What is a “developmental environment” and how to organize it at home? What is developmental psychology? What and why is it needed? Proper toys and books, teaching materials

There is probably no mother now who has not heard the term “early development.” However, opinions regarding its usefulness among parents differ significantly. Some mothers enthusiastically teach their baby to read from the age of 6 months, others are convinced that classes at such an early age have a negative impact on the child’s psyche and deprive him of his childhood. So who is right? It seems to me that most of the disagreements are due to the fact that everyone understands the expression “early child development” differently. Let's try to figure out what it is and how it can affect your baby.

Some time ago, scientists discovered one important fact - by the end of the third year of life, brain cells complete their formation by 70%, and by six to seven years - by 90% . It turns out that starting to teach a child only at 7 years old means wasting very valuable time and not using the child’s innate potential. And vice versa, if you engage in the development of the child during this “productive” period, then there will be a good “launching pad” for further learning.

A child is born with great interest in the world around him, his body is tuned to vigorous activity, he greedily absorbs any information, memorizing it at a speed that we, adults, have never dreamed of. The child’s brain works all the time, learning to compare and draw conclusions. If we actively work with a baby in the first years of his life, we simply expand the child’s information space and give him the opportunity to at least slightly satisfy his need for knowledge about the world around him.

So, early development involves intensive development of the child’s abilities from birth to 3 (maximum 6) years . But everyone’s understanding of the meaning of the word “intense” is different. Many people, speaking about early development, imagine kids cramming letters and numbers and not having a single free minute for free play and communication with peers. Unfortunately, we must admit that there are indeed followers of this approach to early development. Such parents persistently develop their children until they completely discourage them from any kind of learning. This approach to early development can hardly be called correct, because it leads to nowhere and can hardly make a child happy.

What is early development?

First of all, this is an interesting game that is designed to make a child’s life exciting. As Masaru Ibuka said

“The main goal of early development is to prevent the appearance of unhappy children. A child is given to listen to good music and taught to play the violin not in order to raise him to be an outstanding musician. He is taught a foreign language not in order to raise a brilliant linguist and not even in order to prepare him for a “good” kindergarten and primary school. The main thing is to develop in a child his limitless potential, so that there is more joy in his life and in the world.”

So, early development in the correct, in my opinion, understanding is:

Specially created, filled with interesting objects and toys that provide many different tactile, visual and sound sensations that contribute to the child’s sensory development.
The mother’s active participation in the child’s life, the desire to make the baby’s life interesting, colorful, a lot of joint games, a creative approach to activities. It’s not enough to buy educational toys; you need to “play” them with your baby.
Constant conversations and discussions of everything that happens around.
Getting to know the world around you through cards, books and other aids (for example, studying animals, vegetables, fruits, professions, etc.) How not to overdo it with learning with cards, read.

A reasonable approach to early development or how not to go too far

When Taisiya was just born, I, like many mothers, was wary of intensive early development. What if it harms my daughter’s emotional health? After all, this is precisely what psychologists are afraid of. But when I began to delve into the essence of various methods and activities in more detail, I realized that early development, if you approach it without fanaticism, is not cramming and coaching, but interesting games that are designed to make a child’s childhood brighter and more interesting. It’s just very, very important not to overdo it with these very games. There is no need to take the words “early development” as “raising a genius!”, and constantly pester your child with activities, without leaving him a single minute of rest and free play.

Often parents try to realize their own ambitions and unfulfilled dreams at the expense of their child, or they want their child to be better developed than their neighbor’s. In pursuit of results, you can overload the child and discourage him from any desire to study at all.

Give your child as much freedom as possible in choosing an activity . Do not impose activities that are not interesting to him. Perhaps you have been in a situation where you think your child needs to draw, because he hasn’t picked up a pencil for a long time, but for some reason he flatly refuses. Don't insist! I have noticed more than once that such activities “through force” only discourage Taisiya from any desire. And, even if you manage to persuade her, she still sits dissatisfied and reluctantly moves her pencil over the paper. I don’t want to draw now - this is a child’s right, everyone has their own interests. It is quite possible that tomorrow or even in a week the child will have a desire.

Stop the activity before the child gets bored. For example, more than once I had to deal with a situation when, it would seem, just having started gluing some craft or building a building out of cubes, Taisiya lost interest in it and refused to continue the activity. But I’m not used to giving up what I started, I need to finish it! Here the temptation immediately arises to persuade your daughter to finish what she started. However, as experience shows, such persuasion does not lead to anything good. Even if the child agrees, he will do everything without desire, and next time he will not even want to look at such an activity. Of course, you need to offer to continue, but without any pressure! In general, it is better to deliberately offer your child crafts and activities that are not too complex, so that the child has enough patience until the end.

Try to turn any activity into a game . Let it not be “Okay, now we are assembling a pyramid,” but a funny scene, a bear will come to you and invite you to play together, of course, nothing will work out for him, the rings will fall out, and the baby will definitely want to help the clumsy bear.

Do not set standards for time and number of classes per day . Anything can happen: your baby may be unwell, he may be in a bad mood, he may be interested in a new toy, or you have urgent matters. There is no need to try at all costs to fulfill the daily quota for classes, and then reproach yourself for the unattained result.

Do not burden your child with knowledge “in reserve” . Try to ensure that the information you study corresponds to the interests and age of the baby, so that he can use it in the near future. For example, study geometric shapes when the baby is already interested in playing with geometric frames and sorters, colors - when the child is already able to distinguish them (after a year), etc.

Never compare your baby with other children (although this is very difficult, I know from myself :)), all children are different, they all have their own inclinations! Always evaluate the baby’s development not in relation to the neighbor’s boy Petya, but only in relation to the child himself. Thanks to your activities, the child develops earlier, more fully, than he could if you did not pay any attention to his development at all.

So, when developing your baby, remember that your first priority is make the child happy ! Intellectual development is not the most important thing in life. It is important to maintain a good relationship with the baby, to preserve and support his creative inclinations, the ability to feel and empathize.

Don't listen to those who are against

If you are thinking about the need for early development or are already a supporter of it, you have probably encountered opponents of early childhood development. One of the main arguments of such advisers is “A child should have a childhood.” As a rule, it is used by those people who do not fully understand the essence of development at an early age. Probably, in their opinion, a happy childhood means carefree games with dolls for girls and with cars for boys (what else?), aimless hanging out on the street or around the apartment from corner to corner, and no mental stress (“it’s too early for you” ).

Most likely, opponents of preschool development of children have never seen how a one or two year old child’s eyes light up when he puts together a puzzle or cuts with scissors, when he asks “Mom, let’s talk in English some more,” or when he enthusiastically retells his favorite poems and sings songs .

It is also worth noting that children who were constantly taught in early childhood have a much easier time at school and in adulthood, they are more diligent and receptive to knowledge. For children brought up on the principle of “a happy childhood without unnecessary stress,” it will indeed be difficult to come to terms with the need to study that suddenly falls on their heads.

So, if you decide that early development is for you, then be sure to get started. Soon I will definitely try to write an article in which I will consider the advantages and disadvantages of the most popular developmental techniques. Perhaps it will help someone decide on a “development strategy”. On the site you will also find many useful materials that will help you in preparing activities with your baby. For example,

There are simple words and even expressions for which it is not at all difficult to formulate a definition. And there are words and expressions, the meaning of which is well clear to everyone, but for which there is no exact definition and it is quite difficult to give it. The same is true with the concept of “early development”. Many people involved in this very thing cannot clearly formulate what they, in fact, are doing, argue among themselves and cannot come to a common opinion.

Everyone knows what development is. There is no need to explain what early is either. What about “early development”? What is this? Why and why is it early? Is it necessary? Is it worth depriving a child of his childhood? And so on... A lot of questions, disputes and objections arise. Let's try to figure out what it is and why it is needed.

Each child is individual. He develops at his own pace, masters his own capabilities gradually, step by step... Each baby develops one or another function in its own way. You don't need to prove this to anyone. But, undoubtedly, there are also age norms: how and when a child should begin to sit, stand, walk, run, draw, read, write... All these frameworks show teachers and parents no later than what period this or that function should develop, How long will this be the norm? If a particular function is not formed by the required age, it is customary to speak of developmental delay. This usually happens when the baby is seriously ill or when he does not receive enough attention from adults, when no one does anything with the baby.

But as soon as you start paying at least a little attention to the child, play with him, tell him something, show him pictures, read books, he begins to develop, get smarter, grow up, and become more mature before our eyes. Such a kid is interested in everything, he asks to work with him again and again.

Well, if you don’t just play and read, but use any of the well-known early development methods, teach the child something (naturally, through play, and not by sitting him at a desk), then the baby begins to develop even faster and more intensely. His speech is strikingly different from the speech of his peers (and from his speech most recently). He begins to amaze his parents with his intelligence, memory, ingenuity, and creative streak.

The baby begins to develop earlier than it could if no one did anything with him, and not earlier than the neighbor's boy or cousin. This can be called the “early development” of a child.

Many authors (Suzuki, Lupan, Zaitsev, Nikitins, Tropp) insist that such development is not early, but just timely, that traditional pedagogical science, based on the experience of past centuries, lags behind modern methods. That human potential is much richer than was previously believed (Although we know that generally accepted norms have changed a lot over the past 20-30 years: who would be surprised by a five-year-old who reads now? And before, almost all children came to school not reading).

The whole point is that classical teachers lag behind innovators in the timing of the start of education and children begin to study just at the period when brain growth is already complete (about 7 years). In this case, the child really cannot handle the workload that is offered to him at school. He has difficulty learning to count and read, and he has a hard time mastering writing. In the future, this leads to difficulties in all school disciplines.

Based on this, we can give a second definition to the term “early development” - intensive development of a child’s abilities at an early age (from 0 to 2-3 years). Naturally, at this age this is completely incompatible with traditional, “kindergarten-school” methods of teaching. This is something completely different.

This is a specially created environment in which the baby lives, filled with interesting and unusual objects for viewing and studying with all other senses.

These are a wide variety of toys (made from the simplest materials at hand) that provide a lot of tactile, visual, sound, and olfactory sensations.

This is unlimited physical activity, “reinforced” by specially equipped corners in the baby’s room, giving him the opportunity to better and earlier master his body, study it well, be more agile, stronger, stronger, and feel safer.

These are games made specifically for him by his parents, based on his interests and age capabilities (which is quite difficult to find on sale).

These are books written for him in large, clear letters, with large pictures, with pages that even the smallest toddler cannot spoil.

These are cubes with letters (or, even better, with letters), which the baby simply plays with his mother.

These include constant walks, excursions, conversations, reading books and much, much more.

Early development is the active position of the mother towards the child in the first years of life. This is a continuous process, it is painstaking work that requires constant “involvement” in the child’s life, constant creative tension.

Early development is the path to mutual understanding with your child.

Early development is the desire of parents to fill gray everyday life with the joy of learning and joint creativity. This is an understanding of how fleeting and unique the time of preschool childhood is and how important it is for the child to live it fully and colorfully.

Now let's look at what you should consider before starting classes with your baby.

The most important thing is not to set yourself the goal of raising a prodigy, a genius. Chasing results can overload a child. And showing these results to others can ruin the baby’s character.

Secondly, there is no need to rush from one fashionable hobby to another. Young children are conservative; they quickly get used to one way of life or another. And changing it is always a minor injury. And if you often change your views on the development and upbringing of your child, you may even cause damage to his psyche.

When choosing one or another method of learning, be critical. Don't take everything blindly and without looking back. In any technique, there may be something that suits you and your baby, and something that is not quite suitable. Don't be afraid of your unprofessionalism. Only you can know exactly what is good for your child and what is not.

So, you have chosen which of the directions or methods you like best. It could be one thing or a combination of two or three similar methods. After this, try not to change your pedagogical views.

When working with your baby, try to use a limited range of teaching aids. Don't buy more and more new materials. It is better to make the most of one thing (or several), from all sides, than to develop a child with several dozen games and aids. He will not be able to really master any game, but will only get confused. Be creative and come up with new tasks for familiar games.

Introduce all games and activities according to the principle “from very simple to simple, from simple to complex, and then to very complex.” If your child can't cope with something, simplify the task as much as possible, even if it doesn't follow the instructions. Do all the tasks together first, and then let him try on his own.

Don’t worry, if something doesn’t work out for you at all, put off this or that activity or game. After a while you will try again. After all, you are not chasing a record, but communicating with the child, helping him understand the wisdom of adult life, mastering his own mind and body.

Don’t set yourself any standards for time and number of classes per day. Firstly, such norms are difficult to comply with (due to various everyday and family circumstances). Without completing one or another planned exercise or without playing a game or activity, you will begin to blame yourself for not being able to provide your baby with full development. But this is not so. Because even a small amount of training is better than nothing. Practice as much as time allows.

Secondly, your baby may be very, very interested in this or that activity. There is no need to stop it in order to carry out the next “event” on the list. Let him show himself most fully in what interests him.

Never involve your child in activities if he is sick or even just not feeling well or in a bad mood. This will bring him no benefit, but harm.

If you want to give your child knowledge about anything, provide him with as many ways as possible to obtain information, do not limit yourself to cards or some other fashionable hobby. Give it from different sides, from different points of view, cover one topic in games, posters, other manuals, books, films.

Try to talk more with your child, talk to him about everything in the world at home, in the subway, on a walk - the speech of an adult is more important than any teaching aid.

The information you give to a small child should be built on the principle of “The child and his environment” and its boundaries should gradually expand depending on the age of the child. There is no need to grasp at a lot at once or at once at a very complex one.

Do not give your child knowledge that will not be useful to him in the near future. Because while he needs them, he can simply forget them. And precious time can be spent studying and mastering what is needed now first of all. Don't stock up on knowledge, live for today.

A child who is busy with something during the day should not be overloaded with watching TV. This is unnecessary information for him and a heavy load on the brain. He needs time and a calm environment to absorb and assimilate the acquired knowledge and skills.

Help your child learn to acquire knowledge on his own. Give him creative freedom in this process.

Rejoice at every success of your child, even the slightest attempt to prove himself, especially if this is the first time.

Don't become too deep in one area, such as reading, math, music, or physical education, and forget the others. Comprehensive development is much more important for a child than a record in one area.

I hope that these tips will help you make communication with your baby interesting, rich, and useful for both of you.

And most importantly, improve yourself. Let the child see that learning and learning is interesting and necessary for everyone.

Let your baby have an active mother!

Any conscious parent thinks about the proper upbringing of their child, about his correct and timely development. Educational toys can come to the rescue. But the cost of such toys on store shelves is often depressing, and in a crisis such a toy does not seem so necessary. And children grow quickly, and they need a lot of toys, because new sensations for a child are the main principle of his development.

What to do?

There is a way out - educational toys are not so difficult to make with your own hands. There is no need to think that this is a labor-intensive process. To create an educational toy for your child, you do not have to be an experienced teacher who knows the intricacies of all developmental techniques. Any parent can easily and inexpensively make an educational toy with their own hands from various available materials. Shreds, scraps of ribbon, beads, buttons. For the development of a child, the high cost of the materials used is not important - new visual impressions, new tactile sensations are important to him. If the toy is made by the baby’s mother with love, this energy will be transferred to the baby in the game.

And in terms of educational and developmental properties, homemade toys are not inferior to similar purchased ones.

When talking about a soft educational toy, one cannot fail to mention development tactile sensations

At the age of 0.5 to one year, this is the most active period for exploring objects through touch. Moreover, if tactile sensations are not enough, the child’s brain develops worse. They are simply vital for him! Parents have the power to “enrich” their child’s environment of tactile sensations. The more diverse the materials for toys that a child interacts with, the more they differ “to the touch” from each other, the faster and more fully his development will occur.

For example - "sensory mat"

Such a rug consists of materials of different textures - from smooth, like satin, from prickly (for example, a section of a rug knitted from wool or plastic yarn for washcloths), from rough (like crepe) and velvety (like velor), from fluffy (like fur) and ribbed (like corduroy). It is sewn from different pieces of fabric and is usually quilted with padding polyester for softness. You can sew large beads, bright buttons of different sizes, laces and ribbons onto it.

The rug can be laid out for a child to crawl on, or you can hang it on the wall of his crib.

Toys-bags or “krupenichki”. They are made of thin fabric so that the peas, beans, and buckwheat poured into them can be felt.

(The stuffing should be clearly felt through the fabric in order for the baby to receive new tactile sensations.)

For older children, you can make educational “soft books”

With the help of its soft pages, the baby learns to count:

Fasten buttons and zippers on “clothes”

Practice fastening your sandals:

And even learn hygiene:

Study the world around us, history

Using your imagination, you can make a wonderful educational book from scraps and scraps of fabric, which will be only for your baby, taking into account his characteristics, temperament and preferences.

You can also make toys with parts that can be laced, unfastened and fastened, attached with Velcro, and moved:

Toys with parts (parts) that can be attached in various ways to the main part (whole):

Toys - puzzles that help a child study the shape of objects:

Study the account:

The problem of intensification of development causes a lot of controversy among teachers, pediatricians and psychologists. Some experts are convinced: the sooner classes begin with a child, the sooner he will acquire skills and opportunities useful for later life.

Other experts are sure that early education is just a tool for satisfying mom or dad’s ambitions and pumping out money. Some doctors even believe that some methods are harmful to children's health.

What early development methods are popular today? Below is information about the advantages and disadvantages of such programs. All this will allow parents to make their own judgment about each of them.

3 types of child development

The term “early development” refers to a wide variety of phenomena. For some, early education is synonymous with premature and inadequate interference in the natural course of development of a little person.

According to experts, early development is the use of active educational methods in the age period from 0 months to 2 - 3 years.

However, such upbringing often conflicts with traditional educational systems, in which a child’s education begins at 6 or 7 years old.

Psychological literature traditionally divides the early mental development of a child into three types according to the degree of adequacy to the age characteristics of the child:

premature. Let's take a simple example: a newborn cannot be taught to sit, stand, or even walk. In general, with premature development, the child is not able to perceive information due to psychological and physical “imperfections”;
later. It is no secret that in childhood there are so-called sensitive periods of development, when the child best perceives certain information: visual, speech, etc. In case of delayed development, the process of mastering skills and knowledge becomes less productive. For example, it is too late to teach a child to skate at age 12 if you want to raise a great skater;
timely. This is a traditional option for the development of children, in which the information provided corresponds as much as possible to their age and psychological characteristics.

The last option seems to many to be the most adequate and correct. However, in real life, all three types of child development occur.

In this case, we are more interested in early learning. Does it always correspond to premature education? No. If you correctly assess your own and your children’s capabilities, as well as follow the methodology and common sense, you can more likely talk about advanced development.

Early childhood development involves creating conditions that facilitate the most effective learning of skills and knowledge in infancy.

Conditions mean:

organizing a developmental environment - filling corners with various objects and play aids that expand motor activity, develop children’s sensory skills, vision and hearing, etc.;
introducing the child to musical, artistic and literary works;
intensification of communication with the child both from the mother and from other household members. This means stimulating children's speech, adults pronouncing their actions;
acquisition or production of special teaching materials and manuals (this is especially true for Montessori and Doman methods).

Early education is not just preparation for kindergarten or school education, but the creation of conditions for harmonious and comprehensive development, memory training, attentiveness, imagination, logical thinking, processes of analysis and synthesis of information.

Below are time-tested and modern methods of early child development, which are most often used by parents at home or by specialists in educational centers.

Let us make one important reservation: an ideal developmental program that takes into account all aspects of a child’s personality simply does not exist. Each child is a bright individual, so what suits one may not be necessary for another.

That is why, when choosing the optimal method of early education, parents should know about the strengths and weaknesses of the preferred system, about its advantages and disadvantages. This will help pay attention to the “sinking” directions.

The most popular methods of early development of children from 0 to 3 years old

If you decide to purposefully and regularly work with your baby using a certain developmental method, you need to understand that the preparatory work and the actual classes will take you a huge amount of time, and the result can only be assessed after a couple of years.

We should not forget about the natural needs of the baby. For example, at 6 months of age, it is much more important for a child to learn to sit or crawl than to learn letters and words or swim. Common sense will only enhance the effectiveness of the techniques used.

The main principle of this worldwide popular educational system is to help the child demonstrate independence skills when learning in specially created conditions.

The educational program, developed by the author at the beginning of the 20th century, takes as a basis an individual approach to the child’s personality from the moment of his birth. This is necessary to reveal the inclinations and intellectual potential of each child.

The method includes 3 main parts: the child, the teacher and the organized environment. The central area is occupied by the baby, around whom a special environment is created that allows for independent study.

The teacher only helps children without interfering particularly with the natural course of development.

The main tenet of the program is monitoring the child and refusing to interfere in his affairs, except in situations where the child himself asks for support or help.

sensory;
mathematical;
speech;
practical life;
space

The designated area is filled with various teaching materials (Montessori avoided the word “toys”) that correspond to the child’s age: books, sorters, pyramids, containers, brushes and dustpans, etc.

In the classic version, the method involves starting classes at 3 years old, but some exercises will interest children older than one year of age.

Montessori groups are always of different ages: in some classes there are children from 1 to 6 years old, in others there are children from 7 to 12 years old. This division has certain advantages, since older children take care of the kids, and they, in turn, learn from their older friends.

Advantages and disadvantages

This technique has both positive and negative aspects, which should be discussed in more detail.

Advantages:

stimulation of mental processes with the help of special didactic materials, taking into account sensitive periods of child development;
a huge selection of manuals and educational materials;
improving self-care skills;
formation of self-discipline.

Flaws:

many classes still require the participation of a teacher or parent, since they will need to explain to the child the rules of interaction with a specific aid;
very expensive Montessori materials (though you can make them yourself);
To strictly follow all the precepts of Montessori, the child must be taken to a special center. Moreover, it is important to make sure that teachers actually work entirely according to this methodology, and do not use individual elements;
Most of the exercises are aimed at intelligence, sensory skills, and logical thinking. However, the creative, emotional and play areas develop to a lesser extent;
The traditional method rejects role-playing games and reading fairy tales, considering these teaching techniques to be unimportant.

In general, the Italian doctor’s method is popular among Russian and foreign parents. However, in the author’s version, the system is used extremely rarely; rather, mothers and fathers take some of the most successful moments from it, diluting them with activities and exercises from other educational programs.

This educational and educational program puts forward the following postulate - the maximum development of the capabilities of each child and his self-confidence.

Unlike many other developmental systems, this technique refuses to provide the child with any types of intellectual tasks if he is not yet 7 years old.

So, children only start learning to read in the third grade. Before entering school, children are given toys made from natural materials (straw, pine cones, etc.).

Waldorf school teachers place another emphasis on the comfort of the educational process. There are no grades in the lessons, there are no competitive “notes”, classes are filled with a small number of students - no more than 20 children.

The priority in the program is the artistic and theatrical activities of children and the improvement of imagination. For the same purpose, the methodology prohibits children from using modern gadgets such as mobile phones, computers and TVs.

Teaching principles are built taking into account the age factor:

a child under 7 years old learns through imitation of adults;
children aged 7 - 14 years old connect the emotional component to the process of acquiring knowledge;
From the age of 14, logic and intelligence are activated.

Advantages:

focuses on imagination and creativity;
comfort of the educational process;
development of an independent personality.

Flaws:

too late development of intellectual functions;
lack of preparatory classes for schooling;
poor adaptation to modern realities (a telephone is a necessary thing for a child today).

This technique is unique, so many parents are wary of it. On the Internet you can find a variety of comments about the Waldorf school: both positive and negative. Is it worth doing this program? It's up to the parents to decide.

The American scientist Doman, studying the characteristics of the psyche and learning of children with brain damage, established the following pattern - developmental activities are effective only during the period of greatest activity of the cerebral cortex, that is, under the age of 7 years.

More detailed information about what classes the author offers and what the basic principles of this educational program are can be found by reading an article by a child psychologist.

The main task of parents is to maximize the enormous potential of a newborn child.

Glen Doman's method consists of of four main components:

physical development;
check;
reading;
encyclopedic knowledge.

The American doctor was convinced that the nervous system of a child under one year old is so unique and perfect that even at that age the baby is able to memorize and systematize various facts and information.

Surely many mothers are familiar with the term “Doman cards”. This teaching material consists of cardboard cards of a certain size, on which there are words, dots, mathematical operations, photographs of plants, birds, animals, famous people, etc.

The amount of information is amazing. For better systematization and ease of use, cards should be divided into groups. Throughout the day, the parent displays these cards for a few seconds, regularly introducing more and more new images into circulation.

Advantages:

intensification of child development;
active involvement of parents in activities with children;
expanding children's opportunities by providing the child with a large flow of information;
development of children's attention.

Flaws:

you will simply need a huge amount of didactic material;
little attention is paid to fine motor skills, sensory development and object-related activities;
Doman cards do not develop a child’s logical thinking, ability to analyze and systematize facts;
the methodology does not pay due attention to creativity and play activities;
It is possible to overload the child's nervous system due to too much information, as a result of which the child develops tics, enuresis and other problems.

The Doman system is a typical example of intellectual techniques. The child is not taught, but rather trained with the help of cards. At least that’s what many mothers and neurologists think. However, other parents praise this training program for the opportunity to develop from the cradle.

St. Petersburg teacher Nikolai Zaitsev several decades ago developed a unique developmental system that includes a set of manuals for teaching a child literacy, mathematical skills and English.

The Zaitsev program is based on the leading activity of a child of early and preschool age - play. And this allows you to develop both the physical and emotional sides of the child’s personality.

Information is presented in a system, but at the same time in a playful form, which is why the child is happy to join in the lesson. Moreover, it is not so important whether it takes place alone with a parent (teacher) or with a group of children.

A relaxed atmosphere is an important condition of Zaitsev’s training system. During the lesson, children are allowed to make noise, laugh, clap their hands and stomp their feet, change playing material, moving from cubes to tablets or a board.

However, such liberation does not mean that classes are entertainment. It is in the process of such play that children not only gain knowledge, but also make an independent choice of their preferred activity.

Advantages:

wide age range - from 1 year to 7 years;
can be practiced both at home and in kindergarten;
crash course in learning to read through games;
development of competent writing skills.

Flaws:

when teaching at home, the parent will have to first learn this technique himself, since it differs from traditional teaching methods;
experts point out that a child who has learned to read using Zaitsev’s method “swallows” endings and gets confused when dividing a word into syllables, since he previously divided it into words;
first grade is an important milestone in the life of every child; it is at this moment that children who studied using this method begin to have difficulties, since there is a discrepancy in the color designation of vowels and consonants.

According to many parents, Zaitsev's cubes are the best reading aids of their kind. A child can learn to read as early as 3 years old, and this skill remains with him for the rest of his life. In addition, mothers also include game techniques that make the activity fun and spontaneous.

The Belgian actress Cecile Lupan was forced to develop her own method by dissatisfaction with Glen Doman's system, which was taken as a basis.

This training program can hardly be called scientific; the developed method is rather a set of activities that take into account the child’s individuality, interests and inclinations of each child.

The author of the technique in his books advises communicating with the baby literally from the first seconds of his life, and there is no need to worry that he will not understand something. Lupan is convinced that the sooner a child learns something, the sooner he will understand certain patterns and connections.

In the first months, the child only gets used to the parent’s speech, and then seemingly meaningless sounds begin to be filled with meaning. As soon as he begins to pronounce the first words, he should move on to reading (usually at one year of age).

The main idea proposed by Cecile Lupan is the following: a child does not need attention-care, he needs attention-interest, which only a loving parent can provide.

Advantages:

opportunity to engage from 3 months of age to 7 years;
much attention is paid to early physical development;
The technique is suitable for home practice;
exercises affect the intellectual and emotional sphere, sensory;
very close communication between mother and child;
Stimulation of the baby's cognitive interest.

Flaws:

requires complete dedication from the parent;
a lot of teaching materials that mom will need to make;
a kind of training.

Since the author is not an educator, her approach cannot be said to be completely scientific. However, mothers can take some things into account, for example, creating homemade books about their child, into which they can write author’s fairy tales and insert his photographs.

The name of the authors made a splash back in the days of the Soviet Union. The married couple began to raise children according to their own program, which could amaze an unprepared person with unusual techniques and educational methods.

The Nikitins did not recommend limiting the child’s experimental nature with devices, so they had a negative attitude towards any strollers (including strollers) and playpens, calling them prisons.

The spouses also followed the principle of children's independence in choosing activities for the child. They refused special training and activities. The kids could do what was closest to them, without restrictions. Parents only helped to deal with difficulties.

The Nikitin system includes hardening and physical education techniques. To do this, it is necessary to create a special environment in the house, including sports equipment and exercise equipment. These devices should not stand out; they are as natural as, for example, furniture.

The authors are convinced that a child should not be “overorganized” or abandoned. Moms and dads should not be indifferent to children's development and pastime, however, when participating in children's games, they should not take the position of a supervisor and controller.

The main principle of the system is the Montessori version of sensitive periods - the fading of the child’s ability to develop effectively as he grows up. Simply put, if certain abilities are not developed in time, they will not reach the optimal level.

Advantages:

used from birth to school age;
children's independence;
The child’s intelligence develops well;
improving logical thinking and imagination;
game as a teaching technique;
special attention is paid to physical development;
the invention of special didactic toys - for example, Nikitin cubes, unicube.

Flaws:

restlessness of the child due to the fact that he chooses his own activities;
this lifestyle is more suitable for rural areas;
hardening is considered a rather extreme type of education;
Due to advanced development, children may not be interested in studying at school.

This system has both ardent supporters and no less categorical opponents. However, some points have not lost their relevance today, while other techniques are questionable.

This program, called the “method of intellectual development of a child,” was developed by P. V. Tyulenev, a teacher and sociologist. By studying MIRR, you can teach your child literacy, mathematics, and develop musical and sports abilities.

The author of the system is convinced that a child needs to be developed from the first days of life. The most important thing at this moment is to provide him with a variety of tactile stimuli so that the cerebral cortex can actively form.

The choice of activities depends depending on the child’s age:

in the first two months, the baby is shown triangles, squares and other geometric figures depicted on a piece of paper;
from 2 to 4 months, children are shown drawings of animals, plants, letters, numbers;
at 4 months of age they play “Toyball”, when the baby throws cubes and other game accessories from the crib;
From 5 months, musical instruments are placed near the baby. The baby, touching them, tries to make sounds and develop musical inclinations;
from the age of six months they master letters by looking at a special magnetic alphabet. At 8 months the child is asked to bring a letter, at 10 months - to show the letter, and then - to name the letter or a whole word;
from the age of one and a half years, they play chess with the baby;
from the age of 2, the child not only puts words together from letters, but tries to type them on a computer keyboard;
From the age of three, children try to keep a diary on a laptop or computer.

Advantages:

diversified development of the baby;
exercises will not require much time from adults;
exercises are suitable for every child;
good preparation for schooling;
revealing all the inclinations of the baby.

Flaws:

It’s not easy to find benefits;
it is difficult to talk about the effectiveness of exercises;
too strict restrictions from the author;
The age characteristics of the baby are not always taken into account;
restriction of the child’s cognitive freedom;
the prevalence of the intellectual component over all others.

An ambiguous technique that many specialists do not like. However, you can also find interesting points in it that can be implemented in practice. It is only important to monitor the child’s reaction to the innovations being introduced.

Other proprietary developmental techniques

In addition to those described above, there are other developmental or educational systems. Their use allows the child to better master the preschool or school curriculum, develop certain abilities, or simply grow into a well-rounded personality.

Some of the most popular include the following teaching methods:

“After three it’s too late.” A Japanese entrepreneur and simply caring father wrote this literary work in which he described the importance of the early development of a child in the first years of life.
Dynamic gymnastics. M. Trunov and L. Kitaev, having brought together ancient Russian gymnastic exercises, offer parents effective methods for developing the physical sphere, as well as for correcting increased or decreased muscle tone, clubfoot, torticollis, etc.
Gmoshinskaya's technique. The best way to instill artistic skills in a child is to draw from infancy. Even before the age of 1 year, a child can create “canvases” using his palms, fingers, and soft felt-tip pens.
Musical program by Vinogradov. The creator of the method is convinced that even a one-year-old child can already understand the most complex classical works. There is no need to explain the meaning of the music to the baby in detail; let him decide on his own emotions and impressions.
Music by the Zheleznovs. This is another musical technique for young children. The discs contain lullabies, nursery rhymes, music for finger and outdoor games, performances, massage, fairy tales, learning the alphabet, teaching counting and reading, etc.

Of course, this list is not entirely complete. However, the presented methods are enough to understand how diverse and interesting they are. When developing them, the authors took into account their experience or took their pedagogical heritage as a basis.

It is interesting that these systems can be combined with each other using the most successful individual elements. Experiments are welcome.

Pros and cons of early development

Moms and dads are convinced that they themselves decide how to raise a child. However, this opinion is not entirely correct, since the process of education is increasingly influenced by social initiatives and various stereotypes.

One of the most controversial issues is the early development of children under 1 year of age. Typically, specialists and mothers take two extreme positions: some advocate the use of developmental techniques, others are extremely negative towards any intervention. Let's consider their arguments.

Arguments for"

The modern world places higher demands on people. In order for a child to have time to master the necessary and important skills, his abilities have to be developed from infancy.
Children who study in accordance with such methods usually have a higher level of development compared to their peers. Children master all kinds of skills earlier: reading, writing, counting.
Complex educational systems, covering the development of several aspects of personality at once, help to identify a child’s inclinations and aptitudes for certain activities. This allows you to enroll your child in specific courses in the future.
If a child studies at a development center in the company of peers, this allows him to socialize earlier and get used to life in a children's group.

Arguments against"

A healthy and normally developing child is able to learn basic skills on his own when the time comes. This is why you should not “mock” the child’s psyche.
Intensive classes can harm a child if a parent or teacher does not take into account the age characteristics of the child’s body, its temperament and adaptive capabilities.
Many popular methods place the main emphasis on intelligence and “physics,” but emotional and social development are undeservedly forgotten. This can disrupt adaptation in children's society.
It is extremely difficult to work with your baby every day, fulfilling all the requirements and conditions of the method. If you follow all the rules, then mom has no time left for anything else. If you perform tasks from time to time, all knowledge will evaporate very quickly,” and the effectiveness will be very low.
Many experts pay attention to the untimely acquisition of certain skills. For example, a six-month-old baby needs to learn to sit down or crawl, since this is his most important “task,” but reading or counting is completely unnecessary at this age. Most likely, before school he will have completely forgotten all his skills and will be on par with his peers.
Excessive demands on a child and the desire to raise a genius can negatively affect the child’s entire future life. Children whose parents feed them unnecessary information often grow up to be neurasthenics and perfectionists. Therefore, problems with socialization cannot be ruled out.

Thus, each side has compelling arguments, which is why parents will have to choose for themselves whether to use methods or follow the natural course of child development.

In the first 12 months, the child's development proceeds at an accelerated pace. At this time, the baby has time to explore the world, gain a good vocabulary, and build initial and elementary logical chains.

Many experts are convinced that if you don’t work with your baby in the first year or two, then the child will not be able to compensate for the lost knowledge and skills.

However, excessive fanaticism and adherence to literally all the dogmas of developmental methods can, on the contrary, not bring benefit, but harm child development.

If you decide to use the child development methods mentioned above, you must follow certain rules. They will help avoid negative consequences and make learning more natural:

Observe your baby's reaction carefully. If he doesn’t like the activity, he expresses protest in the form of tears or throwing away the offered toys, you need to stop and occupy him with something else;
The baby should not be taken away from the activity he is currently passionate about for the sake of development. If your baby prefers to play with blocks rather than look at pictures, wait until he finishes the game;
all exercises and tasks included in the educational system you choose must be understandable and credible. You should also rehearse all activities before approaching your child with them;
The child’s education should be comprehensive. In no case should you develop only the physical or cognitive sphere. It is necessary to pay attention to all aspects of the child’s personality, including emotional and social;
there is no need to turn the process of acquiring knowledge and skills into an automatic action. It is important to stimulate the child’s interest in the process itself, to develop curiosity, inquisitiveness and observation.

Having considered all the main nuances of each method, you can make a preliminary selection of the most preferable training system. However, you should focus not on the opinions of other parents, but primarily on the characteristics of the child. After all, its development is a responsible matter!

Tatiana Morozova
Educational games in preschool education

Term « educational games» was first used by a wonderful teacher, father developing games by Boris Pavlovich Nikitin.

What's happened educational games? The answer is in the title itself. Educational games are those games that contribute child development. It doesn't matter whether it's about development of fine motor skills, speech, creativity, etc. A game that promotes development any intellectual or physical skill is developing.

So way, essence educational game- you need to complete some task, and in order to complete it, you need to think. Such games and toys develop speech in children, thinking, logic, fine motor skills, perseverance, creativity.

Distinctive feature educational games:

IN developing games - this is their main feature - they combine one of the basic principles of learning from simple to complex with the very important principle of creative activity independently according to their abilities, when a child can rise to "ceiling" your capabilities.

This union allowed us to solve several problems related to developmentcreativity:

Firstly, educational games can give"food" For development creative abilities from a very early age;

secondly, their stepping stone tasks always create conditions that outstrip development of abilities;

thirdly, rising each time on your own to your "ceiling", child develops most successfully;

fourthly, educational games can be very diverse in its content and, in addition, like any games, they do not tolerate coercion and create an atmosphere of free and joyful creativity;

fifthly, playing these games with your children, fathers and mothers, unnoticed by themselves, acquire a very important skill - to restrain themselves, not to interfere with the baby’s thinking and making decisions, not to do for him what he can and should do himself.

The five points listed above correspond to the five basic conditions development creative abilities. It is thanks to this educational games create a unique microclimate for development creative sides of intelligence.

Kinds educational games.

Games for planar and volumetric modeling.

These games can be classified as: "Fold a square", "Tangram", "Columbus Egg", games - puzzles. These games not only develop imaginative thinking, but also the ability to create imaginary image, choosing the right solution path for this, navigate in space, show persistence and ingenuity.

Transformation games(transfiguration, transformation) .

These include geometric puzzles (from matches, counting sticks) on building, changing figures, transformation one into another while maintaining the number of matches. Toys - transformers, square by V.V. Voskobovich. Such games develop variable thinking, spatial concepts, ability to implement appropriate actions.

Combinatorics games, moving, changing places.

"Four by Four", "Parquets", "Color panel" (author S. V. Kovalev). These the games are exciting, are effective, contribute to the choice of a rational solution, and develop the player’s ability to make the right decision.

brain teaser crossing games, building algorithms, changing the properties of figures according to certain rules.

These games, as a rule, use a didactic manual "Dienesh logic blocks" or sets of logical geometric shapes. Games are easily constructed provided that the basic logical rules and sequence of actions are observed.

The most effective aid is the logical blocks developed by the Hungarian psychologist and mathematician Dienes to prepare children's thinking for mastering mathematics.

Artistic educational games choose a palette for the painting, choose a scheme for the painting).

At what age should you start playing with children? educational games? Nobody asks when to start teaching a child to speak. From birth, parents talk to their baby, thereby preparing the ground for child speech development. Same with educational games, such a question should not arise. There are many games to play with children from birth, developing their hearing, vision, fine motor skills: these are rattles, mobile, finger games, songs.

Methodology of organization and conduct educational game

1. The new game is not explained to the child; he is drawn into it with the help of a fairy tale and imitates an adult.

2. Mastering a new games, as a rule, requires the active participation of seniors; In the future, the child can study independently.

3. The child is given a number of tasks that become more complicated in the future.

4. The child cannot be given any hints. He must be able to think for himself.

5. If the child cannot cope with the task, you need to return to easy, already completed tasks, or temporarily stop the game.

6. If a child has reached the ceiling of his capabilities or has lost interest in the game, he needs to put it off for a while. This technique allows the child to independently search for solutions to problems unknown to him, to create new things, that is, it leads to development his creative abilities.

Let's look at how to start playing the tangram game.

Where to begin?

The very first exercise with such a game is to create a figure from two or three elements. For example, make a square or a trapezoid from triangles. The child must navigate the puzzle: count all the triangles, compare them by size.

Then you can simply put the parts next to each other and see what will happen: fungus, house, Christmas tree, bow, candy...

Possible in progress games to tell that the puzzle is called “Tangram” in honor of the scientist who invented it.

Second phase

After a few lessons and games with a tangram, you can move on to exercises on folding figures according to a given example. In these tasks you need to use all 7 puzzle elements.

Start by making a hare, this is the simplest of the figures below.

A ball of fluff -

Long ear.

Jumps deftly

Loves carrots (hare).

Third stage

More difficult and interesting for children is recreating figures according to sample-contours. This is the third stage of development games. Recreating figures along contours requires visual division of the form into its component parts, that is, into geometric shapes. Such tasks in kindergartens are recommended to be offered to children from 6-7 years old. (I think it's a bit late).

One of the first tasks at this stage is the running goose, it’s better to start with it. First, analyze with your child what parts the head, neck, and paws of a goose may consist of. Is it possible to make them from other parts...

You can spend more time applying different puzzle elements, looking for the correct result.

This is more complicated - figures of a person running and sitting, geometric figures.