family when the mother heard from the child that she was a fool, which he could not say before.