The general influence of play on the development of the child's thinking. The psychological impact of play on the development of a preschooler

In this article:

To understand the importance of play for the mental development of a child, it is necessary to understand the concept itself.

At preschool age, it is the game that is considered the main activity of the baby. During the game process, the child develops the main personal characteristics and a number of psychological qualities. In addition, it is in the game that certain types of activity originate, which eventually acquire an independent character.

A psychological portrait of a preschooler can be drawn quite easily by just watching him play for a few minutes. This opinion is shared by both experienced teachers and child psychologists, who equate play activity in childhood in importance with work or service in the life of an adult. How is the baby playing? Focused and passionate? Or maybe with impatience and lack of concentration? Most likely, he will also show himself at work when he grows up.

What is the effect of gaming?

First of all, it is worth noting its influence on the formation of mental processes. While playing, kids learn to concentrate, remember information, actions. Directing the activities of a preschooler is easiest and most convenient in the game.

In the process, the baby will learn to concentrate attention to individual objects involved in the process, keep the plot in mind, predict actions. It is imperative for a child to be careful, following the rules. Otherwise, peers may refuse to participate in the future.

The game actively develops the mental activity of a preschool child. The kid along the way learns to replace some objects with others, comes up with names for new objects, involving them in the process. Over time, actions with objects fade away, as the child transfers them to the level of oral thinking. As a result, it can be noted that the game in this case accelerates the child's transition to thinking in relation to representations.

On the other hand, role-playing games allow the child to diversify their thinking, taking into account the opinions of other people, they teach the child to predict their behavior and correct their own behavior based on it.

Children's games can be characterized as follows.

At preschool age, children try to introduce elements of a role-playing game into life, during which they show a desire to get closer to the life of adults, demonstrate the relationships and activities of adults from their own point of view.

The role of role-playing games in the life of preschool children

Even Friedrich Schiller once wrote that a person is such only when he plays, and vice versa - only a playing person can be called him in the full sense of the word. Jean-Jacques Rousseau also at one time focused on
that by watching a small child play, you can learn a lot about him, if not everything, then a lot. But the famous psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud was sure that through play activities, children are trying to find a way to quickly become adults.

The game is a great opportunity for a child to express emotions that in real life he might not have dared to express. In addition, during the gameplay, the baby learns to adopt special life experiences by modeling situations, planning and experimenting.

Playing, a child at preschool age learns to express feelings without fear of being scolded or ridiculed. He is not afraid of consequences, and this allows him to be more open. By showing feelings and emotions, the baby learns to look at them from the outside, thus realizing that he is in complete control of what is happening and knows how to regulate the situation, resolve conflicts.

The game has a serious impact on the mental development of the child, and it is difficult to doubt it. It is during the game that the child gets acquainted with the properties of objects, learns
recognize their hidden qualities. His impressions accumulate like a snowball, and in the course of the game they acquire a certain meaning and are systematized.

During the game, the preschooler transfers actions to different objects, learns to generalize, developing verbal and logical thinking. In the game process, the baby usually compares himself only with those adults who play an important role in his life, whom he respects and loves. He can copy their individual actions at a younger age and reproduce their relationships with each other at an older preschool age. That is why the game can be considered the most real school for the development of social relations with the modeling of adult behavior.

The learning process and the role of gaming activity in it

With the help of the game, the child receives new opportunities for personal development, reproducing the behavior and relationships of adults. In the process, the child learns to establish relationships with peers, realize the degree of responsibility for the implementation of the rules of the game. Thus, in the course of the game, the child learns volitional regulation of behavior.

At preschoolers,
both younger and older, such interesting and developing activities as drawing and designing are associated with play activities, to which kids have a special attraction from an early age.

In the course of gaming activity, educational activity is also formed, which will eventually become the main one. Naturally, the doctrine cannot independently arise from the game. Adults are responsible for its input. It is very important that the preschooler learns to learn during the game. In this case, he will treat him both easily and with an understanding of the need to comply with the basic rules.

The influence of games on the development of speech

Game activity has no less important role in the development of speech than in teaching. To become "their own" in the game, the child needs to be able to express emotions and desires in words, that is, to have certain speech skills. This need will contribute to the development of coherent speech using
a large number of words. By playing, preschoolers learn to communicate.

In middle and older preschool age, children already know how to agree on who will play what role in the process. The termination of the game can cause the destruction of communication.

In the course of play activity, the basic mental functions of the baby are restructured, and sign functions develop as a result of replacing objects with each other.

Game activity and communication skills

Like other activities, the game will require the baby to display a number of volitional qualities in order to establish strong contact with the participants. For play to be enjoyable, a child must have social skills. This means that the preschooler must understand that it is impossible to do without communication and the desire to establish a connection with peers participating in
game.

An additional plus is the manifestation of initiative and the desire to convince others that the game should be played according to certain rules, taking into account the opinion of the majority. All these qualities, which in one word can be called "sociability", will be formed in the process of gaming activity.

During the game, children often have controversial situations and even quarrels. It is believed that conflicts appear because each of the participants has their own ideas about what scenario the game should follow. By the nature of conflicts, one can judge the development of the game as a joint activity of preschoolers.

Voluntary behavior during gaming activities

Game activity contributes to the formation of arbitrary behavior in a preschooler. It is during the game that the baby learns to obey the rules, which over time will be observed in other areas of activity. Under
arbitrariness, in this case, should be understood as the presence of a pattern of behavior that the preschooler will follow.

By the senior preschool age for the child, the rules and norms will be of particular importance. They will influence his behavior. By the time they enter first grade, children will already be able to cope with their own behavior, controlling the whole process, and not individual actions.

In addition, it should be noted that it is in the course of play activities that the needs sphere of a preschooler will develop. He will begin to have motives and new goals arising from them. During the game, the child will easily give up fleeting desires in the name of big goals. He will understand that other participants are watching him
game and he has no right to violate the established rules by changing the functions of the role. Thus, the baby develops patience and discipline.

During a role-playing game with an interesting plot and numerous roles, children learn to fantasize, they develop their imagination. In addition, in the course of this kind of play activity, babies learn to overcome cognitive egocentrism by training arbitrary memory.

Thus, in children, play is an independent activity, as a result of which they learn to cognize various spheres of social reality.

Toys are an integral part of the process

Play without using toys? At preschool age, this is almost impossible. The toy is assigned several roles at once. On the one hand, it contributes to the mental development of the baby. On the other hand, it is both a subject for entertainment and
means of preparing the child for life in modern society. Toys can be made from different materials and with different functions.

For example, popular didactic toys will stimulate the harmonious development of the baby, improving his mood, and motor toys will become indispensable for the development of motor skills and motor abilities.

From childhood, a child is surrounded by dozens of toys that act as substitutes for a number of items from adult life. These can be models of cars, aircraft and weapons, various dolls. Mastering them, the kid learns to realize the functional significance of objects, which contributes to his mental development.

Game activity

Play is the main activity. Play is a form of activity in which the child reproduces the basic meanings of human activity and learns those forms of relationships that will be realized and carried out later. He does this by substituting some objects for others, and real actions - reduced.

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

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

In the game, an internal plan of action is formed. It happens in the following way. The child, playing, focuses on human relationships. In order to reflect them, he must internally play not only the entire system of his actions, but also the entire system of the consequences of these actions, and this is possible only when creating an internal plan of action.

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

Types of games and their impact on the mental development of the child

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

Children play most of the time. During the period of preschool childhood, play goes through a significant path of development (Table 1).

Table 1 Main stages of play activity at preschool age

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

In the middle period of preschool childhood, the child needs a peer with whom he will play. Now the main direction of the game is the imitation of relationships between people. Role-playing games have different themes; certain rules are introduced, which the child strictly adheres to.

The orientation of the games is diverse: family, where the heroes are mom, dad, grandmother, grandfather and other relatives; educational (nanny, kindergarten teacher); professional (doctor, commander, pilot); fabulous (goat, wolf, hare), etc. Both adults and children can participate in the game, or they can be replaced with toys.

In older preschool age, role-playing games are distinguished by a variety of topics, roles, game actions, and rules. Objects can be conditional, and the game turns into a symbolic one, 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 the game, some children begin to show organizational skills, become leaders in the game.

During the game, mental processes develop, in particular voluntary attention and memory. If the child is interested in the game, then he involuntarily focuses on the objects included in the game situation, on the content of the actions being played and on the plot. If he is distracted and does not properly fulfill the role assigned to him, he can 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 playing activity, mental abilities develop. 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 appearance of a substitute object becomes a support for the development of 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 representations.

In the course of the role-playing game, imagination develops. From the substitution of some objects for others and the ability to take on various roles, the child proceeds to the identification of objects and actions with them in his imagination. For example, six-year-old Masha, looking at a photograph showing a girl who propped her cheek with her finger and looks thoughtfully at a doll sitting near a toy sewing machine, says: “The girl thinks that her doll is sewing.” According to this statement, one can judge the way of the game peculiar to the girl.

The game also affects the personal development of the 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. The basic skills of communication with peers are being formed, feelings and volitional regulation of behavior are being developed.

Reflective thinking begins to develop. Reflection is the ability of a person to analyze his actions, deeds, motives and correlate them with universal human values, as well as with the actions, deeds and motives of other people. The game contributes to the development of reflection, because it makes it possible to control how the action that is part of the communication process is performed. For example, playing in the hospital, the 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 an interest in drawing and designing. At first, this interest manifests itself in a playful way: the child, drawing, plays out a certain plot, for example, the animals drawn by him fight among themselves, catch up with each other, people go home, the wind blows away the apples hanging on the trees, etc. Gradually, the drawing is transferred to the result of the action and a drawing is born.

Learning activity begins to take shape inside play activity. Elements of learning activity do not appear in the game, they are introduced by an adult. The child begins to learn by playing, and therefore treats learning activities as a role-playing game, and soon masters some learning activities.

Since the child pays special attention to the role-playing game, we will consider it in more detail.

The game does not just play an important role in the development of children, it is the leading activity in which the development of the child takes place. The game is a form of active mental reflection by the child of the surrounding reality. The game is the physical and mental development of the child.

It is in the game that the development of mental processes takes place, and important mental neoplasms appear, such as imagination, orientation in the motives of other people's activities, and the ability to interact with peers.

Gaming activities are different and are classified according to their tasks.

Games can be classified according to various indicators: the number of players, the presence of objects, the degree of mobility, etc.

According to the main goal of the game are divided into several types:

• Didactic- games aimed at the development of cognitive processes, the assimilation of knowledge, the development of speech.
• Movable- games for the development of movements.
• - activities to reproduce life situations with the distribution of roles.

In games, children's attention is formed, memory is activated, thinking develops, experience is accumulated, movements are improved, interpersonal interaction is created. In the game, for the first time, there is a need for self-esteem, which is an assessment of one's abilities in comparison with the abilities of other participants.

Role-playing games introduce the world of adults, clarify knowledge about daily activities, allow faster and deeper assimilation of social experience. The value of the game is so great that it can only be compared with learning. The difference is that at preschool age the game is the leading activity, and without it even the learning process becomes impossible.

The motive of the game is not in the result, but in the process itself. The child plays because he is interested in this process itself. The essence of the game is that children reflect in the game various aspects of everyday life, clarify their knowledge and master various subjective positions.

But the game implies not only fictional relationships (daughters-mothers, seller and buyer, etc.), but also real relationships with each other. It is in the game that the first sympathies, a sense of collectivism, the need for communication with peers appear. The game develops mental processes.

• Development of thinking

The game has a constant impact on the mental development of the child. Acting with substitute objects, the child endows it with a new name and acts with it in accordance with the name, and not for its intended purpose. Substitute object is a support for mental activity. Actions with substitutes serve as the basis for the knowledge of real objects.

Role play changes the position of the child, transferring him from the status of a child to an adult level. The adoption of the role by the child allows the child to approach adult relationships at the level of play.

The transition from objective actions to role-playing games is due to the fact that the child moves from visual-active thinking to figurative and logical, that is, actions move from practical to mental.

The process of thinking is associated with memory, since thinking is based on the experience of the child, the reproduction of which is impossible without memory images. The child gets the opportunity to transform the world, he begins to establish cause-and-effect relationships.

• Memory development

The game primarily affects the development of memory. This is no coincidence, as in any game the child needs to memorize and reproduce information: the rules and conditions of the game, game actions, distribution of roles. In this case, the problem of forgetfulness simply does not arise. If the child does not remember the rules or conditions, then this will be negatively perceived by peers, which will lead to "exile" from the game. For the first time, a child has a need for intentional (conscious) memorization. This is caused by the desire to win or take a certain status in relationships with peers. The development of memory occurs throughout the preschool age and continues in the future.

• Development of attention

The game requires concentration from the child, improving attention: voluntary and involuntary. The child has a need to concentrate in determining the game rules and conditions. In addition, some didactic and outdoor games require attention from the child throughout the game. Loss of attention will certainly lead to the loss or discontent of his peers, which affects his social status.

The development of the volume and duration of attention occurs gradually and is closely related to the mental development of the child. At the same time, it is important to develop voluntary attention as a volitional component. Involuntary attention is used at the level of children's interest.

• Development of the imagination

Role-playing games are interpreted in taking on the role of conformity to it. The behavior of the child, his actions and speech must correspond to the role. The more developed the imagination, the more interesting and complex the images created by the child become. At the same time, peers often give each other an independent assessment, distributing roles so that everyone would be interested in playing. This means one thing: the manifestation of imagination is welcome, and, therefore, its development takes place.

The impact of play on child development.

At preschool age, the leading activity for children is the game. Through the game, the child's needs to influence the world begin to form and manifest. A.M. Gorky wrote: "The game is the way for children to learn about the world in which they live and which they are called upon to change." The game, as it were, creates in front of the baby a semblance of life that is still waiting for him ahead. In order for a child to be interested in living and learning new things, he must be taught to play.

Young children do not know how to control themselves and their behavior. This feature of theirs causes a lot of trouble to parents and educators. Usually, adults try to educate children with direct instructions and instructions: "Don't make noise," "Don't litter," "Behave." But it doesn't help. Children still make noise, litter and behave "indecently". Verbal methods are completely powerless in the education of preschool children. Other forms of education are much more suitable for them.

Play is a traditional, recognized method of raising young children. The game corresponds to the natural needs and desires of the child, and therefore, in the game, children willingly and with pleasure do what they still cannot do in real life.Active interest in the phenomena of life, in people, animals, the need for socially significant activities, the child satisfies through play activities.

The game, like a fairy tale, teaches the child to be imbued with the thoughts and feelings of the people depicted, going beyond the circle of ordinary impressions into the wider world of human aspirations and heroic deeds.

"The game is the need of a growing child's body. In the game, the child's physical strength is developed, the hand is firmer, the body is more flexible, or rather the eye, intelligence, resourcefulness, initiative are developed. In the game, organizational skills are developed in children, endurance, the ability to weigh circumstances, etc." - wrote N.K. Krupskaya.

The game is an important condition for the social development of children, because in it:

They get acquainted with different types of activities of adults,

Learn to understand the feelings and states of other people, empathize with them,

Gain communication skills with peers and older children.

Physically develop, stimulating physical activity.

All games usually reproduce certain actions, thereby meeting the needs of the child to take part in the life and activities of adults. But the child becomes an adult only in the imagination, mentally. Various forms of adult serious activity serve as models that are reproduced in play activity: focusing on an adult as a model, taking on one role or another, the child imitates the adult, acts like an adult, but only with substitute objects (toys) in the plot-role-playing role. game. In the game for the child, not only the properties of objects are essential, but the attitude to the object, hence the possibility of replacing objects, which contributes to the development of imagination. While playing, the child also masters the corresponding actions. Game activity by the end of preschool age is differentiated into such forms as role-playing games, dramatization games, games with rules. The game develops not only cognitive processes, speech, behavior, communication skills, but also the personality of the child. Play at preschool age is a universal form of development; it creates a zone of proximal development and serves as the basis for the formation of future learning activities.

The transition from preschool to school age is a complex and not always painless process for a child. We, adults, can help our baby to cross this line calmly and imperceptibly. On the threshold of the school, the child should not be so much loaded with learning as given the opportunity to play educational games, but to teach through game forms.

It is very important to approach schoolwork harmoniously. Classes for preschool students at the Yasenevo Out-of-school Work Center (director - Gulishevskaya L.E.) are held in a playful way and are aimed at developing attention, memory, logic, and thinking. Children learn to learn - broaden their horizons, learn to communicate, cooperate with each other, get acquainted with the world of emotions.
The first step in the adaptive transition of a child of preschool age to school age is the studio of early aesthetic development. Children 4-5 years old are characterized by active speech development. They also have a fast-paced imagination. Therefore, role-playing games are used in the classroom, aimed at developing important skills and abilities. During the game, children learn to think independently, work together with peers and teachers, get acquainted with the world of emotions, form a holistic view of the world around them.
Learning turns into an exciting process and forms a desire to learn in children.

At the age of 5-6 years, the child continues to improve through the game. This is also a time of gradual transition to such learning, when the child can and wants to do what an adult requires of him. Children develop social maturity. This is an important factor in successful schooling.
At this age, hands, head and tongue are connected by one thread, and in the classroom, special attention is paid to the development of motor skills, for this finger games are used. In addition, in the classes at the creative association "Filippok" in the TsVR "Yasenevo" much attention is paid to games aimed at developing cognitive abilities and mental processes that are necessary in the future for successful educational activities. Many teachers face the problem of inattention of children. To solve this problem, a variety of games are held in the classes of the Filippok association. For example: Game "What has changed?".

The game is played like this: small items (an eraser, a pencil, a notebook, net sticks, etc. in the amount of 10-15 pieces) are laid out on a table and covered with a newspaper. Whoever wants to test his powers of observation first, please come to the table! He is offered to familiarize himself with the location of objects within 30 seconds (count up to 30); then he should turn his back to the table, and at this time three or four objects are shifted to other places. Again, 30 seconds are given to inspect the items, after which they are again covered with a sheet of newspaper. Now let's ask the player: what has changed in the arrangement of objects, which of them have been moved?

Don't think that answering this question will always be easy! Answers are scored. For each correctly indicated item, the player is credited with winning 1 point, but for each mistake, 1 point is removed from the number won. An error is considered when an object is named that has not been transferred to another place.

Let's mix our "collection", putting the items in a different order, and call another participant in the game to the table. So one by one, all team members will pass the test.

The conditions of the game for everyone should be the same: if four objects were swapped for the first player, then the same number is shifted for the rest.

In this case, the best result is 4 points won. Everyone who passes the test with such a result will be considered the winners in the game.

Any game also has an excellent psychotherapeutic effect, since in it a child can unconsciously and involuntarily release accumulated aggression, resentment or negative feelings through play actions, "winning back" them. The game gives him a special feeling of omnipotence and freedom.

In the classes on developmental psychology through fine arts activities are usedgames-exercises to reduce psychological stress, anxiety, aggressiveness, for cohesion, etc. For example, a game to relieve general stress and psychological fatigue "Magic Dream". Children repeat the words of the teacher in chorus, while trying to show what they are saying.

Teacher:

Everyone can dance, run, jump and play,

But not everyone knows how to relax, to rest.

We have a game like this, very easy, simple.

(speech slows down, becomes quieter)

Movement slows down, tension disappears

And it becomes clear: relaxation is pleasant.

Eyelashes fall, eyes close,

We calmly rest, we fall asleep with a magical dream.

The tension has flown away and the whole body is relaxed.

It's like we're lying on the grass...

On green soft grass...

The sun is warming now, our feet are warm.

Breathe easily, evenly, deeply,

The lips are warm and flaccid, but not at all tired.

Lips slightly open and pleasantly relaxed

And our obedient tongue is accustomed to being relaxed.

(louder, faster, more energetic)

It was nice to rest, and now it's time to get up.

Clench your fingers tightly into a fist

And press it to your chest - like that!

Stretch, smile, take a deep breath, wake up!

Open your eyes wide - one, two, three, four!

(children pronounce in chorus with the teacher)

Cheerful, cheerful and again we are ready for classes.

At the discretion of the teacher, the text can be used in whole or in part.

Now many parents want their children to start learning a foreign language from an early age. The teachers of our Center, in the organization of teaching a foreign language at the initial stage, take into account the significant psychological and pedagogical differences between children of preschool and primary school age. For children of primary school age, brightness and immediacy of perception, ease of entering into images are characteristic. Children are quickly involved in game activities and independently organize themselves in a group game according to the rules.

Game activity includes exercises that form the ability to highlight the main features of objects, compare; groups of games for the generalization of objects according to certain characteristics; groups of games, during which younger students develop the ability to control themselves, the speed of reaction to a word, phonemic hearing. The game contributes to the development of memory, which is predominant at the initial stage of learning a foreign language. For example, playing with movements in English for children:

(If you're happy, happy, happy

Touch your nose, nose, nose)

If you "re sad, sad, sad,
Shake your leg, leg, leg.

(If you are sad

Spin your leg)

If you're thin, thin, thin,
Raise your arms, arms, arms.

(If you are thin,

Raise your hands)

If you're tall, tall, tall,
Do it all.

Children sing to the tune of the song "If you like it, then do it ..." and touch their nose, then twist their legs, etc. (according to the content of the song). Repeat several times.

(If you are tall

do it all)

No one argues that a child needs to be developed and developed in many ways, but when it comes to practice, for some reason, all forces are directed to mental development. If a child by a certain age does not know how to control his body, few people care, but if the child does not distinguish, for example, colors, or does not know the numbers, then the mother is very worried about this. Although scientists and educators have long proved that the physical, mental and emotional development of the child is very strongly interconnected.

It is for this reason that our Center pays attention to outdoor games aimed at the physical development of students. With the help of outdoor games, a variety of motor qualities are developed, and above all, coordination and dexterity. At the same time, motor habits are fixed and improved; motor qualities. As a rule, all muscle groups can be involved in them. This contributes to the harmonious development of the musculoskeletal system. Outdoor games bring up high moral and volitional qualities in students and improve health, promote proper physical development and the formation of vital motor habits and skills. Such games are an incomparable means of tempering and strengthening health. For example, the game "Turnip", used in recreational physical education classes.

Participate in the game12 players.

There are two teams of 6 children. This is a grandfather, grandmother, Bug, granddaughter, cat and mouse. There are 2 chairs on the opposite wall of the hall. On each chair sits a "turnip" (a child in a hat with the image of a turnip).

The grandfather starts the game. On a signal, he runs to the turnip, runs around it and returns, the grandmother clings to him (takes him by the waist), and they continue to run together, go around the turnip again and run back, then the granddaughter joins them, etc. At the end of the game for a turnip clings to a mouse. The team that pulls out the turnip the fastest wins.

In our Center, games are given great importance, since they are closely related to the possibilities of solving problems in development, education and upbringing. In the game, the child learns the world around him, his thinking, speech, feelings, will develop, relationships with peers are formed, self-esteem and self-consciousness are formed, and behavior is arbitrary. The development of the child in the game occurs, first of all, due to the diverse orientation of its content.
Thus, the daily management of gaming activities helps to form a creative attitude to reality, the development of imagination. When creating adequate conditions and proper organization in the game, a correction occurs, both for individual mental functions and for the personality of the child as a whole.Adults usually think that a game for a child is fun, a free pastime. But this is far from true. In the game, the child develops, and his meaningful play activity is quite comparable with the serious occupation of adults. How important a game is for a child can be judged, if only because in modern psychotherapy for children there is a special section called "play therapy".Well, and most importantly, the game is a joy. Remembering childhood, each of us still remembers with warmth and joy the most fun and funny moments from happy children's games with friends in the yard, classmates, parents.

primary school teacher NCHU OO secondary school "Promo-M"

It is known that at the younger preschool age, the assimilation of new knowledge in the game is much more successful than in the classroom. A learning task posed in a game form has the advantage that in a game situation the child understands the very need to acquire new knowledge and methods of action. A child, carried away by the attractive concept of a new game, does not seem to notice that he is learning, although at the same time he continually encounters difficulties that require a restructuring of his ideas and cognitive activity. If in the lesson the child performs the task of an adult, then in the game he solves his own problem.

In modern preschool pedagogy, the educational and teaching value of the game is recognized in principle. But in the daily pedagogical practice of the kindergarten, there is practically no time left for the game. Moreover, it is used, as a rule, only to consolidate the knowledge gained in the classroom. Such an artificial division of learning into the assimilation of the new and the consolidation of the learned contradicts the psychological characteristics of the cognitive process in the early preschool years. Knowledge presented in a ready-made form and not related to the vital interests of a preschooler is poorly absorbed by him and does not develop him. In play, it is the child himself who seeks to learn what he does not yet know how to do. However, the huge possibilities of developing games (didactic games, games with rules, etc.) are usually not used. The repertoire of such games is very poor and covers a narrow range of tasks (mostly sensory games). There are especially few joint games in which the whole group participates. There are practically no games aimed at the development of strong-willed, moral qualities of a person and at the formation of humane relations between children.

In addition, often in the classroom, the developmental game is replaced by game techniques, where the activity of an adult predominates, or by simple exercises.

The use of didactic toys or aids is also often called a game - it is worth giving a child a pyramid or nesting doll in the hands and it is considered that the game has taken place. But it's not. An educational game is not any action with didactic material and not a game technique in a compulsory training session. This is a specific, full-fledged and quite meaningful activity for children. It has its own motives and its own methods of action.

Developing games are characterized by the fact that they contain a ready-made game plan offered to the child, game material and rules (communication and objective actions). All this is determined by the purpose of the game, that is, by what this game was created for, what it is aimed at. The purpose of the game always has two aspects: 1) cognitive, that is, what we should teach the child, what methods of action with objects we want to convey to him; 2) educational, that is, those ways of cooperation, forms of communication and attitudes towards other people that should be instilled in children.

In both cases, the goal of the game should be formulated not as the transfer of specific knowledge, skills and abilities, but as the development of certain mental processes, or abilities of the child.

The game plan is the game situation into which the child is introduced and which he perceives as his own. This is achieved if the design of the game is based on the specific needs and inclinations of children, as well as the characteristics of their experience. For example, younger preschoolers are characterized by a special interest in the objective world. The attractiveness of individual things sets the meaning of their activities. This means that the idea of ​​the game can be based on actions with objects or on the desire to get an object in one's own hands.

In all cases, the idea of ​​the game is realized in the game actions that are offered to the child in order for the game to take place. In some games you need to find something, in others you need to perform certain movements, in others you need to exchange objects, etc.

Game actions always include a learning task, that is, what is for each child the most important condition for personal success in the game and his emotional connection with other participants. The solution of a learning task requires active mental and volitional efforts from the child, but it also gives the greatest satisfaction. The content of the learning task can be very diverse: do not run away ahead of time or name the shape of an object, have time to find the right picture in a certain time, memorize several objects, etc.

Game material also encourages the child to play, is important for the learning and development of the baby and, of course, for the implementation of the game plan.

And finally, an important feature of the game are the game rules. The rules of the game bring to the consciousness of the children its plan, game actions and the learning task.

Game rules are of two types: rules of action and rules of communication. The following can serve as examples of action rules: remember and name only that toy that no one has named yet (the game “What can you get, my friend?”); do not name the object shown in the picture, but only make a riddle about it, etc. Examples of communication rules can be the following: do not prompt or interfere with another to guess, act in turn or when called by the teacher, play together, listen to each other, choose those children who has not yet been in the circle, etc. The fulfillment of all these rules requires certain efforts from the child, limits his spontaneous activity. But this is what makes the game exciting, interesting and useful for the development of the child.

In order for the game to really captivate children and personally affect each of them, an adult must become its direct participant. By his actions, emotional communication with children, an adult involves them in joint activities, makes it important and meaningful for them. It becomes, as it were, the center of attraction * in the game. This is very important at the first stages of acquaintance with a new game, especially for younger preschoolers. At the same time, the adult organizes and directs the play—he helps the children overcome difficulties, approves of their good deeds and achievements, encourages adherence to the rules, and points out the mistakes of some children. The combination of two different roles for adults - a participant and an organizer - is an important distinguishing feature of a developing game.

Due to the fact that the developmental game is an active and meaningful activity for the child, in which he willingly and voluntarily joins, the new experience acquired in it becomes his personal property, since it can be freely applied in other conditions (therefore, the need to consolidate new knowledge disappears). The transfer of the acquired experience to new situations in his own games is an important indicator of the development of the child's creative initiative. In addition, many games teach children to act "in the mind", to think, which liberates the imagination of children, develops their creative abilities and abilities.

An educational game is a fairly effective means of developing such qualities as organization, self-control, etc. Its rules, which are mandatory for all, regulate the behavior of children and limit their impulsiveness. If the rules of behavior declared by the educator outside the game are usually poorly assimilated by children and often violated by them, then the rules of the game, which become a condition for exciting joint activities, quite naturally enter the lives of children. Of great importance is the joint nature of the game, in which the educator and the group of peers encourage the child to follow the rules, that is, to consciously control their actions. Evaluating the actions of peers together with an adult, noting their mistakes, the child better learns the rules of the game, and then realizes his own miscalculations. Gradually, prerequisites for the formation of conscious behavior and self-control arise, which is the practical development of moral norms. The rules of the game become, as it were, the norm of behavior in a group, they bring new social experience. By doing them, children win the approval of an adult, the recognition and respect of their peers.

Thus, at preschool age, educational games contain versatile conditions for the formation of the most valuable personality traits. However, for their development to really take place, it is necessary to follow a certain sequence in the selection of games.