A game. The main stages of play activity in preschool age. article
Leading activity
The leading activity in preschool age is play.
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 games are particularly developed at this age. 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 of a modeling 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 enter adulthood, so he does this through play, having a little contact with this life.
A game
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.
The main stages of play activity in preschool age
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 the middle period of preschool childhood, a 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 older 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, mental processes develop, in particular voluntary attention and memory. If a child is interested in a game, then he involuntarily focuses on the objects included in the 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 gaming 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 ideas.
During the role-playing game, imagination develops. From replacing some objects with others and the ability to take on different roles, the child moves on to identifying 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.
Play also influences a child’s personal development. 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.
Reflective thinking begins to develop. 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.
Interest in drawing and design arises. At first, this interest manifests itself in a playful form: the 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.
Learning activities begin to take shape within the play activity. 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.
A 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, 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.
The symbolism of the game is of great importance. 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 to have 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.
Teaching a child how to play
- November 7, 2016
Mastery of play actions does not occur simultaneously and in the same way for all children.
This process is complex and depends on many reasons, including the ability of adults to rely on childhood experience and find ways to individually approach the child. Depending on the nature of the play activity, we conditionally divided our students into four groups. The children of the first group did not have concentration and stability in their actions with the toy. They moved a lot, manipulated toys that came into their field for other purposes. Relationships between children arose for non-game reasons - they were united by a place of play or an attention-grabbing toy.
Some stability and concentration were evident in the play actions of the children of the second group They preferred a particular toy and used it for its intended purpose, performing repeated, unrelated plot actions with it (putting the doll to sleep, feeding, washing several times in a row).
The children of this group still played “alone,” but they developed an interest in the activities of their peers and a desire to imitate them. Relationships arose for non-game reasons, but took on a slightly different character: the child could complain that they were interfering with his play or that a toy was being taken away.
Children of the third group played with different toys, performing two or three interconnected plot actions (they lifted the doll out of bed and washed it; they washed the doll and gave it tea). Interaction with other children appeared based on a common place of play, a common action performed simultaneously (running, crawling, jumping together), a common object (rolling a ball to each other).
Children of the fourth group performed a number of interconnected plot actions in the game (waking up the doll, dressing it, giving it tea, going for a walk with it). They successfully interacted with peers and performed roles of a different nature.
Observational materials confirmed the need for serious, in-depth and systematic work on developing play actions in children. The task arose to teach them to play with different toys and objects, to develop the individual play of children in the first two groups.
When guiding children's games, we sought not only to teach them gaming skills, but also to manage children's relationships. Various techniques were used for this:
- creating an atmosphere of goodwill and cordiality;
- participation of the teacher in the game;
- positive assessment by an adult of the child’s actions;
- targeted selection and placement of toys.
At the same time, they tried to establish a connection between learning and play, and to form a general interest in games. Many children, inspired by children's books and cartoons, dream of going on an exciting journey, defeating the Serpent Gorynych or the dragon. In real life, of course, this will not happen, but computer technology will help you experience the bright and unusual adventures that a child’s heart dreams of! By launching one of the games on the site igrycity.ru, the child will feel like a real hero, strong, dexterous and invariably winning.
The teacher’s participation in games and his extensive use of literary words (rhymes, songs, poems) contributed to the creation of a positive attitude towards gaming activities in children and increased their activity.
The following techniques occupied a special place in guiding children’s play actions:
- selection of appropriate gaming material and playing out new toys in the form of theatrical performances, dramatizations of familiar nursery rhymes, jokes, and poems;
- using toys when reading fairy tales, stories, poems;
- creating game situations.
When leading the game, teachers strive not to suppress the child’s initiative and independence. Strive to ensure that the game becomes an interesting, exciting independent activity for children, so that each child can demonstrate their abilities in it and learn to establish emotionally positive contacts with peers.
It is known that preschoolers are characterized by emotionality, impressionability, and a desire for everything bright and unusual. In this regard, enriching children with new knowledge and ideas is entertaining in order to arouse their interest and desire to imitate.
Social ideas were formed during observations (of the work of a teacher, nanny, cook, doctor, music director, driver), as well as while reading fiction and looking at paintings. While observing the work of adults, they told children the sequence of labor operations and involved them in this process through various labor assignments.
As a result - a high level of gaming skills, enrichment of the content of their games, increased culture of behavior, stability of interests in the game - cases of unjustified changes in the plot have decreased. The duration of joint games has increased, the number of roles has increased: mother, father, daughter, son, doctor, driver, hairdresser, manager, cosmetologist, makeup artist. Another positive aspect is the increased speech activity of children during games.
Bibliography:
- Magazine "Preschool Education" No. 3 / 1991.
- M. Yu. Kartushina “We want to be healthy” - M.; Sphere shopping center, 2004. -384s.
Author: Marina Aleksandrovna Nedoves, teacher at MBDOU Zhetsky kindergarten No. 46, Belgorod.
Game as a leading activity
Carolina Potapenko
Game as a leading activity
Play is the leading activity in preschool age; it has a significant impact on a child’s upbringing. In the game, the child learns the meaning of human activity , begins to understand and navigate the reasons for certain people’s actions. By learning the system of human relations, he begins to realize his place in it. The game stimulates the development of the child’s cognitive sphere.
2. The importance of the game is very high for intellectual development, since during the game such combinations of material and such orientation in its properties can arise that can lead to the subsequent use of this material as tools in solving problems.
3. The main feature of didactic games is determined by their name: these are educational games. They are created by adults for the purpose of raising and educating children. But for playing children, the educational value of didactic games does not appear openly, but is realized through the game task, game actions and rules.
4. Games help the child expand and deepen his ideas about the surrounding reality. Performing various roles, depicting various actions, children practically use their knowledge about the habits of animals, birds, insects, natural phenomena, means of transportation, and modern technology. During the games, opportunities are created for the development of speech, exercises in counting, etc.
5. Children's games are extremely diverse in content, character, and organization, so their exact classification is difficult.
6. Almost all psychologists and teachers who described the game unanimously note that the social reality surrounding the child has a decisive influence on it. Children play with what they perceive around them and what is especially attractive to them.
The structure of the work consists of an introduction, three chapters, a conclusion and a list of references.
1. Development of play activities in preschool age
In preschool age, a special type of children's play arises and takes on its most developed form, which in psychology and pedagogy is called plot-role play. Role-playing play is an activity in which children take on the labor or social functions of adults and, in playful, imaginary conditions specially created by them, reproduce (or model)
the lives of adults and the relationships between them.
As D. B. Elkonin notes, “game activity goes through a long path of development. Its elements first appear in infancy, and in preschool, higher forms take shape, in particular, role-playing play .”
Let us trace the stages of development of play activity in infancy and early childhood. Play action arises in the course of mastering objective actions, that is, in objective activity, play arises as an object-play activity . Play with elements of an imaginary situation is preceded by two stages of the baby’s play: introductory and quick-witted. At first, actions with toys, like with any other objects, are manipulative in nature. The motive is set through the toy object. The child moves to the second when he himself or with the help of an adult discovers some of its properties in the toy (the ball bounces, rolls, it is elastic and smooth)
.
Gradually, children learn ways of operating with different toys related to their physical properties (putting one object into another, rolling, moving, knocking, hitting one against the other to hear a sound, etc.). The motive of such object-game activity lies in the probabilistic nature of the result of the game action: - the ball can be pushed away or brought closer to you.
Displayive object-play actions are typical for a child aged 5-6 months. up to 1 year 6 months In the second half of the second year of life, the baby’s sphere of interaction with others expands. The child's need for joint activities . Closely observing the world of adults, the baby highlights their actions. The experience gained in actions with toys and in everyday life gives the child the opportunity to reflect the actions of people with objects in accordance with the purpose accepted in the Society (for example, the process of feeding, treatment)
. Now actions are directed not towards obtaining a result, but towards fulfilling a conditional goal that is understandable from past experience. That is, the action becomes conditional, and its result becomes not real, but imaginary. The child moves on to the plot-display stage of play development.
In the third year of life, the baby begins to strive to socialize the play goal, so these actions acquire a certain meaning. The actions are gradually generalized and become conditional: the child brings the spoon to the doll several times and, considering that he has finished lunch, moves on to another play action. The child constantly compares his actions with the actions of an adult. Let us emphasize that the emergence of playing fields is possible if the child has formed an image of an adult and his actions.
In a plot-based game, children convey not only individual actions, but also elements of adult behavior in real life. "Role in action" appears in
.
The child performs the function of a mother-hairdresser, without identifying himself in accordance with this function. And to the adult’s question: “Who are you?”
answers: “I am Yulia
(Lena, Andryusha)
.”
In such games , actions with plot-shaped toys at first are very similar to real practical actions with objects and gradually become generalized, turning into conventional ones. Then the child begins to act with imaginary objects: he feeds a doll with non-existent candy. By the end of the third year of life, plots are observed in which, along with a set of actions, certain relationships between the characters are specified. for example, the relationship of leadership and subordination in the game "Kindergarten"
, when the teacher conducts a lesson and the children listen, or the combination of leadership and subordination with an equal exchange of actions, when in this game the music director replaces the teacher, then the parents take the children.
In the third year of life, children’s relationships in play develop. At first they arise for a non-play reason - a place or toy that attracts the child. Then children who continue to play alone develop the ability to play with toys , show interest in the activities of their peers and imitate their actions. Relationships also arise for non-game reasons. The child complains if one of the children interferes with his play or takes away a toy. The baby protests against the interference of another child in his play. He can take away the toy he needs for play, not give it up, share the joy of owning it, his small achievements in the game (he dressed up the doll beautifully)
.
Thus, in middle and senior preschool age, children begin to play not only role-playing games , but also didactic, creative, etc. games.
children grow up, the higher the level of their general development and education, the more significant is the pedagogical focus of the game on the formation of behavior, relationships of children, and the development of an active position. Through play, a child enters the world of adults, masters spiritual values, and assimilates previous social experience.
Beginning in the 19th century, many domestic and foreign researchers sought to understand the nature of the game, determine its characteristic features, and analyze the causes of its occurrence. The first attempts to develop a theory of play were made by G. Spencer, K. Bühler, F. Buytendijk and others. Despite many fundamental differences, their theories agreed on one thing: they considered the games of children together with the games of young animals . The understanding of play was based on the idea that play relates to inherited instincts. These trends are based on the idea of the identity of the processes of mental development in young animals and in the human child. Such theories do not explain the nature of the game - just like “deep” ones
theories in which
the game is considered a way out of the real world into the world of dreams (K. Levin, J. Piaget, etc.), as well as naturalistic theories, the authors of which saw in the game the desire to “adapt to the human environment” (J. Chateau, J. Dewey and others)
.
Domestic psychologists chose a different path to study role-playing play and considered it as activity in orienting himself in the world of human actions, human relationships, tasks and motives for activity .
The most precise definition of game is given by D. B. Elkonin: “Human game is an activity in which social relationships between people are recreated outside the conditions of directly utilitarian activity .” Evidence of the appropriateness of this approach can be found when considering the origins of the game in the history of social development.
In the game, the child is always above his average age, above his usual everyday behavior, he is, as it were, head and shoulders above himself. According to L. S. Vygotsky, “ game in condensed form contains, as in the focus of a magnifying glass, all development trends; the child in the game seems to be trying to make a leap above the level of his usual behavior. It is important that they take the plot and content of the game from the surrounding life, reflect those moments that attracted attention, aroused interest, and made a special impression.
What does such a game to the child participating in it? What mental properties and abilities does it develop?
The educational value of the game is diverse. In play, a child learns about the world around him, his thinking, feelings, and will develop, relationships with peers are formed, and self-esteem and self-awareness are formed. In play, children become acquainted with such aspects of reality as the actions and relationships of adults. Evidence of this is the plots and content of the games.
In order to display any aspects of the lives of adults in the game, children must first become familiar with them, of course, with the help of their elders. What does the game ? Of course, when organizing the game and during it, additional information can be obtained from adults and peers. However, the main thing here is not the quantity of information the child receives, but the quality of its assimilation. Children perceive what is passed through the game differently from what they only heard about from adults or even observed themselves. And this happens because the game does not just display, but simulates social situations.
During the game, children take on various roles, as if replacing people who are in certain social relationships with each other, and their actions. They understand the essence of relationships between people.
How should a teacher carry out the functions of managing the game, what pedagogical means should be used to develop the gaming skills of students? Let's consider these questions using the example of the junior and middle groups.
The plot in the game is the basis on which the adult builds his targeted influences. But since the formation of the game occurs gradually, the plot is used differently, depending on the stages of the game and the age characteristics of the children.
In the formation of play, three main stages can be distinguished: 1) mastering conventional actions with toys and substitute objects; 2) mastering role behavior (role relationships and interactions)
; 3) mastering the methods of constructing a plot. Conventionally, these stages can be attributed to certain ages: the first 1-2 years. ; second 2-4g. ; third 4-7 years old.
At the first stage, the adult, directing the game, places special emphasis on the game action, highlights it and through it includes the child in joint activities .
At the second stage, the main task is to transfer methods of role behavior to children. Using a situation of joint play with children or staging a certain game plot, the teacher gradually develops in them the ability to correlate the name of the role with a certain set of actions and attributes, different types of relationships between different role positions (control, subordination, equality)
.
At the third stage, the main pedagogical task is to develop in children the ability to construct a game plot. To solve this problem, the adult organizes this type of joint game with the children, the main content of which is the process of inventing various plot situations. At all stages of the development of play, the teacher is faced with the task of using independent play for the purpose of the comprehensive development of children.
The formation of a game as an activity assumes that the teacher influences the expansion of the themes of role-playing games, deepens their content, and promotes children’s mastery of role-playing behavior. Techniques for managing a game in order to form it as an activity can be divided into traditional ones (developed by R. I. Zhukovskaya, D. V. Mendzheritskaya)
and new ones, studied in recent years
(N.A. Korotkova, N.Ya. Mikhailenko)
.
In traditional guidance, the teacher's main focus is on enriching the content of games. To this end, he creates children's interest in new stories. Such interest does not arise out of nowhere; it “matures” in the course of all educational work if preschoolers receive vivid ideas about the life around them, which are woven into their past experience, excite the imagination, and evoke an emotional response. The younger the children, the more important for them are the impressions gained from direct acquaintance with a particular phenomenon.
So, to enrich the content of children’s games on transport topics (as a driver, as a driver)
the teacher takes the children to a public transport stop, specifically asks the driver, who brings food to the preschool educational institution, to talk with the children, show the cabin of his car; middle-aged children can be allowed to sit in the car, hold the steering wheel, look at the relevant illustrative material, read books, have a conversation .
When familiarizing themselves with their surroundings, the teacher focuses children’s attention on those moments that can be reflected in the game in accordance with their age. For kids, these are objects and ways of using them by adults in the process of their activities ; for middle-aged children, this can already be relationships between people. So, at a public transport stop, children watch how the bus arrives, how the doors open and close, how many people enter and exit, how big the window is in the driver’s cabin (“so that everything can be seen”, that drivers can be both men and women, and attention It is advisable for older children to involve the driver himself in the activities (how he announces stops, drives the car, sells tickets)
. In order to switch the monotonous individual games of being a driver for young children into the mainstream of a more complex game of bus, the teacher will resort to other techniques: he will offer to build “the same big bus as we saw on a walk,” he will become the driver himself, and will remind him when and how you need to get on and off the bus, he will offer to buy tickets.
It happens that the game quickly exhausts itself due to the poverty of ideas, or the same actions, dialogues, events and situations are constantly repeated in it, i.e. the game becomes monotonous, in this case the teacher needs to replenish the children’s knowledge, guide the plot along another channel. Traditional techniques are suitable here: reading a work of art, a story, a conversation. The teacher’s task is to give them the right sound. For example, do not tell about the activities of a doctor or postman yourself, but ask a representative of the profession to do this - one of the parents or the kindergarten team. the games of his childhood and the games of other children can serve as an impulse to update the content of the game . Sometimes a new storyline of the game arises thanks to additional gaming material that the teacher offers the kids, and middle-aged children can make together with him or their parents.
Thus, the teacher has many techniques in his arsenal that stimulate new themes of games and deepening their content. However, the rule should be taken into account: as children grow in independence, it is advisable to use predominantly indirect methods of influence.
In the younger group, the teacher pays more attention to organizing the game. It helps future participants agree on what they will play . A conspiracy to play requires coordination of plans, determination of the game environment (where to play , what to use, distribution of roles. In a conspiracy, the foundations of children’s interaction are laid, the ability to listen to each other, and take into account the desires and interests of everyone is formed.
Staying in a “leadership role”
, the teacher unobtrusively guides the game, approves the positive interaction of children, the successful fulfillment of the role, and prevents the occurrence of conflicts.
In order to teach children how to play games, the teacher acts as the main character. For example, putting on a white apron and a kokoshnik on his head, the teacher addresses the children: “I work in a cafe. play with me ?” He invites those who want to help him set up a cafe: he sets up 2-3 tables, the children put napkins, arrange vases. Then the teacher talks with the children about the upcoming game: who will come to the cafe, what to treat visitors with, who will serve ordered.
Children become involved in the game, clarifying the content and role-playing behavior along the way, creating a play environment. It is very important not to ignore the children’s desire to organize the game on their own initiative. It is desire, because if not supported by the ability to negotiate on your own, it quickly disappears.
Children of middle preschool age, when conspiring to play, are hampered mainly by the distribution of roles and the development of new storylines in familiar games . The teacher’s task is to teach children, when conspiring to play a game, to remember something interesting from their lives, tell them to their friends, and then bring them into the game. Being present during the discussion of the game, the teacher updates their personal experience with a remark, advice, or reminder. For example, children are going to play family , and the teacher, knowing that the pupil has a sister, can stimulate the storyline “a baby has appeared in the family. “Or in the warm season, when many people go out of town, the teacher involves the children, who are conspiring to play with the family, in a conversation about going to the dacha or on a picnic. The game is enriched with images of family vacations, gardening, and vegetable gardening. New storylines and roles appear. As a result, the distribution of roles is smoother: it becomes possible to participate in the game in a new role, the previous role with updated content becomes more attractive, you can agree to an unwanted role, because in the next game they will give you another one.
New techniques for managing the game were proposed by N. A. Korotkova and N. Ya. Mikhailenko. These scientists propose to consider the management of role-playing games as a process of gradually transferring to preschoolers increasingly complex ways of constructing a game. The transfer of methods is carried out in a joint game between an adult and children.
The authors identify the following ways to build a game:
- a sequence of object-game actions, with the help of which children imitate a real object action, using appropriate objects and toys;
- role-playing behavior, with the help of which the child imitates the actions characteristic of the character, using speech and objects;
- plotting, through which the child builds individual elements of the plot into a coherent event.
The first way to build a game - through object-based play actions - is children (sooner or later)
mastered in joint
activities . The other two methods (role behavior, plotting)
with the spontaneous development of the game can be formed incompletely, at a primitive level.
For the timely formation of role-playing games, the most successful is to use the method of comprehensive guidance. When familiarizing yourself with the environment, special attention is paid to compliance with the following requirement: children should not be passive observers, they must constantly be included in active activities .
Children with great desire convey in their games well-known everyday processes (feeding, putting to bed, walking, various activities in kindergarten , i.e. those life situations in which they themselves constantly participate. In such games , the ways of children’s play behavior are varied. If children develop a sufficiently high level of generalization in everyday games , it will be easier for them to transfer the learned methods of gaming behavior to other gaming situations. Work can begin by complicating the methods and means of solving gaming problems in games that arise on the initiative of children, using for this the communication of an adult with as a child. Along with this, introduce children to the work of adults by organizing excursions (to a medical office, catering unit, targeted walks to the roadway. Some excursions, for example to a store, to a hairdresser, should be offered to parents. For each excursion, here you can write questions that force children not just list what they see, but be aware of what they see. During excursions, include children in active activities . So, in a medical office, a doctor will put thermometers on several children, measure the height and weight of others, and listen to them with a phonendoscope. At the end of the visit, he will give all the children vitamins and empty medicine boxes so that the group can play with them.
After each excursion, a conversation is held, during which the information received by the children is supplemented and consolidated. During the conversations, the characteristic personality traits of a person in a particular profession are recalled. For example, a doctor is kind, polite, strict; The driver is serious, looking attentively at the road. It turns out why they need such qualities. In the future, this will help children more expressively convey role-playing images in games .
It is difficult for younger preschoolers to identify the main points in the observation process, so it is necessary to have a conversation with parents about how to introduce children to their surroundings: knowledge must be accessible, everything that an adult does must be explained, why he does it; Be sure to include children in active activities . For example, in a self-service store, involve children in making an informed choice of purchases, offer to put the selected purchase in the basket, and give something to take home on the way from the store. After visiting the hairdresser, talk to your child about the work of a hairdresser, why a beautiful haircut is needed; At home, offer to give the dolls beautiful hairstyles.
The next component of the comprehensive manual, educational games, are used to improve the means of expressiveness of the role. Dramatization games are used for this purpose. During our native language classes, in our free time we dramatize simple nursery rhymes and short poems, paying attention to intonation and expressiveness of the voice. In music classes and outdoor games suggest expressively conveying the movements of various characters: how a bear walks, how a bunny jumps, etc.
Sometimes we have to help 3-year-old children transfer knowledge about their surroundings into a game plan. If, for example, a child lays out dishes on the table without much desire, the teacher would join in the game, making sure to take on some role, for example, a mother who cooks lunch for her daughters. In this case, during the game, the teacher names each game task and accompanies all game actions with a word so that their meaning is clear to the child. If the child is interested in the game, the teacher turns to him with some instructions based on the meaning of the game situation, for example, asks him to pour water into the kettle and put it on the stove or bake pies. The teacher specifically suggests such situations so that the child includes more generalized ways and means of solving game problems into the game. For example, you need to pour imaginary water into a toy kettle, and instead of pies, use substitute objects - pieces of paper.
When working with children of the fourth year of life, the adult gets involved in the game more selectively. If his activity is great, the child often stops the adult: “No need, I’ll do it myself.”
. In such cases, educational games are immediately excluded.
The structure of the game and the stages of its development.
Section 1. Theoretical and methodological foundations of play activities for children of early and preschool age
Psychological and pedagogical substantiation of the essence of the game and its development in childhood
Children's play is the activity of a child in a conditional (imaginary, imaginary) situation. The motive for such activity lies within itself, that is, the child plays not for the sake of some external result or effect, but because he wants to play. As soon as this motive changes, the game ceases to be a game.
Play arises from the child's living conditions in society and reflects these conditions. In it, “primary orientation in the meanings of human activity occurs, a special knowledge of one’s limited place in the system of relations among adults and the need to be an adult arise.” (D.B. Elkonin)
From early childhood, adults introduce the child to the surrounding reality and, in the process of communication, convey to him certain experience and knowledge regarding actions with objects and relationships with people. Consolidation of elementary experience and reflection of first ideas occurs in the game, which is extremely important for the full development of preschool children.
In the works of L.S. Vygotsky (1896–1934), play is already recognized as a leading activity, that is, determining the development of a child. At what point does it appear and when does it become the leading activity? A young child can only learn something by actually touching, tasting, and experiencing it. Actions “in the mind” are not yet available to him, but the younger schoolchild is already capable of them. Where does this “mind” come from and when does it arise, or, in scientific terms, the internal plan of activity? It is formed precisely in the game and through the game! The initially developed play actions are replaced by a gesture, then by a word, and then begin to be carried out entirely in the mind (fantasy play). In addition, only in a game the meaning of an object is divorced from the thing itself. All other activities of the child are real. And in the game you can only act by the meaning, and not by the object itself. The ideal and the material are separated. An ideal action arises, the foundations of theoretical thinking are born, and (according to A.V. Zaporozhets) the ground floor of the general building of human thinking is laid. This is the main significance of the game for the mental development of children .
One of the largest game researchers of our time, S.L. Novoselova, gave both a very figurative and very precise definition: a game is “a form of practical reflection by a child about the reality around him,” which is “a genetic prototype of an adult’s theoretical thought.” . In the game practically, that is, in action, the whole world becomes available. A preschooler cannot drive a car, let alone a spaceship, get into the jungle or the North Pole overnight, and even more so, find himself in the past or future. All this is possible in the game.
Play is of enduring importance for the social development of a child; it is in play that he tries on role behavior and begins to understand many of the nuances of human behavior. He learns to subordinate his behavior to certain rules, this means that without full-fledged play he will not develop such an important quality as the arbitrariness of his activities. According to the famous psychologist L.I. Bozhovich, play is the mechanism that translates the demands of an adult into the needs of the child himself. But play is not only the practical development of “future” adult relationships as a result of playing one’s role well. In the process of gaming activity, real interaction with a peer is built: the ability to negotiate, listen to the other, sometimes compromise, sometimes insist on one’s own so that the game can continue, and most importantly, that it be interesting and exciting for everyone!
There are other extremely important properties that are formed in a preschooler’s amateur play - activity and initiative. To maintain an interesting, exciting game, a child needs to use all his imagination, be able to play with any little detail, find a way out of any situation in case of difficulty, model and experience different versions of the situation in action. A child who has gained experience of such a variable approach to different problems in play easily transfers it to other types of activities, and the “underplayed” one is very often truly afraid of making a mistake.
Unfortunately, educators do not always pay due attention to gaming activities, and many parents simply do not know about the developmental potential of the game and its role in the life of preschool children, often giving greater preference to foreign languages, reading, writing, rhetoric and even philosophy. Indeed, the more a child knows and can do, the more favorable conditions he will be in comparison with his peers. However, we can teach a child as much and as much as we want, but what of this will be learned?
Vygotsky L.S., who was called the Mozart of psychology (he very accurately anticipated many things that were later confirmed experimentally), said that if a young child is incapable of learning according to an adult’s program, then a schoolchild is fully capable of it. A preschooler is able to learn according to an adult’s program only to the extent that this program becomes his own.
What is the role of play here?
The game form makes many tasks for the child interesting and understandable, which is often used in didactics, but, oddly enough, this is not the main thing. Firstly, in amateur children's play , which arises on the initiative of the child himself, those mental qualities are formed without which learning will simply be impossible. Secondly, in the game, children get the opportunity to use the acquired knowledge in practice, and therefore truly assimilate and understand it. Without such practical testing, any knowledge becomes abstract, unnecessary and quickly forgotten. For the development of a preschooler, those games that come from him, his own initiative, the plot of which he invents himself - role-playing or director's - are important. It is in them that general development occurs to the greatest extent, and not where any individual functions are exercised.
They do not appear out of nowhere. Any other games in which an adult is the initiator are grist to the mill for the development of amateur play. It is important that the child masters the gaming culture in all its diversity: in early and early preschool age, these are plot-based games (the child repeats what he sees around), then amateur plot games appear (the child turns to plots that are interesting to him, invents themselves), by older preschool age games with rules are added here. One should not underestimate such types of games as leisure, active, experimental games, and various folk games. A good children's game is an emotionally rich action in which the child is completely immersed. The wider the range of events and phenomena displayed in the game, the better. So, if the youngest preschooler willingly plays in the store and clinic, in the family and kindergarten, then the games of older preschoolers are much more exciting, they are associated with travel, adventures and exploits. Gradually, the game acquires a “multi-aspect” character: the child not only invents and develops a plot (this can happen over a fairly long period of time: from several days to several weeks and even months), but also actively includes in his game everything that, in one way or another otherwise, it affects him (new knowledge, new objects, new characters). He actively constructs the subject environment of his game (if we are talking about a director's game) or some of its attributes (if the game is a role-playing game). Here the game is so closely linked with productive activities that it is almost impossible to distinguish between them. Visual activity and creative work become truly motivated - significant for the child himself, enriching his skills and generalizing his experience, and the process of creating toys, although it slows down the play action in time, often opens up new opportunities for constructing a plot.
Game is the most powerful sphere of a person’s “self”: self-expression, self-determination, self-test, self-rehabilitation, self-realization. Thanks to games, a child learns to trust himself and all people, to recognize what should be accepted, what should be accepted, and what should be rejected in the world around him.
It’s not for nothing that the game is called the queen of childhood. The famous scientist E. Berne said that he views the entire process of raising a child as learning what games to play and how to play them.
Game is a complex and multifaceted phenomenon. The following functions can be distinguished:
The educational function is the development of general educational skills and abilities, such as memory, attention, perception, etc.
The entertainment function is creating a favorable atmosphere in the classroom, transforming a lesson and other forms of communication between an adult and a child from a boring event into an exciting adventure.
The communicative function is to unite children and adults, establish emotional contacts, and develop communication skills.
Relaxation function – relieving emotional (physical) stress caused by the load on the child’s nervous system during intensive study and work.
Psychotechnical function - the formation of skills to prepare one’s psychophysical state for more effective activity, the restructuring of the psyche for intensive assimilation.
The function of self-expression is the child’s desire to realize his creative abilities in play and to more fully reveal his potential.
The compensatory function is the creation of conditions for satisfying personal aspirations that are impossible (difficult to achieve) in real life.
There are different types of games typical for children. These are outdoor games (games with rules), didactic games, dramatization games, constructive games . Creative or role-playing are of particular importance for the development of children aged 2 to 7 years . They are characterized by the following features:
1. The game is a form of active reflection by the child of the people around him.
2. A distinctive feature of the game is the very method that the child uses in this activity. Play is carried out through complex actions, rather than individual movements (as, for example, in labor, writing, drawing).
3. The game, like any other human activity, has a social character, so it changes with changes in the historical conditions of people's lives.
4. Play is a form of creative reflection of reality by a child. While playing, children bring a lot of their own inventions, imaginations, and combinations into their games.
5. Play is the manipulation of knowledge, a means of clarifying and enriching it, a way of exercise, and the development of the child’s cognitive and moral abilities and strengths.
6. In its expanded form, the game is a collective activity. All participants in the game are in a cooperative relationship.
The structure of the game and the stages of its development.
The main structural elements of the game are: the game concept, plot or content; game actions; roles; rules that are dictated by the game itself and are created by children or proposed by adults. These elements are closely interrelated.
Game design is a general definition of what and how children will play. It is formulated in speech, reflected in the game actions themselves, formalized in the game content and is the core of the game. According to the game concept, the games can be divided into groups: those reflecting everyday phenomena (games of “family”, “kindergarten”, “clinic”, etc.); reflecting creative work (construction of the metro, construction of houses...); reflecting social events, traditions (holidays, meeting guests, travel, etc.). This division of them, of course, is conditional, since the game can include a reflection of various life phenomena.
The plot, the content of the game is what makes up its living fabric, determines the development, diversity and interconnection of game actions, and the relationships between children. The content of the game makes it attractive, arouses interest and desire to play.
The structural feature and center of the game is the role played by the child. Based on the significance of the role in the game process, many of the games are called role-playing or role-playing. The role is always related to a person or an animal; his imaginary actions, actions, relationships. The child, entering their image, plays a certain role. But the preschooler does not just play this role, he lives in the image and believes in its truthfulness. Depicting, for example, a captain on a ship, he does not reflect all of his activities, but only those features that are necessary during the course of the game: the captain gives commands, looks through binoculars, takes care of passengers and sailors. During the game, the children themselves (and in some games, adults) establish rules that define and regulate the behavior and relationships of the players. They give games organization and stability, consolidate their content and determine further development, the complication of relationships and relationships.
The role is realized in play actions , which initially reproduce real actions, but as the child develops, they become increasingly generalized and abbreviated while maintaining the logic and sequence of their implementation. In the future, they can move to the internal plane through the stage of their speech performance (the child no longer acts with a game object, but talks about the action).
The playful use of objects can be realized both in the form of the use of figurative toys (objects that are a small copy of real things, specially created by society to organize a child’s play), and in the form of replacing some objects with others (with appropriate renaming). Substitution is the most important characteristic of a role-playing game.
And finally, another component of the structure of a role-playing game is the real relationship between playing children as partners in joint play activities. The functions of real relationships include planning the plot of games, distributing roles, game items, monitoring the development of the plot and the fulfillment of roles by peer partners, and their correction. If play relationships are determined by the content of the roles children perform, then their real relationships depend on the characteristics of personal development.
All of these structural game elements are more or less typical, but they have different meanings and are related differently in different types of games.
How does play develop throughout preschool childhood?
The famous psychologist D.B. Elkonin (1978) linked the development of play with the dynamics of child development. The development of play in children goes through four stages.
First stage . The main content of the game is actions with objects. They are carried out in a certain sequence, although this sequence is often disrupted. The chain of actions is plot-based. The main subjects are everyday ones. The actions are monotonous and often repeated. The roles have not yet been designated. At the first stage of role-playing play, preschoolers willingly play with adults. Independent play is short-lived. As a rule, the stimulus for the emergence of a game is a toy or a substitute item previously used in the game.
Second phase. As at the first level, the main content of the game is actions with an object. However, now these actions unfold sequentially, in accordance with the role, which is already denoted by the word. The sequence of actions becomes the rule. The first interaction between the participants occurs based on the use of a common toy. Associations of players are short-lived. The main subjects are everyday ones. The game is repeated many times. Children use the same toys – their favorite ones. The game involves 2-3 people.
Third stage. The main content of the game is still actions with objects. However, they are complemented by actions aimed at establishing contacts with playing partners. Roles are clearly defined and assigned before the game begins. Toys and objects are selected (most often during the game) in accordance with the role. The logic, nature of actions and their direction are determined by the role and become the basic rule. The game often proceeds as a joint game, although interaction is interspersed with parallel actions of partners who are not related to each other and are not correlated with the role. The duration of the game increases. The plots become more diverse: children reflect in the game not only everyday life, but also the work of adults, vibrant social phenomena.
Fourth stage. The main content of the game is a reflection of the relationships and interactions of adults with each other. The themes of the games are varied: it is determined not only by the direct, but also by the indirect experience of children (playing out scenes from literary works, films, television programs, etc.). Games are joint and collective in nature. Associations of participants are stable. They are based on children’s interest in the same games or on the basis of personal sympathies and affections. Games of the same content are not only repeated for a long time, but also develop, become enriched, and exist for a long time. The game has a preparatory stage: distribution of roles, selection of game material, and sometimes its production (homemade toys). The number of people involved in the game is up to 5-6 people.
At the fourth stage, that is, by senior preschool age, the individual characteristics of each child’s play activity and play creativity are clearly manifested.
