Forms of work with children of primary preschool age. Methods of working with children of primary, middle and high school age

Every year there are changes in the development of children. Each age determines the development of cognitive processes. Many scientists believe that it is very important to pay attention to the peculiarities of the development of cognitive processes, especially at the initial stage of learning. At primary school age, children have significant development reserves.

Junior school age (from 6-7 to 9-10 years) is determined by an important circumstance in the child’s life - entering school.

A child who enters school automatically takes a completely new place in the system of human relations: he has permanent responsibilities associated with educational activities. Relatives, adults, teachers, even strangers communicate with the child not only as a unique person, but also as a person who has taken upon himself the obligation (whether freely or under duress) to study, like all children of his age. From the moment a child starts school, his emotional development depends more than before on the experiences he acquires outside the home.

The child’s fears reflect the perception of the world around him, the scope of which is now expanding. Inexplicable and imaginary fears of past years are replaced by others, more conscious: lessons, injections, natural phenomena, relationships between peers. Fear can take the form of anxiety or worry.

From time to time, school-age children become reluctant to go to school. The symptoms (headache, stomach cramps, vomiting, dizziness) are widely known. This is not a simulation, and in such cases it is important to find out the cause as quickly as possible. This could be fear of failure, fear of criticism from teachers, fear of being rejected by parents or peers.

In such cases, parents' friendly and persistent interest in their child's attendance at school helps.

During primary school age, the child begins to develop a new type of relationship with the people around him. The unconditional authority of an adult is gradually lost, and by the end of primary school age, peers begin to become increasingly important for children, and the role of the children's community increases. Educational activity becomes the leading activity at primary school age. It determines the most important changes occurring in the development of the psyche of children at this age stage. Within the framework of educational activities, psychological new formations are formed that characterize the most significant achievements in the development of primary schoolchildren and are the foundation that ensures development at the next age stage.

The leading role of educational activities in the process of child development does not exclude the fact that the younger student is actively involved in other types of activities, during which his new achievements are improved and consolidated.

According to L.S. Vygotsky, with the beginning of schooling, thinking moves to the center of the child’s conscious activity. The development of verbal-logical, reasoning thinking, which occurs during the assimilation of scientific knowledge, rebuilds all other cognitive processes: “memory at this age becomes thinking, and perception - thinking." It is at primary school age that a child begins to experience his uniqueness and realizes himself as an individual. This manifests itself in all areas of a child’s life, including relationships with peers. Children find new group forms of activity. They learn the ability to make friends and find a common language with different children. They strive to improve the skills of those activities that are accepted and valued in an attractive company in order to stand out in it and achieve success. The motive for achieving success is the main motive for a child’s activity at this age. An age-related feature of the attention of a primary school student is the comparative weakness of voluntary attention. Involuntary attention at the beginning of learning requires the teacher to concentrate students' attention more on the subject being studied. Work should be organized in such a way that students use all types of analyzers.

The process of a child’s learning places certain demands on the child’s imagination. The main direction in the development of children's imagination, according to Gamezo, is the transition to a more correct and complete reflection of reality based on relevant knowledge. At first, the imagination of a primary school student is creative and arbitrary. As a rule, the realism of the imagination increases with age. A characteristic feature of the imagination of a primary school student is its reliance on specific objects. And only after some time begins to rely on the word, on the sounding name of the object without its visual image. In the middle of primary school age, the imagination reaches its necessary reality and reliability of ideas. He creates logically connected pictures. At primary school age, the child shows significant differentiation of perceived information. The image created by the first grader is still vague and full of details that he came up with himself and that were not indicated in the description. But already in the second grade, the student strictly limits his recreating image to real details and clearly places them. The created images appear in accordance with the task at hand. This is the main neoplasm of primary school age.

From the age of six, children spend more and more time with peers, almost always of the same sex. Conformity intensifies, reaching its peak by the age of 12. Popular children tend to adapt well, feel comfortable among their peers, and are generally cooperative.

Children still spend a lot of time playing. It develops feelings of cooperation and competition, and such concepts as justice and injustice, prejudice, equality, leadership, submission, devotion, and betrayal acquire personal meaning.

The game takes on a social connotation: children invent secret societies, clubs, secret cards, codes, passwords and special rituals. The roles and rules of children's society make it possible to master the rules accepted in adult society. Playing with friends between the ages of 6 and 11 takes up the most time.

Junior school age is sensitive for:

Formation of motives for learning, development of sustainable cognitive needs and interests;

Development of productive techniques and skills in academic work, the ability to learn;

Disclosure of individual characteristics and abilities;

Development of self-control, self-organization and self-regulation skills;

Formation of adequate self-esteem, development of criticality towards oneself and others;

Assimilation of social norms, moral development;

Developing communication skills with peers, establishing strong friendships.

Junior school age is a period of positive changes and transformations. That is why the level of achievement achieved by each child at a given age stage is so important. If at this age a child does not feel the joy of learning, does not acquire the ability to learn, does not learn to make friends, does not gain confidence in himself, his abilities and capabilities, doing this in the future (outside the sensitive period) will be much more difficult and will require immeasurably higher mental and physical costs.

“Junior school age is a period of absorption, accumulation of knowledge, a period of mastering primarily. The successful fulfillment of this important function is facilitated by the characteristic features of children of this age: trusting submission to authority, increased receptivity, attentiveness, a naively playful attitude towards much of what they encounter,” this is how N. S. Leites characterizes this age.

Full-fledged living of this age, its positive acquisitions are the necessary foundation on which the further development of the child as an active subject of cognition and activity is built. The main task of adults in working with children of primary school age is to create optimal conditions for the development and realization of children's capabilities, taking into account the individuality of each child and taking into account his interests.

A.I. Savenkov believes that interest is an active and positive attitude towards a cognitive object, which acts as a need for intellectual knowledge of it. T.S. Komarova says that interest contributes to the child’s creative expression and stimulates the development of artistic and creative skills. According to A.F. Volovik, interest in leisure activities acts as a dominant motive. A child’s leisure activity or passivity is determined only by the presence or absence of interest in it. Therefore, encouraging primary school-age children to engage in one or another type of leisure activity, as well as inclusion in it, should be based on taking into account the interests of the child, since unaccounted interest is an unsatisfied need. Interest not only contributes to the satisfaction of a need, but is also capable of generating it.

From the above approaches of domestic psychologists and teachers, it follows that a child, first of all, develops an interest in cultural and leisure activities that is caused by the need to understand the world around him. In this regard, at the initial stages of his development, parents take care of various impressions that have an emotional positive connotation. Here you can see a characteristic feature of a child’s cultural and leisure activities, which is that in primary school age emotional experiences dominate the cognitive process. At the same time, receiving a variety of emotions, both positive and negative, in the process of a pleasant pastime and being in a state of comfort, the child not only acquires additional knowledge, but also confirms himself in what he knows, knows how and can do on his own . This, naturally, affects his intellectual development, since his interest in understanding the world around him is satisfied. When an activity ceases to be of interest, the child refuses to perform it. Therefore, it is necessary to constantly intensify expressions of interest or create new interest, a new direction of cultural and leisure activities.

A person’s social well-being and his satisfaction with his free time largely depend on the ability to direct one’s activities during leisure hours to achieve generally significant goals, implement one’s life program, and develop and improve one’s essential powers.

The development of speech in children of primary preschool age occurs especially quickly: like at no other age, the vocabulary is quickly replenished, the sound design of words improves, and phrases become more developed. However, not all children have the same level of speech development: some already pronounce words clearly and correctly by the age of three, others still speak insufficiently clearly and pronounce individual sounds incorrectly. The majority of children are like this. Their most typical mistakes are omission and replacement of sounds, rearrangement of not only sounds, but also syllables, violation of the syllabic structure (abbreviation of words: “apied” instead of “bicycle”), incorrect stress, etc.

At this age stage, it is necessary, first of all, to teach children to pronounce clearly and correctly, as well as to hear and distinguish sounds in words. The voice of younger preschoolers is also unstable: some of them speak very quietly, barely audible (especially if they are not sure of the correct pronunciation), others speak loudly. The teacher draws children's attention to the fact that words can be pronounced at different volumes (whisper, quietly, moderately, loudly), teaches children to distinguish by ear how loudly others and themselves speak.

The games proposed below can be used to develop children's auditory attention, correct speech perception, teach kids to correlate a sounding word with a picture or object, clearly pronounce one-, two-, and three- and four-syllable words, answer questions; play onomatopoeia loudly and quietly.

Guess what it sounds like

Visual material: drum, hammer, bell, screen.

The teacher shows the children a toy drum, bell, and hammer, names them and asks them to repeat. When the kids remember the names of the objects, the teacher suggests listening to how they sound: playing a drum, ringing a bell, knocking on the table with a hammer; names the toys again. Then he sets up a screen and behind it reproduces the sound of the specified objects. "What does it sound like?" - he asks the children. The children answer, and the teacher again rings the bell, knocks with the hammer, etc. At the same time, he makes sure that the children recognize the sounding object and clearly pronounce its name.

Wonderful pouch

Visual material: a bag, small toys depicting baby animals (duckling, gosling, chicken, tiger cub, piglet, baby elephant, frog, kitten, etc.).

All the toys listed above are placed in a bag. The teacher, holding a bag, approaches the children and, saying that there are many interesting toys in the bag, offers to take one out, show it to everyone and name it loudly. The teacher ensures that the children name the toy correctly and clearly. If anyone finds it difficult to answer, the teacher prompts him.

The following games and exercises help teach children the correct pronunciation of certain sounds in words, help them pronounce words with these sounds clearly and clearly. Shop

Visual material: toys whose names contain the sounds m - m, p - p, b - b (matryoshka dolls, car, bear, train, cannon, Parsley, drum, balalaika, Pinocchio, dog, squirrel, doll, etc.).

The teacher places toys on the table and invites the children to play. “I will be a seller,” he says and asks again: “Who will I be?” The children answer. "And you will be the customers. Who will you be?" “Buyers,” the children answer. "What does the seller do?" - “Sells” - “What does the buyer do?” - “Buying.” The teacher shows the toys that he is going to sell. The children call them. Then the teacher invites one child to the table and asks what toy he would like to buy. The child names, for example, bear. The teacher agrees to sell, but suggests asking politely, emphasizing the word “please” in his voice. The teacher gives a toy and at the same time can ask the child why he needs this toy. The child answers and sits down. The next one is invited to the store. And so on until all items are sold out.

The teacher makes sure that children correctly pronounce the sounds m - m, p - p, b - b in words, and clearly pronounce words with these sounds. Can you drive or not?

Visual material: a box and pictures depicting vehicles, as well as other objects with the sound s (s) in the name: sled, airplane, bicycle, scooter, trolleybus, bus, chair, table, boot, etc.

Children take turns taking pictures out of the box; everyone shows theirs to the group, names the object depicted on it and says whether they can ride or not. The teacher makes sure that children correctly pronounce sounds with (s) in words and clearly pronounce words with this sound.

For a walk in the forest

Visual material: toys (dog, elephant, fox, hare, goat, goose, chicken, hen, basket, saucer, glass, bus, etc., the names of which contain the sounds s (сь), з (зь), ц).

The teacher puts toys on the table and asks the children to name them. He then invites the children to go for a walk in the forest and take their toy animals with them. Kids choose the toys they need, name them, put them in the car and take them to a predetermined place. The teacher makes sure that the children select the objects correctly, name them clearly and loudly, and correctly pronounce the sounds s (сь), з (зь), ц.

Tell me how I am

Goal: to teach children to speak loudly, quietly, in a whisper, and also to develop auditory perception (to distinguish the degree of loudness of spoken words).

The teacher invites the children to listen carefully to how he pronounces the words and pronounce (repeat) them the same way. The teacher ensures that children pronounce words clearly, with an appropriate level of volume.

Related information.

The boundaries of primary school age (hereinafter simply referred to as “junior age”), coinciding with the period of study in primary school, are usually set from 6-7 to 9-10 years. During this period, further physical and psychophysiological development of the child occurs.

At this age, fundamental changes occur in the social situation of the child’s development. He becomes a “public” subject and now has socially significant responsibilities, the fulfillment of which receives public assessment. During early childhood, a new type of relationship with other people begins to develop. The unconditional authority of an adult is gradually lost and by the end of childhood, peers begin to become increasingly important for the child, and the role of the children's community increases.

Educational activity becomes the leading activity at a young age. It determines the most important changes occurring in the development of the psyche of children at this age stage. Within the framework of this activity, new psychological formations are formed that characterize the most significant achievements in the development of younger children and are the foundation that ensures development at the next age stage. The leading role of educational activities in the process of child development does not exclude the fact that the youngest child is actively involved in other types of activities, during which his new achievements are improved and consolidated.

At this age, thinking moves to the center of the child’s conscious activity. The development of verbal-logical, reasoning thinking, which occurs during the assimilation of knowledge, rebuilds all other cognitive processes: “memory at this age becomes thinking, and perception becomes thinking.”

Significant changes occur in the development of attention; all its properties are intensively developed: the volume of attention increases especially sharply (2.1 times), its stability increases, and switching and distribution skills develop. By the age of 9-10, children become able to maintain attention for a long time and carry out a randomly assigned program of actions. At a young age, memory, like all other mental processes, undergoes significant changes. Their essence is that the child’s memory gradually acquires the features of arbitrariness, becoming consciously regulated and mediated.

Younger ages are sensitive to the development of higher forms of voluntary memorization, therefore targeted developmental work on mastering mnemonic activity is most effective during this period. There are 13 mnemonic techniques, or ways of organizing memorized material: grouping, highlighting reference points, drawing up a plan, classification, structuring, schematization, establishing analogies, mnemonic techniques, recoding, completing the construction of memorized material, serial organization of associations, repetition.

The difficulty of highlighting the main, essential is clearly manifested in one of the main types of activity - retelling. A brief retelling is much more difficult for children than a detailed one. To tell briefly means highlighting the main thing, separating it from the details, and this is precisely what children do not know how to do.

The inability to overcome the learning difficulties that arise in this case sometimes leads to the abandonment of active mental work. Then children begin to use various inadequate techniques and ways of performing tasks, which psychologists call “workarounds,” which include mechanical repetition without understanding it. Children reproduce the story almost by heart, word for word, but at the same time cannot answer questions about it. Another workaround is to perform a new task in the same way as a previous task.

At this age, another important new formation appears - voluntary behavior. The child becomes independent and chooses what to do in certain situations. This type of behavior is based on moral motives that are formed at this age. The child absorbs moral values ​​and tries to follow certain rules and laws. This is often associated with selfish motives and desires to be approved by adults or to strengthen one’s personal position in a peer group. That is, their behavior is one way or another connected with the main motive that dominates at this age - the motive of achieving success. New formations such as planning the results of action and reflection are closely related to the formation of voluntary behavior in younger children.

The child is able to evaluate his action in terms of its results and thereby change his behavior and plan it accordingly. A semantic and guiding basis in actions appears; this is closely related to the differentiation of internal and external life. A child is able to overcome his desires if the result of their fulfillment does not meet certain standards or does not lead to the set goal. An important aspect of a child’s inner life is his semantic orientation in his actions. This is due to the child’s feelings about the fear of changing relationships with others. He is afraid of losing his importance in their eyes.

The child begins to actively think about his actions and hide his experiences. The child is not the same on the outside as he is on the inside. It is these changes in the child’s personality that often lead to outbursts of emotions on adults, desires to do what they want, and whims. “The negative content of this age manifests itself primarily in mental imbalance, instability of will, mood, etc.”

The development of the personality of the youngest child depends on his success and the assessment of the child by adults. A child at this age is very susceptible to external influence. It is thanks to this that he absorbs knowledge, both intellectual and moral. “The counselor plays a significant role in establishing moral standards and developing children’s interests, although the degree to which they are successful in this will depend on the type of relationship they have with their peers.” Other adults at camp also play an important role in the child's life.

At a young age, children's desire to achieve increases. Therefore, the main motive of a child’s activity at this age is the motive of achieving success. Sometimes another type of this motive occurs - the motive of avoiding failure.

Certain moral ideals and patterns of behavior are laid down in the child’s mind. The child begins to understand their value and necessity. But in order for the development of a child’s personality to be most productive, the attention and assessment of an adult is important. “The emotional-evaluative attitude of an adult to the actions of a child determines the development of his moral feelings, individual responsible attitude towards the rules with which he becomes acquainted in life.” “The child’s social space has expanded - the child constantly communicates with the counselor and peers according to the laws of clearly formulated rules.”

It is at this age that a child experiences his uniqueness, he recognizes himself as an individual, and strives for perfection. This is reflected in all areas of a child’s life, including relationships with peers. Children find new group forms of activity and activities. At first they try to behave as is customary in this group, obeying the laws and rules. Then begins the desire for leadership, for superiority among peers. At this age, friendships are more intense but less durable. Children learn the ability to make friends and find a common language with different children. “Although it is assumed that the ability to form close friendships is determined to some extent by the emotional connections a child develops during the first five years of his life.”

Children strive to improve the skills of those types of activities that are accepted and valued in an attractive company in order to stand out in its environment and achieve success.

At primary school age, the child develops an orientation towards other people, which is expressed in prosocial behavior, taking into account their interests. Prosocial behavior is very important for a developed personality.

The ability to empathize is developed in the conditions of a children's camp because the child participates in new business relationships, involuntarily he is forced to compare himself with other children - with their successes, achievements, behavior, and the child is simply forced to learn to develop his abilities and qualities.

Thus, the younger age is the most critical stage of childhood. The main achievements of this age are determined by the leading nature of the activity and are largely decisive for subsequent years. By the end of the younger age, the child must want to learn, be able to learn and believe in himself.

Full-fledged living of this age, its positive acquisitions are the necessary foundation on which the further development of the child as an active subject of knowledge and activity is built. The main task of adults in working with children of primary school age is to create optimal conditions for the development and realization of children's capabilities, taking into account the individuality of each child.

If the products obtained as a result of efforts turn out to be of high quality, effective in use, and valuable in the eyes of others, then a person develops a basic, deep-seated conviction in his own competence. In this case, the famous formula of a three-year-old person “I myself” is supplemented with the very important word “I can” - “I can do it myself,” “I can handle it.” This, if you like, is largely the psychology of a winner. People with this kind of inner conviction, when faced with a difficult problem, think not about how difficult it is, but about how to solve it. And they usually succeed. Failure for them is a reason not to give up, but to gain new knowledge and find additional resources and opportunities.

In the case when the products created by the child turn out to be unusable, unclaimed and unappreciated, he develops a deep awareness of his own failure as a destructive alternative to competence.

So, in order not to become unhappy, it is important for a child to be convinced of his own competence. Can we help him with this? Can we “help” him in another way - to feel unsuccessful? So, the leading need for personal development at the age in question is to be convinced of one’s own competence. That is, create something yourself. Therefore, even children who are pronounced extroverts often prefer to make something alone during this period. Let's give them this opportunity. Even if you see that the child is not doing well, that he is upset or angry, do not rush to the rescue until you are asked for help. Let's believe him this time too. He is able to decide whether he needs our advice and trusts us enough to ask for help when he really needs it. If you are asked to evaluate something or help with something at an inopportune hour, when you do not have the time, energy or simply desire to do it, say so directly. Decide for yourself when you really (not necessarily “tomorrow”) will be able to pay the necessary attention to this child’s request, and be sure to say about this too. Trust again that your child is capable of understanding everything correctly. This will not hurt him. On the contrary, he will once again feel his importance from the fact that they speak to him seriously and frankly, as to an adult. Pain can be caused by a quick, disinterested glance at what he has put so much effort into, and a formally indifferent “well done, now go to sleep.” Such an attitude devalues ​​not only the fruit of creation - it devalues ​​the creator himself.

The child uses example as the main form of evidence. When explaining something, everything comes down to the familiar, the particular, the known.

The following features can be distinguished in a child’s thinking. Firstly, children are characterized by animism (animation of inanimate nature, celestial bodies, mythical creatures). Secondly, syncretism (insensitivity to contradictions, linking everything with everything, inability to separate cause and effect). Thirdly, egocentrism (inability to look at oneself from the outside). Fourthly, phenomenality (the tendency to rely not on knowledge of the true relationships of things, but on their apparent relationships).

The peculiarity of children's thinking - spiritualizing nature, attributing to inanimate things the ability to think, feel, do - Jean Piaget called animism (from the Latin animus - soul). Where does this amazing property of the thinking of younger people come from - to see something alive where, from the point of view of an adult, it cannot exist? Many found the reason for children's animism in the unique vision of the world that a child develops by the beginning of preschool age.

For an adult, the whole world is orderly. In the consciousness of an adult, there is a clear line between living and nonliving, active and passive objects. There are no such strict boundaries for a child. The child proceeds from the fact that living things are everything that moves. The river is alive because it moves, and the clouds are alive for the same reason. The mountain is not alive because it stands.

From the moment of his birth, the youngest child heard an adult’s speech directed at him, full of animistic constructions: “The doll wants to eat,” “The bear has gone to bed,” etc. In addition, he hears expressions such as “It’s raining,” “The sun has risen.” ". The metaphorical context of our speech is hidden from the child - hence the animism of thinking in the younger ones.

In a special, animate world, a child easily and simply masters the connections between phenomena and acquires a large stock of knowledge. A game and a fairy tale, in which even a stone breathes and talks, is a special way of mastering the world, allowing a preschooler in a specific form to assimilate, understand and in his own way systematize the flow of information that befalls him.

The next feature of children's thinking is associated with the establishment of natural causality between events that occur in the surrounding world, or syncretism.

Syncretism is the replacement of objective cause-and-effect relationships with subjective ones that exist in perception. In his experiments, J. Piaget asked children questions regarding causal relationships in the world around them. "Why doesn't the sun fall? Why doesn't the moon fall?" In their answers, the children indicated various properties of the object: size, location, functions, etc., connected in perception into one whole. "The sun doesn't fall because it's big. The moon doesn't fall because the stars. The sun doesn't fall because it shines. The wind doesn't fall because the trees sway." Let us give an example of syncretism in the story of a six-year-old child. “Little Red Riding Hood is walking through the forest, a fox meets her: “Why are you crying, Little Red Riding Hood?” And she answers: “How can I not cry?!” The wolf ate me!"

The next feature of children's thinking is the child's inability to look at an object from the position of another and is called egocentrism. The child does not fall into the sphere of his own reflection (does not see himself from the outside), he is closed in his own point of view.

The phenomenality of children's thinking is manifested in the fact that children rely on the relationships of things that seem to them, and not on what actually exists.

So, it seems to the child that there is a lot of milk in a tall and narrow glass, but if it is poured into a short but wide glass, it will become less. He does not have the concept of conservation of quantity of a substance, that is, the understanding that the quantity of milk remains the same despite the change in the shape of the vessel. In the process of growing up and as he masters counting and develops the ability to establish one-to-one correspondence between objects in the external world, the child begins to understand that a certain transformation does not change the basic qualities of objects.

From the first day at camp, children are expected to master the complex (for them) social rules that govern relationships in the unit. Relationships with peers consist of finding a balance between cooperation and competition; relationships with a counselor consist of a compromise between independence and obedience. In this regard, already at a young age, moral motives begin to acquire importance, among which the most important are the following: to do something pleasant, necessary for people, to bring benefit, to maintain positive relationships with adults, children, as well as cognitive interests, including new types of activities .

The development of the emotional-volitional sphere is associated with the formation of the regulatory function of the psyche. During the age period under consideration, children are prone to strong experiences; due to the plasticity of nervous processes, a rapid change of feelings occurs. In children, feelings associated with their learning activities and the process of cognition begin to acquire special significance. They are no longer satisfied with just gaming activities. Moral feelings are further developed, on the basis of which such qualities as responsibility, hard work, honesty, and partnership are formed.

By the beginning of this age period, the processes of excitation in the child prevail over the processes of inhibition. The regulatory function of the will is manifested in the activation and inhibition of the child’s activities. A young child should develop such concepts as “necessary”, “possible”, “impossible”. It is necessary to put away toys, brush teeth, make the bed, etc. - all this is a motivating, activating function of the will. You cannot throw things around, etc. - these verbal influences from adults are aimed at inhibiting the child’s motor activity. “It’s possible” forms rules of behavior in the child’s mind, on the basis of which the formation of such important personality traits as discipline and responsibility occurs: “You can go for a walk after ... (you do everything else necessary),” etc.

Many younger children have developed strong-willed qualities that allow them to successfully complete various tasks. Children are able to set a goal, make a decision, outline a plan of action, make a certain effort to overcome an obstacle, and evaluate the result of their action. In order for a child to develop volitional qualities, an adult must organize his activities, remembering that volitional action directly depends on the difficulty of the task and the time allotted for its completion.

Children's range of needs is expanding. New needs emerge to gain the status of a schoolchild. The child wants to learn new information no longer through play, but in communication with adults and other children; he begins to realize his needs, however, often the needs and interests are aimed at the external, most attractive side of learning.

Counselors should take into account that self-esteem in young children is generally inflated. And one of the difficulties of children’s activities will be associated with the formation of adequate self-esteem

Here are some points still worth paying attention to.

• Some children of this age do not have a sufficiently varied experience of communicating with strangers - both adults and children.
• Some children get lost without the skill of "surviving in a crowd"
• It's no secret that those around you are not always friendly and understanding. Teach your child not to get confused when you are criticized or - the child's version - teased. The main thing is that the child understands: when criticizing him, you are assessing not his personality as a whole, but a specific action. It’s great if you have developed a fairly stable positive self-esteem.
• It is important for a child to be able to express his needs in words. Ask your child to communicate his desires in words; if possible, organize situations where he needs to ask an unfamiliar adult or child for help.
• At camp, the child will often find himself in situations of comparison with peers. This means that it is worth watching him in games that include a competitive moment, competition among children. How does he react to the success of others, to his own failures and similar situations?
• Try to get your child used to working independently and not requiring constant attention and encouragement from an adult. After all, in a camp, a counselor is unlikely to be able to give everyone equal attention. Gradually stop praising your child for every step in the work - praise him for the finished result.
• Teach children to sit quietly and work for a certain time. Include a wide variety of activities in your daily routine, alternating quiet work with active games. This is especially important for an excitable, active child. Gradually he will get used to the fact that it is possible to squeal and rush around at a certain, “noisy” time.
• From the first days, a child will feel confident in the camp if he is instilled in advance with basic skills of activities in the camp. For example, teach how to make a bed correctly, listen carefully to instructions and follow them, etc.
• Here's something else worth remembering. When a child is in camp (usually for the first time for the youngest), it is still better to start a new important period in one’s life with the feeling “I can do this and that” than with the feeling “I can’t do anything that other children can do.”

Formally speaking, we can identify several criteria for children’s readiness for activities in the camp.

1. Intellectual readiness (ability to concentrate, ability to build logical connections, memory development, fine motor skills);
2. Emotional readiness (motivation for activity, ability to concentrate, managing emotions);
3. Social readiness (need for communication, correction of behavior in a team, ability to perform).

The following criteria can help evaluate this:

• Assessing cognitive development.
  • Does the child know the basic concepts: right-left, big-small, etc.?
  • Is the child able to understand the simplest principles of classification, for example: things that can roll and those that cannot?
  • Can the baby remember and follow at least three instructions?
• Assessing the child's basic experience.
  • Does the child show interest in anything, does he have a hobby?
  • Assessment of language development.
  • Can the child name and label the main objects around him?
  • Is it easy for a child to answer questions from adults?
  • Can the child explain what different things are used for: a vacuum cleaner, a refrigerator, a table, etc.?
  • Can the child explain where certain objects are located: on the table, on the chair, on the floor, against the wall, etc.?
  • Can a child tell a story, describe an incident that happened to him?
  • Does the child pronounce words clearly?
  • Is the child's speech grammatically correct?
  • Is the child able to participate in a general conversation and role-play any situation?
• Assessment of the level of emotional development.
  • Does the child seem cheerful (with adults and among friends)?
  • Has the child developed an image of himself as a person who can do a lot?
  • Is it easy for a child to “switch” when there are changes in the usual daily routine, to move on to solving a new task?
  • Is the child able to work independently and compete in completing tasks with other children?
• Assessment of communication skills.
  • Does the baby join in the play of other children and share with them?
  • Does he take turns when the situation calls for it?
  • Is the child able to listen to others without interrupting?
• Assessment of physical development.
  • Does the child hear well?
  • Does he see well?
  • Is he able to sit quietly for some time?
  • Does he have good motor coordination, such as playing catch, jumping, going up and down stairs?
  • Does the child seem cheerful and engaged?
  • Does the child look healthy, well-fed and rested?
• Visual discrimination.
  • Can a child identify similar and dissimilar shapes? For example, find a picture that is different from the others?
  • Can a child distinguish between letters and short words, for example b-p, cat-year?
• Visual memory.
  • Can a child notice the absence of a picture if he is first shown a series of three pictures and then one is removed?
  • Does the child know at least six to eight names of objects that he encounters in everyday life?
• Visual perception.
  • Is the child able to put a series of pictures in order (in a given sequence)?
• Level of hearing ability.
  • Is the child able to distinguish words that begin with different sounds, for example forest-weight?
  • Can a child repeat a few words or numbers after an adult?
  • Is the child able to retell the story while maintaining the main idea and sequence of actions?
• Assessment of attitudes towards books.
  • Does he listen attentively and with pleasure when you read aloud to him?
  • Does the child ask questions about what they are reading - what they mean, etc.?
• General and psychological readiness. Can this child:
  • Explain with words, rather than pointing with a finger, what he wants?
  • Express yourself coherently, for example, “show me...”
  • Understand the meaning of what is read to him?
  • Tell me your address and phone number?
  • Use paints, plasticine, colored pencils, felt-tip pens?
  • Cut with blunt-tipped scissors, evenly and without getting hurt?
  • Listen and follow the instructions received?
  • Pay attention when someone talks to him?
  • Concentrate for at least ten minutes to complete the assigned task?
  • Enjoy being read aloud or told stories?
  • Positively evaluate: am I a person who can do a lot?
  • “Adjust” when adults change the topic of conversation?
  • Show interest in the objects around him?
  • Get along with other children?
• Your relationship with your child, your role in his activities in the camp. (here it is important to answer honestly at least to yourself)
  • Do you like this baby?
  • Are you listening to what your child is saying?
  • Do you look at your baby when he talks to you?
  • Are you trying to create in your child a sense of significance in what he is talking about?
  • Do you correct your baby's speech?
  • Do you allow your child to make mistakes?
  • Do you praise your baby and hug him?
  • Do you laugh with him?
  • Do you set aside time every day to talk with him?
  • Do you encourage your child's interests and hobbies?
  • Are you trying to set an example for your child by being interested in surrounding events?
  • Do you ask your child questions about the meaning of what he saw?

We would like to draw your attention to the fact that all of the listed criteria are also far from being the ultimate truth, and there is no need at all to try to ensure that this child meets all of them without exception and in full: by the way, when guided by this test, it is not necessary to use only ratings “yes” or “no”: the options “always, sometimes, often, rarely, never” are also allowed. By observing nature and the events of the surrounding life, children learn to find spatiotemporal and cause-and-effect relationships, generalize, and draw conclusions.

The child must:

1. Know about everyday life.
2. Have a stock of information about the world around you and be able to use it.

3. Be able to express your own judgments and draw conclusions.

For younger ones, a lot happens spontaneously, from experience, and adults often believe that special training is not required here. But that's not true. Even with a large amount of information, a child’s knowledge does not include a general picture of the world; it is fragmented and often superficial. By including the meaning of some event, knowledge can be consolidated and remain the only true one for the child. Thus, a child’s stock of knowledge about the world around him must be formed within the system and under the guidance of an adult.

Intellectual readiness for school also presupposes the development of certain skills in a child. For example, the ability to highlight a task. This requires the child to be able to be surprised and look for the reasons for the similarities and differences between objects and their new properties that he notices.

The child must:

1. Be able to perceive information and ask questions about it.
2. Be able to accept the purpose of observation and carry it out.
3. Be able to systematize and classify the characteristics of objects and phenomena.

In order to intellectually prepare a child in a camp, adults must develop cognitive needs, provide a sufficient level of mental activity, offering appropriate tasks, and provide the necessary system of knowledge about the environment.

Developing specific functions does not at all mean conducting developmental classes. If a child lives with everyone else, and not in some parallel world, then daily participation in the life of the group is the key to his full development. We can do anything with our children, even knit brooms, and this will develop them. Because along the way we will discuss that these twigs are flexible and these are rigid, these are longer and these are shorter. That the brooms today are somehow brownish, unlike those made a couple of days ago, they were yellow. That today we tied fifteen brooms, and tomorrow we need to do more. That you can’t finish it yet, because you haven’t finished the job yet. And together we will clean the workplace. And we'll sharpen the knife for tomorrow's work.

And he doesn’t need any additional “development” or “training”. For the development of a child, it is completely indifferent what exactly to take as a basis. His mental functions can be loaded with any material, through any activity.

The main thing is that he will see exactly how to obtain information and take this method into service. Or he won't take it. But you did your job. Shown. Once, twice, three times. You gave the child an opportunity, that's what matters. And through their actions they began to form a stereotype of his behavior. In this case, this stereotype is as follows - if I don’t know something, then I need to ask or spy on someone else. This is development.

While focusing on the child’s intellectual activity for camp, one should not lose sight of emotional and social readiness, which include skills on which the child’s success in camp significantly depends. Social readiness implies the need to communicate with peers and the ability to subordinate one’s behavior to the laws of children’s groups, the ability to take a role in the camp, the ability to listen and follow the instructions of the counselor, as well as the skills of communicative initiative and self-presentation. This may include such personal qualities as the ability to overcome difficulties and treat mistakes as a certain result of one’s work, the ability to assimilate information in a group learning situation and change social roles in the team.

Counselors should focus their efforts on introducing the child in more detail to the requirements of the camp, and most importantly, to himself, his strengths and weaknesses.

Often, trying to be objective in assessing children's successes, adults do not skimp on critical remarks. Without noticing the child’s achievements, they ultimately ensure that the child refuses to do activities at all, makes no attempts to overcome difficulties, shedding tears or running away. This behavior is called “learned helplessness” in behavioral psychology. Let's look at how it is formed. If a person finds himself in a situation where external events, as it seems to him, in no way depend on him, they cannot be prevented or modified, and then this state is transferred to other situations, then “learned helplessness” is evident. A very short history of uncontrollability of the external environment is enough for learned helplessness to begin to live its own life and control human behavior. In a young child, “learned helplessness” often arises due to the complete absence of any reactions from the adults around him.

When there is no reaction on the part of the counselor to the actions, efforts, and words of the children, then the kids cannot compare their behavior with the reaction of an adult, and therefore understand which behavior is approved and which is not. The child finds himself in a situation of uncertainty, and the most harmless way out of it is complete inactivity. The second reason for the emergence of “learned helplessness” is the monotony of an adult’s reactions to a child’s actions.

The same type of reactions of adults contribute to the formation of helplessness. Moreover, this applies to both constantly positive and constantly negative reactions. The danger lies precisely in the uniformity of adults’ reactions to the actions of children. A child who, in response to different (good and bad) behavior, receives exactly the same reactions from adults (indifferent, pleasant, negative), and in response to his different efforts (intense or minimal) receives the same assessments (eternal dissatisfaction or unreasonable delight), loses guidelines for managing your own activity.

A third reason for helplessness may be that so much time passes between the actions of children and the reactions of adults that the child cannot connect the reactions of the environment with his own actions. Adults' disapproval is perceived as something autonomous, completely unrelated to children's behavior and therefore loses any regulatory role.

Learned helplessness is much easier to prevent than to overcome. Therefore, the counselor should not spare time and effort to show the child the benefits of independence, while not forgetting to provide varied and timely feedback. The reactions of adults should be different in response to different actions of children and the same - to the same ones. Simple and clear principles of education to avoid helplessness are as follows.

• Rule "Communication is not a luxury." The world around us does not always change somehow due to children’s actions. Whether the picture is neatly colored or carelessly, clothes are hung up or thrown on the floor - this will not make the book cry and the shirt will not run away. In such cases, the reaction of adults is absolutely necessary. And for this, at least the counselor should be nearby. Therefore, the first rule is: communicate with your children, tell them about your feelings, sensations, opinions.
• Rule of diversity. In response to children's different behavior, the counselor should behave differently. You can be angry or happy, you can show all the diversity of your feelings, it is only important to show your children what their actions these feelings relate to.
• Timeliness rule. The time interval between action and reaction should be minimal. React immediately after the action. This is especially important in the case of extreme behavior, unusually bad or unusually good.
• Rule of chance. Some may object to the previous rules. Indeed, it is impossible to comment on any action of a child. Yes, this is not necessary. Unsystematic and random consequences work better than constant ones. It is enough just to show your attitude to the child’s actions from time to time.

Attitude to mistakes and failures

The attitude towards one’s own failures and mistakes largely determines a child’s activity. If every mistake for a child is proof of his intellectual incompetence, lack of recognition and acceptance by adults, then he has less and less strength and desire to master new skills. One way or another, the moment comes when the child declares: “That’s it, I won’t do it anymore” - or continues to study, driven by the fear of disapproval, overcoming internal resistance and thereby acquiring somatic diseases.

But an error can also simply serve as a not very suitable result, one of the attempts. Failure can stimulate further activity in the child, igniting in him the excitement of achieving victory over his own ineptitude. How a child will treat his mistakes depends on the attitude of adults towards them. Their opinion for the younger ones is the most authoritative on all issues. If the counselors believe in this child and rejoice at his most insignificant successes, then the child also concludes that he is competent in the activity that he is now mastering. If every failure of a child is perceived by adults as a universal catastrophe, then he, too, comes to terms with his own worthlessness. It is very important to be extremely attentive to the baby’s activities and literally look for reasons for approval and praise.

Praise can benefit a child, increase his self-confidence, and build adequate self-esteem if counselors:

• praise the child sincerely;
• express approval not only in words, but by non-verbal means: intonation, facial expressions, gestures, touches;
• praised for specific actions, efforts, initiative;
• do not compare the child with other people.

Useful criticism

Using praise in communication with a child, adults probably understand that it is impossible to do without critical comments. Criticism helps a little person to form realistic ideas about the results of his work, about his own strengths and weaknesses, and ultimately contributes to the creation of adequate self-esteem. But criticism from counselors can also be destructive; it can reduce a child’s already low self-esteem and increase his uncertainty and anxiety. You can make criticism useful for your child using the rules of useful criticism.

Rules for useful criticism:

1. The golden proportion of education. It is difficult for a person to agree with criticism of himself if he does not have a firm belief that he is “generally good”, that he is needed and important for loved ones, that is, if a person’s basic psychological needs are not satisfied: for safety, security and stability, love, a sense of belonging, self-respect and respect from others. Satisfying these needs is as important for a child’s psyche as vitamins are for his body. Seals of approval are one means of accomplishing this serious task. These signs can be a kind look, a gentle touch, an attentive listening and, of course, verbal praise. The golden proportion of upbringing indicates the ratio of approval and criticism when addressing a child. This is a "4:1 ratio": four marks of approval for every criticism. In this case, the information contained in the critical statement will quite possibly be perceived by the child and used by him in his development.

2. Separation of criticism and feelings. Separate criticism from expressing your own feelings. Helpful criticism is always calm. If you experience irritation, resentment, anger, fear, anxiety, you will not be able to hide your feelings; they will definitely break through at the most inopportune moment. Therefore, during periods of “storm,” it is better to refuse criticism and leave it until better, “calmer” times.

3. Kind criticism. Your criticism will be useful for the child if the comments indicate your love and respect for the child. Love and respect can be conveyed by soft intonation, a kind, attentive look, and gentle words: “Sunny, listen...”, “Vanya, I want to tell you...”.

4. Criticism of actions. Useful criticism concerns the child's actions and actions, but not his personality.

5. Specific criticism. Helpful criticism includes your specific wishes. Tell your children specifically what you don’t like about their actions, make sure they understand you.

6. Creative criticism. Helpful criticism includes not only what you are not satisfied with, but also what you want from your child. Place an emotional emphasis on the second.

7. Reasoned criticism. Helpful criticism includes explanations of the benefits of desired behavior. If you tell a child, “Do this because I said so,” then this will be an order, not an explanation. The child will not be able to see the connection between his actions and the benefits they will bring.

8. Criticism with training. Finish your critique with training in the desired behavior. For example, after your comment about abandoned clothes and an explanation of how and why they are tidied up, you invite the child to imagine that he has come after a walk and is changing his clothes. Let the child tidy up his clothes as needed while playing. Completing a workout is the best time to praise. This addition of criticism will help the child learn new, more acceptable behavior. There is a huge difference between what a person knows and what a person can do. Any knowledge requires practice and training. You can tell your child in detail how to ride a bike, but this does not mean that he will master the skill on the first try.

Children don't always want to exercise. So don't forget to encourage the kids. Turn your workout into a fun game. Younger children like to come up with different situations and play different roles in them. Children love to use their favorite toys to act out imaginary stories. Thus, a teddy bear can learn to behave in a dental office, and a Barbie doll learns not to make noise during quiet hours.

Group training

In a children's camp, junior units mainly consist of 20-30 children, so the child's ability to learn in a group atmosphere becomes especially important. For many children, group learning poses additional challenges: difficulty concentrating, arguing for one's point of view, feeling like the worst or the best at something, speaking in front of large numbers of people, and much more.

To successfully master knowledge and skills in a group learning atmosphere, the following prerequisites must be present:

• the ability to concentrate in the face of many distractions;
• the ability to highlight a task among your immediate interests;
• the ability to recognize one’s own opinion, state and prove it.

Communication initiative

An important prerequisite for a child’s successful activities in the camp is communicative initiative - the child’s ability to consciously organize his interaction with the counselor. In real life in a camp, this is the ability to ask a counselor a substantive question, calmly express disagreement, ask for help, or offer help yourself. How can all these wisdom be taught to a child?

It is known that the baby receives his first behavioral models in the family. It is parents or their substitutes who become children's first mentors in the subtle art of communication. Counselors, just like parents, can teach a child all the secrets of communicative initiative in the simplest and most effective way - by their own example.

If it is customary in the family to correctly ask for help and offer it, then the child will absorb this skill and will demonstrate it in appropriate cases. If adults in the family often talk about their interests, hobbies, observations, difficulties, listen carefully to the interlocutor and naturally ask him questions to the point, then the child will naturally learn these skills, and they will become an integral part of his individual communication style. The counselor should do the same.

Autonomy and independence. Difficulties in demonstrating communicative initiative are associated with the child’s personal qualities, such as insufficiently formed autonomy and low self-esteem. Autonomy is the result of a child asserting his independence. It is formed from the moment the child begins to walk, masters new motor capabilities, thereby establishing his autonomous self.

In behavior, autonomy manifests itself as independence, independence and responsibility. In a children's camp, a previously helpless baby must learn to become a completely independent and independent person, capable of self-regulation and conscious behavior. Independence allows a child to set a personal goal and achieve it without outside help.

For the development of a child’s independence, the character, style of communication of the counselors with him, and the degree and timeliness of their assistance are of particular importance. A child's lack of independence or its complete absence is often the result of excessive help from adults and serves as an obstacle to the development of self-regulation and initiative. The constant coercion of adults and their excessive care creates in the child a feeling of his own weakness and uselessness.

It is important for counselors to dose their help to this child. If the help of adults is excessive, the child does not learn to do anything, does not master a new skill, but most importantly, loses faith in his own strength, experiences a feeling of helplessness, and develops dependence on the people around him. The child acquires a negative experience of his own powerlessness, which in the future may determine his behavior in similar situations.

If the adult’s help is insufficient, the child finds himself in a situation of “abandonment.” In some children, it causes a feeling of “uselessness to anyone,” which blocks all activity. Therefore, they give up any attempts to master what adults want to teach them, and for a long time they retain the conviction: “I can’t do anything.”

Other children in similar situations show maximum effort and persistence in order to achieve results and learn what their adults want. They also experience the situation of “abandonment,” but they see a different way out of it: “Achieve what the counselors want, no matter how difficult it may be, and thus achieve their love.”

Communication with peers. The need and ability to communicate with peers is also a necessary condition for successful activities in the camp. The connection between communication and success is especially clear. A child who is popular among his peers acts more confidently, experiences his own mistakes and external criticism more calmly, and quickly masters new, incomprehensible activities.

Recognizing the importance of a child's ability to communicate with peers, counselors can help him in two ways. Firstly, communication skills can be taught through clear examples of one’s own behavior in interaction with other people, and above all with the child himself. Secondly, it is possible to create conditions that allow children to gain successful experience interacting with peers - a comfortable play space and games.

Should adults intervene in children's play? Not always. Having given children the opportunity to play with peers, adults should distance themselves from this situation in the hope that each child will learn all the subtleties of communication on his own. Friendly, calm, subtle and creative intervention from adults can organize communication between children with maximum benefit for everyone. Such an intervention can be especially effective if the counselors have built a holistic program for the development of each child’s communication skills, taking into account his individuality. Its mandatory initial stage is observation, the purpose of which is to get to know each child as much as possible and his communication abilities.

In psychology, communication abilities are defined as individual psychological characteristics of a person that ensure the effectiveness of his communication and compatibility with other people. Communication ability includes:

• desire to make contact with others (“I want!”);
• the ability to organize communication (“I can!”), including the ability to listen to the interlocutor, the ability to empathize emotionally, the ability to resolve conflict situations;
• knowledge of the norms and rules that must be followed when communicating with others (“I know!”).

Task for adults:

Following three directions - “I want!”, “I can!”, “I know!” - carefully and patiently observe a particular child. Pay attention to this child's behavior during his interactions with peers. Don't interfere, don't tell him how to behave, don't push him to take any action. Remember: your goal is observation. The basis for observation may be the following questions:

1. Does this child easily come into contact with unfamiliar children?
2. Does he like himself?
3. Does this baby often get offended and cry?
4. Does he participate in competitive games?
5. Does the child have a desire to play with peers?
6. Does he often get into fights?
7. How does a child get out of conflict situations?
8. What is his mood most often, and does it change often?
9. Is this child talkative or quiet?
10. Does he have a restful sleep?
11. Does your baby have friends?
12. Do the children he knows take him into the game?
13. Does he know how to organize a game (come up with a plot, distribute roles, etc.)?
14. Does the child know how to defend his opinion?
15. Does he have difficulty speaking?

Perhaps, by observing how the child communicates with his peers, counselors understand that he is experiencing certain difficulties. Thinking counselors will not attribute them to the children around the baby, explaining all the problems that arise with the bad manners of his friends. Most likely, such counselors will take a closer look at this child, trying to determine his characteristics. Maybe he is characterized by emotional instability, aggressiveness, conflict, isolation, shyness or anxiety. In this case, counselors need to pay special attention to the development of the child’s communication skills.

The second stage of an individual program for the development of a child’s communication skills is the acceptance stage. Its essence is to accept the child, to love him for who he is. Even if your child can’t sit still for a minute or constantly gets into fights, he still remains your favorite. This does not mean that counselors need to agree with the child’s unwanted behavior, but in any case, the child must be confident in the love of the counselor. It is extremely important for counselors to accept and not criticize those qualities of a child’s personality that are given by nature and make up the child’s temperament.

In the structure of a biologically given temperament, 9 traits are distinguished:

• activity - a motor characteristic of behavior, including mobility during bathing, playing, eating, dressing;
• rhythmicity - regularity of manifestation of basic physiological functions: passivity - activity, sleep - wakefulness, eating - defecation, etc.;
• intensity - energy level of reactions;
• mood - quality of mood;
• approach - avoidance (withdrawal) - the child’s first reaction to something new (to food, toys, people, procedures, premises);
• adaptability - adaptation is how easily a child is able to change the initial reaction to a more appropriate one;
• threshold of sensitivity, vulnerability - the level of external stimuli necessary to change the child’s reactions;
• attention, perseverance, endurance, concentration - the time during which a child is able to perform certain actions, despite obstacles and distractions;
• distractibility - the ability of an external stimulus to influence a child’s behavior, interrupt or change his actions.

Knowing what qualities are biologically determined, adults will probably agree that demanding that a child do something faster or feel relaxed in an unfamiliar environment is the same as persuading a child to change his brown eyes to blue.

The next, third stage of the individual program is the search stage. Counselors at this stage need to find ways to effectively help the child communicate with peers, a kind of “golden key” that makes up for the lack of any communication skills and opens the door to the land of friendship and cooperation. The search for “golden keys” requires adults to have patience, creativity, psychological knowledge and the use of their own communication experience. Each child needs to choose his own “key”, which exactly takes into account the characteristics of both the little person and the specific moment. We offer several tips for the development of a child’s communication skills to add to the “golden keys” collection.

Piggy bank of "golden keys":

1. For a child with innate caution, entering into an unfamiliar situation is greatly facilitated by a calm and detailed preliminary story from an adult about who and what awaits the baby, how he should behave, and how the situation will end. Do not rush your child to quickly start playing with unfamiliar children; he needs to take a closer look and feel safe.

2. A child with unpredictable behavior has difficulty being distracted from play to go to dinner or go to bed, so he needs time to prepare for this moment. Inform the playing child about the upcoming lunch 15-30 minutes in advance, remind again 10-15 minutes in advance. Such preparation will make it easier for the child to get used to routine moments.

3. Give a child with increased activity more opportunities to expend excess energy. Daily physical activity in the fresh air is beneficial: long walks, running, sports activities. Learn how to communicate well with others, how to behave in public, how to ask a friend to return his toy, and other social skills. Introduce your baby to several basic emotions, such as joy, interest, surprise, suffering, sadness, disgust, contempt, anger. Pay his attention to how they manifest themselves in facial expressions, gestures, posture, intonation, tempo and volume of speech.

4. For an aggressive child, his popularity in the peer group is of great importance. Unable to gain authority among children in any other way, he strives to take a leadership position in the group with the help of his fists. Counselors can teach the child how to improve his status in the children's team. Among children, appearance, beautiful clothes, sociability, and willingness to share toys are valued. What matters is the intellectual level, speech development, physical development, agility, and the degree of mastery of various types of activities. But the main role is played by the level of development of social skills.

Popular kids typically have the following communication skills:

• gradually join group classes, making relevant comments, sharing information, and only then move on to active actions;
• sensitive to the needs and actions of others;
• do not impose their will on other children;
• agree to play near other children;
• know how to maintain friendly relations;
• come to the rescue if necessary;
• able to carry on a conversation;
• share interesting information;
• respond to suggestions from other children;
• know how to resolve conflicts;
• in conflict situations, they are not prone to aggression or the use of physical force.

5. It is useful to teach a sensitive, emotional child to count to ten before doing anything. This useful habit will develop conscious inhibition and self-control.

6. Help a shy child expand his circle of acquaintances.

What an adult comes up with is not immediately perceived by a child. The counselor has to take an active part in the child’s communication with peers. Therefore, the next stage is called the active assistance stage. Its task is to form in the child an understanding of the benefits of behavior offered by adults. After the child is convinced that thanks to tips he can be more successful in communication, you can move on to the stage of a “kind mirror” and active support. It consists of introducing the child to himself. It is important for a child to know what qualities are inherent in him and what they are called. The result of the work will be the development of his self-awareness. The adult in this case is a mirror in which a small person can study his reflection. But the mirror must be kind! In it, the child must first of all see his strengths, and recognize his weaknesses as a continuation of his strengths.

Sometimes adults have a negative attitude towards those qualities of the baby that are part of the structure of temperament, and therefore are naturally conditioned.

It is important for adults to understand that any trait of temperament can be neither bad nor good. Everything that is given by nature cannot be appreciated. A person with any temperament is in demand in life. The Universe needs someone who, not knowing the ford, climbs into the water, and someone who measures seven times and cuts once. If all of humanity consisted only of people of the first kind, then it would burn like a flock of butterflies flocking to a fire.

A person needs to know what he is like, but at the same time be absolutely sure that he is “good.” Here is the formula for the structure of self-awareness: “I am Petya - a good - boy - was, is, will be - must, have the right.” There are five components in this formula, which, when combined, create for everyone a unique picture of their own personality. It includes awareness of one's physical appearance, gender, destiny, rights and responsibilities. But the most important component is a person’s attitude towards his appearance, his gender, and his life. It is this that makes a person self-confident or not, an optimist or a pessimist.

The child’s counselors play the most important role in how a child sees himself and whether he considers himself “good” at camp. Therefore, no matter what kind of child you have in your squad: cautious or recklessly bold, sensitive or persistent, orderly or unpredictable, he is “good” for you and, of course, good for himself.

When telling your child about himself, convey to him your kind attitude towards him. Any of his traits are not shortcomings, they are just his features, which sometimes help him in communicating with people, and sometimes hinder him. Thus, adults contribute to the formation of adequate self-esteem in the child, without violating his self-acceptance, his idea of ​​himself as “good.”

The next stage is teaching the child self-support. Its essence is to give the baby the “golden keys” you found. Let him know not only about his characteristics, but also how to live with them. So, if a small person needs to get a book from a shelf under the ceiling, he will not wring his hands and sob: “Oh, I’m unhappy!”, but will simply take a stepladder.

As they grow up, these children will get used to using the “keys” given to them, which gradually become an integral part of their communicative style. Over time, the collection of “golden keys” is enriched and replenished with new ways to improve communication skills. And finally the time comes when the matured child himself comes up with a new, more advanced way of interacting with people - the stage of independent search begins. It begins with the first attempt at creative communication and continues throughout life.

We all have the luxurious opportunity to endlessly and limitlessly search for “golden keys” to the land of love, mutual understanding, revelation, happiness, unanimity and surprise before the Other.

At a young age, intensive development of intelligence occurs. The development of thinking leads to a qualitative restructuring of perception and memory, turning them into regulated, voluntary processes. A 7-8 year old child usually thinks in specific categories. By the beginning of adolescence, children, as a rule, can already reason independently, draw conclusions, compare, analyze, find the particular and the general, and establish simple patterns.

If preschoolers were characterized by analyzing perception, then by the end of early childhood, with appropriate development, synthesizing perception appears. Developing intelligence creates the ability to establish connections between elements of what is perceived. This can be easily seen when children describe the picture. These features must be taken into account when communicating with a child and his development.

Age stages of perception:

• 6-9 years - description of the picture;
• after 9 years - interpretation of what was seen.

Memory at a young age develops in two directions - arbitrariness and meaningfulness. Children involuntarily remember what they see, which arouses their interest, presented in a playful way, associated with bright visual images, etc.

Under the influence of the environment, memory develops in two directions: the role of verbal-logical, semantic memorization increases (for the youngest, visual-figurative memory predominates, children are prone to memorization through mechanical repetition, without awareness of semantic connections). Young boys and girls have differences in memory. Girls know how to force themselves, their voluntary mechanical memory is better. Boys appear to be more successful in mastering memory techniques. During the learning process, perception becomes more analytical and takes on the character of organized observation. The counselor specially organizes children’s activities in the perception of certain objects, teaches them to identify essential signs, properties of objects and phenomena. One of the effective methods for developing perception is comparison. At the same time, perception becomes deeper, the number of errors decreases.

The possibilities of volitional regulation of attention at a young age are limited. A younger child (unlike a teenager, who can force himself to focus on uninteresting, difficult activities for the sake of a result that is expected in the future) can usually force himself to work hard in the presence of “close” motivation (praise, other positive evaluation). At a young age, attention becomes concentrated and stable when the activity presented by an adult is clear, bright, and evokes an emotional attitude in the child. The content of children's internal position changes. At this age, children’s claims to a certain position in the system of business and personal relationships of the children’s group appear. The emotional state of a child begins to be increasingly influenced by how his relationships with friends develop, and not just by successes in activities and relationships with adults. And if for 6-7 year olds the relationships of children with each other are regulated mainly by the norms of “adult” morality, i.e. success in activities, fulfilling the requirements of adults, by the age of 9-10 the norms associated with the qualities of a true comrade come to the fore.

The character of younger children has the following features: impulsiveness, a tendency to act immediately, without thinking, without weighing all the circumstances (the reason is age-related weakness of volitional regulation of behavior); general lack of will - a child of 7-8 years old does not yet know how to pursue an intended goal for a long time, or stubbornly overcome difficulties. Capriciousness and stubbornness are explained by the shortcomings of family upbringing; this is a unique form of protest against the demands that the camp makes, against the need to sacrifice what one “wants” for the sake of what one “needs.” In general, during this age period of a child’s life, as a rule, the following qualities are formed: arbitrariness, reflection, thinking in concepts; In addition, a qualitatively new, more “adult” type of relationship with adults and peers should appear.

The leading activity is teaching. For teaching to become a leading activity, it must be organized in a special way. It should be akin to play: after all, a child plays because he wants to, it is an activity for its own sake, just like that. The product of educational activity is the person himself.

A. Einstein: “It is a big mistake to think that a sense of duty and compulsion can help one find joy in looking and searching. It seems to me that even a healthy predatory animal would lose its greed for food if it were possible to force it to eat continuously with the help of a whip.” even when it is not hungry, and especially if the food offered forcibly is not chosen by it.”

Neoplasms

The main new developments of the child: 1. personal reflection; 2. intellectual reflection.

Personal reflection

At an older age, the number of factors influencing self-esteem in a child significantly expands.

Children between the ages of 9 and 12 continue to develop the desire to have their own point of view on everything. They also develop judgments about their own social importance—self-esteem. It develops through the development of self-awareness and feedback from those around them whose opinions they value. Children usually have a high rating if adults treat them with interest, warmth and love.

However, by the age of 12-13, the child develops a new idea of ​​himself, when self-esteem loses its dependence on situations of success and failure, but acquires a stable character. Self-esteem now expresses the relationship in which self-image relates to the ideal self.

Younger age is the completion of the development of self-awareness.

Intellectual reflection

This refers to reflection in terms of thinking. The child begins to think about the reasons why he thinks this way and not otherwise. A mechanism arises for correcting one’s thinking using logic and theoretical knowledge. Consequently, the child becomes able to subordinate the intention to an intellectual goal and is able to maintain it for a long time. In the future, the ability to store and retrieve information from memory improves, and metamemory develops. Children not only remember better, but are also able to reflect on how they do it.

Mental development

7 – 11 years – the third period of mental development according to Piaget - the period of specific mental operations. The child's thinking is limited to problems relating to specific real objects.

The egocentrism inherent in the thinking of the youngest child at 6-7 years old gradually decreases, which is facilitated by joint games, but does not disappear completely. Children who think concretely often make mistakes when predicting the outcome. As a result, children, once they have formulated a hypothesis, are more likely to reject new facts than change their point of view.

Decentration is replaced by the ability to focus on several signs at once, correlate them, and simultaneously take into account several dimensions of the state of an object or event.

The child also develops the ability to mentally trace changes in an object. Reversible thinking arises.

Relationships with adults

The behavior and development of children is influenced by the leadership style of adults: authoritarian, democratic or permissive (anarchic). Children feel better and develop more successfully under democratic leadership.

Peer relationships

From the age of six, children spend more and more time with peers, almost always of the same sex. Conformity intensifies, reaching its peak by the age of 12. Popular children tend to adapt well, feel comfortable among their peers, and are generally cooperative.

Children still spend a lot of time playing. It develops feelings of cooperation and competition, and such concepts as justice and injustice, prejudice, equality, leadership, submission, devotion, and betrayal acquire personal meaning.

The game takes on a social connotation: children invent secret societies, clubs, secret cards, codes, passwords and special rituals. The roles and rules of children's society make it possible to master the rules accepted in adult society. Playing with friends between the ages of 6 and 11 takes up the most time.

Emotional development

His emotional development depends more than before on the experiences he gains in the camp.

The child’s fears reflect the perception of the world around him, the scope of which is now expanding. Inexplicable and imaginary fears of past years are replaced by others, more conscious: lessons, injections, natural phenomena, relationships between peers. Fear can take the form of anxiety or worry.

From time to time, school-aged children may show signs of illness. The symptoms (headache, stomach cramps, vomiting, dizziness) are widely known. This is not a simulation, and in such cases it is important to find out the cause as quickly as possible. This could be fear of failure, fear of criticism from adults, fear of being rejected by counselors or peers. In such cases, the counselors’ friendly, persistent interest in the activities of this child helps.

The relationship between a counselor and a child is, first of all, a human relationship. A child’s attitude towards activities in the camp depends to a great extent on how he relates to the counselor. A counselor for a small child is the living embodiment of justice. If the ward feels injustice, he is shocked. And young children always consider an unsatisfactory assessment of their (children’s) activities by the counselor as an injustice and deeply experience it, because it almost never happens that a child does not want to be successful.

Look into the eyes of a child who has received an unsatisfactory assessment from an adult. – The child not only feels unhappy, but also experiences a feeling of hostility, and often hostility, towards the adult. A counselor who gives an unsatisfactory assessment of a child’s actions, essentially because the child did not understand something, seems to children to be an unfair person.

There is nothing more dangerous for the development of a child’s moral and volitional strength than the indifference of a counselor to his activities. The painful reaction of the nervous system to the injustice of the counselor in some children takes on the character of agitation, in others it is a mania of unfair insults and persecution, in others it is embitterment, in others it is feigned carelessness, in others it is indifference, extreme depression, in others it is fear of punishment, in front of the counselor, in front of the camp, in sevenths - antics and clowning, in eighths - bitterness, sometimes taking on pathological manifestations (very rarely, but this cannot be ignored).

By the age of six, there comes a time in a person’s life when he is most ready for systematic activity. Education, both scientific and social, at a new, higher level. During this period, from the point of view of personal development, the child’s need to realize the basic trust in the world, autonomy and initiative in independent activities that has been formed to a greater or lesser extent in previous years comes to the fore from the point of view of personal development. And not just in activity in general, such as, say, a game, but in purposeful activity, the result of which would be a certain product that is valuable and suitable for use. This need is characterized as a feeling of creation. It is no coincidence that, starting from about six years old, the desire of many children to take everything apart down to the screw is replaced by the desire to make, sew, or repair something. And certainly on your own.

At this age, the motives for setting fires may be playing with matches and curiosity. Fire safety classes are conducted in the form of conversations, using visual aids (posters, pictures). At a young age, learning new things is closely related to the significance of the activity, as well as the growth of cognitive interests. It is important to shape the child’s activity in such a way that it teaches him to control himself (his knowledge, his skills) and evaluate his own achievements.

Already at a young age, children should know that work is the source of all values ​​that provide the basis for well-being. In the process of labor education, children are instilled with respect for the work of adults, they are attracted to feasible useful activities.

Choleric people do not always adapt to life in a children’s camp right away, as they are prone to conflicts with others, show intemperance at events, have a quick temper, and are irascible in response to the counselor’s remarks. Such children, with a strong but unbalanced type of higher nervous activity, are guided in their behavior more by feelings, desires and less by reason. They are inclined to study music, and react vividly to poetry and visual arts.

A characteristic feature of the psycho-emotional sphere of children aged 7-10 years is curiosity, a keen interest in everything new and bright. This trait is combined with a pronounced desire to imitate a lot, and sometimes to copy something without a sufficiently critical attitude towards the object of attention, therefore the personal example of adults, their methods of moral and aesthetic influence on the child have extremely important educational significance. An atmosphere of friendliness, love between adults for each other, mutual respect and understanding, a sensitive readiness to immediately come to the rescue only ennobles children, contributes to the formation of the kindest spiritual qualities in them, develops the world of their feelings, thoughts, and views in the most favorable direction.

Pedagogical experience shows that children who are subjected to frequent punishments grow up fearful and timid, gloomy and deceitful, but they willingly get into fights with peers, use every opportunity to offend the less powerful or younger, while showing malice and bitterness. This applies even more to corporal punishment. Even the so-called light corporal punishment (a light spanking) subjects the child’s psyche to the most severe test due to the clash in his soul of opposing feelings - love and hatred - towards a loved one. Children aged 7-8 years are characterized by spontaneity and gullibility. Adults must take this into account and be careful about manifestations of honesty, sincerity, and straightforwardness in the reasoning and behavior of children.

In the upbringing and education of children 7-10 years old, the role of the emotional principle is great.

Counselors need to encourage younger children to strive for independent thinking. It is necessary to strongly support children’s attempts to compare their thoughts with those of others and check their conclusions in practice. It’s good when counselors carefully but methodically form a disciplined mind in a child, teach them to be critical of their own statements and judgments, but at the same time firmly defend their thoughts, views, and beliefs. It is important to develop in younger children the ability to think quickly and quickly come to the right conclusion. However, the speed of thinking has nothing in common with the haste of the mind, which is more often characteristic of lazy and careless children who are in a hurry to somehow overcome a mental difficulty.

Counselors need to help the child not to be distracted during activities, master the ability to control and direct his attention, and, through an effort of will, maintain attention at the required level. It should be remembered that the degree of concentration of attention depends on many factors: it becomes dull when tired and drops sharply when overtired, weakens under the influence of monotonous activities, monotonous exercises, and under the influence of extraneous stimuli (noise, conversations, strong odors). Stuffiness also negatively affects a child's attention. However, absolute silence, especially during uninteresting activities, can interfere with concentration, as a drowsy state develops.

An important condition for firmly remembering the rules of behavior in the camp is repetition.

The performance and well-being of younger children increases significantly if order is maintained in the bedroom, in the child’s personal sleeping place and in the place where his things are stored, if activities are performed at set hours and a clear sequence of actions is developed, if a certain mode of activity and its optimal alternation are observed. A disciplined child's personal belongings are always in a certain place. They are located so that you can quickly find what you need. Keeping your bedside table and personal shelf in perfect order not only saves your child’s time, but also promotes a good mood and keeps him productive longer.

The color of the walls, the color of the furniture and its upholstery have a certain influence on a person’s mental performance and mood. Bluish, light green tones evoke a feeling of freshness, while white and cream tones evoke purity. They are pleasant to perceive and reduce eye strain. Dark and dirty gray tones have the opposite effect on the psyche and organ of vision.

About 2 hours before going to bed, you should reduce influences that can disrupt the mechanism of falling asleep: mental stress, exciting sights. Silence, fresh, cool air are conducive to sound sleep, so it is useful to ventilate the sleeping area before bed.

The daily need for sleep is largely determined by a person's age. The younger the children, the longer the sleep should be. The duration of night sleep at the age of 7-10 years should be 10-11 hours. If a student is sick or weakened, he needs longer sleep than healthy children (additional daytime sleep is introduced). When they talk about proper sleep, they mean its duration, depth, continuity, correlation with a certain time of day. A calm, complete sleep is primarily facilitated by strict adherence to the daily routine, while a “sleepy” conditioned reflex is developed for a while. The best nighttime sleep time for children aged 7-10 years is from 21.00 to 7.30.

A natural concomitant of intense and prolonged mental and physical activity is fatigue - decreased performance. Subjectively, fatigue is expressed by fatigue. Excessive fatigue leaves a certain imprint on the child’s appearance: pallor, blueness around the eyes, lethargy, and stooping appear. The child becomes distracted, inhibited, hot-tempered, irritable, prone to quarrels and conflicts.

At a younger age, the child acquires new self-care skills. Keeping the body and clothes clean is part of the child's personal hygiene. In order for caring for the body and concern for its cleanliness to become a habit and a natural need for a child, at least three conditions must be strictly observed.

• Firstly, counselors should serve as a personal example for children, instill in children how beneficial hygienic procedures are for health, and what importance they have for the prevention of infectious and other diseases.
• Secondly, hygiene skills turn into conscious, useful habits if the educational influence on the child is carried out methodically and persistently.
• Thirdly, counselors must create proper conditions for washing and bathing the child, provide him with personal items: towels, linen, toothbrush, comb, scissors, etc.

And one more important condition: the hygienic education of children should be closely linked with the formation of their will and character, with their moral and aesthetic education. Dirty and sloppy cannot be perceived as beautiful and attractive, cannot find a positive moral assessment.

In the morning, the child washes not only his hands, but also his face; before going to bed - his face, neck, ears, legs; after his feet, he should wash his hands again, using soap and a brush. It is necessary to have separate towels for hands and feet; they are stored in different places during use. It is unacceptable for a child to wash his hands with cold water, carelessly, hastily, without soap, since the hands remain essentially unwashed, and the towel becomes dirty, subsequently becoming a source of infection of the skin of not only the hands, but also the face, mucous membranes of the lips and eyes. Cold water does not wash away sebum and skin flakes, and does not remove dirt accumulated in the pores and folds of the skin well. It is very easy to convince a child of this if you invite him to wash his hands first with cold water without soap, and then again with hot water and soap. The child will see that after the second wash, cloudy water flows from his hands.

Regular water procedures are a basic hygienic rule, a source of cheerful mood, pleasant sensations, increased performance, a good means of improving sleep and strengthening the body.

Some younger children have ugly and even bad habits. For example, by picking the nose, a child can introduce an infection into the mucous membrane, and this is fraught with the development of a boil in the nose and brain complications. The habit of biting nails is dangerous for contracting gastrointestinal infectious diseases and worms. It is necessary to wean them from such habits, especially since this is not difficult to do.

The complex of hygiene skills of a younger child includes caring for the oral cavity, nose, and ears. After each meal, children should rinse their mouth with warm water. To prevent a number of diseases of the oral cavity and pharynx, healthy children can rinse their mouths with cool water. Some adults kiss children on the lips, not realizing that this is dangerous for the child. Many adults in the oral cavity with dental caries, chronic inflammation of the gums, tonsils or mucous membrane of the throat have many pathogenic microbes - staphylococci, streptococci, etc. When kissing, they can get on the mucous membrane of the lips, skin of the chin and cheeks, and then penetrate into the cavity mouth, respiratory tract of the child and cause him illness. The infection can enter the mouth if a child takes the end of a pencil or pen with his lips or licks his fingers after eating. With insufficient care, teeth are affected by caries - a widespread disease, which is characterized by the formation of a defect in the hard tissues of the tooth, the progression of this process, and its spread to other teeth. Teeth should be brushed 2 times (within 25-30 seconds) - in the morning before breakfast and in the evening before lights out. Using a toothbrush, the child brushes all the teeth front and back, as well as their chewing surface. Special toothpastes are produced for children, which have a more pronounced cleansing, refreshing and deodorizing (eliminating unpleasant odors) effect than powders. The toothbrush should not be stored in a closed case (or at least in a plastic bag). If there is such an opportunity, then place it in a glass or other vessel, then the bristles dry out well and their bacterial contamination is reduced. Every day, it is useful to lather the bristles of your toothbrush well and rinse thoroughly with warm water. Young children cannot do without a handkerchief. Using it, the child first releases one half of the nose, and then the other, alternately pinching the nostrils during a strong exhalation. It is impossible to cover both nostrils at the same time, since in this case the air pressure inside the nose increases sharply and an infection from the nasal cavity can penetrate into the internal reservoirs of the ear, causing inflammation (otitis media).

It is necessary to strictly prohibit children from putting matches, pins or other objects into their nose or ear. Such actions are fraught with serious consequences: a foreign body entering the respiratory tract through the nose, infection, or perforation of the eardrum. If wax accumulates in your child’s ears or wax plugs form, you should contact the camp doctor.

Gymnastics requires a positive psychological attitude and is most useful if carried out at a certain time for 15-30 minutes, strictly regularly. The most comfortable clothing is a tracksuit, or better yet, a T-shirt, panties and slippers. For exercises on the floor you need a mat. Girls are recommended to include exercises with a hoop, jump rope and other objects in their morning gymnastics; try to perform all movements smoothly and plastically.

Posture is one of the signs of the harmonious development of a person’s physical qualities. A slender body, flexible movements, and easy gait make the figure beautiful and graceful. With good posture, the head is held straight, the shoulders are turned, both shoulder blades and the iliac crests are symmetrical. If the posture is correct, then physiological processes, and above all breathing and blood circulation, proceed normally, but if the posture is disturbed, the body’s functions may be upset. Children (especially girls) with postural defects try to be in public less, to somehow hide their physical defect. Deviations in posture can have a traumatic effect on schoolchildren. Children with poor posture develop stooping, sidewaysness, curvature of the spine (scoliosis), asymmetry of the shoulders and shoulder blades, and flat feet.

Children's clothing should be light, comfortable and beautiful. It is important that it does not restrict movement, does not impede breathing and blood circulation, and does not irritate the skin. It is necessary that hygienic clothing correspond to climatic conditions, time of year, and air temperature. Clothing that is too warm is just as undesirable as clothing that causes children to experience unpleasant sensations of cooling and chills.

Sometimes children wear two of the same type of clothes: two pairs of trousers, two shirts, two dresses. This makes movement difficult and unhygienic, contributing to overheating. Some boys wear a jacket over a T-shirt, which is also unacceptable, as the clothes quickly become dirty, the feeling of comfort is disrupted, and skin irritation can occur.

Sportswear should not be worn outside of the stadium or gym. This is unhygienic and unethical.

Shoes protect feet from cooling and overheating, from moisture, dirt and damage, facilitate movement, and provide a feeling of comfort and aesthetic satisfaction.

Sneakers that are intended only for physical education and short hiking trips are also not suitable for every day. They also put felt insoles in them and put on woolen socks. On long marches, use comfortable, worn-in shoes, and place a rubber sponge under the heels.

Shoes with rubber soles should be kept away from heating sources. We must remember that younger children, as a rule, do not know about this.

Some children experience increased sweating of their feet. To eliminate it, it is recommended to wash your feet daily, first with warm and then with cool water, change socks (or stockings) more often, and in the summer do without them, do not wear rubber shoes, be sure to use insoles, and avoid overheating your feet in shoes.

Primary school age is called the peak of childhood. The child retains many childish qualities - frivolity, naivety, looking up at the adult. But he is already beginning to lose his childish spontaneity in behavior; he has a different logic of thinking.

The seven-year crisis occurs at the border between preschool and primary school age. Regardless of when a child starts school, at 6 or 7 years old, at some point in his development he goes through a crisis. This fracture may begin at age 7, or may shift by age 6 or 8.

Thinking becomes the dominant function at primary school age. The child develops logically correct reasoning. However, when arguing, he still relies on concrete, visual material.

To successfully solve pedagogical problems, the counselor must have a clear understanding of those factors in the child’s activity that affect the child’s self-esteem and personality development.

The success of educational work directly depends on the pedagogical skills of the counselor. The latter is based on the concept of pedagogical tact.

It is very useful to understand the general structure of motivation for activity at this age:

a) Cognitive motivation If a child, in the process of activity, begins to rejoice that he has learned, understood, or learned something, it means that he is developing motivation that corresponds to the structure of the learning activity.

b) Motivation to achieve success Children with high performance results have a clearly expressed motivation to achieve success - the desire to do a task well, correctly, and get the desired result. In junior units, this motivation often becomes dominant. The motivation to achieve success, along with cognitive interests, is the most valuable motive; it should be distinguished from prestigious motivation.

c) Prestigious motivation Prestigious motivation is typical for children with high self-esteem and leadership inclinations. She encourages the child to do everything better than his peers, to stand out among them, to be the first. If sufficiently developed abilities correspond to prestigious motivation, it becomes a powerful engine of development of the child, who will achieve the best results at the limit of his efficiency and hard work. Individualism, constant competition with capable peers and a disdainful attitude towards others distort the moral orientation of the personality of such children. If prestigious motivation is combined with average abilities, deep self-doubt, usually not recognized by the child, along with an inflated level of aspirations lead to violent reactions in situations of failure.

d) Motivation to avoid failure In unsuccessful children, prestigious motivation does not develop. The motivation to achieve success, as well as the motive of receiving high praise from others, are characteristic of children of junior units. But even at this time, the second tendency clearly manifests itself - the motivation to avoid failure. Children try to avoid the consequences that a low assessment of their activities entails - ridicule from others.

e) Compensatory motivation By this time, unsuccessful children also develop special compensatory motivation. These are secondary motives in relation to a specific activity that allow one to establish oneself in another area of ​​activity. When the need for self-affirmation is satisfied in some area of ​​activity, low success in the first does not become a source of difficult experiences for the child.

Not being able to distinguish well enough the reasons for failure, some counselors usually use a very meager and far from perfect set of means of helping lagging children. In practice, they can be reduced to two: 1) organizing additional explanations, the same, and 2) applying various measures of pressure on the child.

All these remedies are not only ineffective, but often turn out to be harmful, since they do not affect the cause and allow the “disease” of failure to start. Typically, a child comes to camp positively motivated. To ensure that his positive attitude toward the camp does not fade, the counselor’s efforts should be aimed at creating a stable motivation to achieve success, on the one hand, and developing the child’s interests, on the other.

Forming a stable motivation to achieve success is necessary in order to blur the “position of an unsuccessful person”, increase the child’s self-esteem and psychological stability. The high self-esteem of unsuccessful students for their individual qualities and abilities, their lack of an inferiority complex and self-doubt play a positive role, helping such children to establish themselves in activities that are feasible for them, and are the basis for the development of their motivation for activities in the camp in general.

To successfully solve pedagogical problems, the counselor must have a clear understanding of those factors in the activity of the ward that affect the self-esteem and development of the child’s personality.

a) The influence of others’ assessment of the child’s activities. Assessment by others directly affects the development of the child’s self-esteem. Children, focusing on the counselor’s assessment, consider themselves and their peers to be successful and unsuccessful, endowing representatives of each group with a set of corresponding qualities. Assessing success at the beginning of a shift is essentially an assessment of the personality as a whole and determines the child’s social status. Successful children develop high self-esteem. For unsuccessful children, systematic failures and low evaluations by others reduce their self-confidence and their capabilities. Their self-esteem develops in a unique way. Initially, children do not agree with the position of laggards, which is assigned to them at the beginning of the shift, and strive to maintain high self-esteem. If you ask them to evaluate their performance, most will rate their performance with a higher score than it deserves.

At the same time, they focus not so much on what has been achieved, but on what they want: “I’m tired of being a sucker. I want to be at least average.” “Everyone underestimates me, I like myself.” “I’m no worse than everyone else, I can also be successful in something.”

The unrealized need to get out of the ranks of those lagging behind and acquire a higher status is gradually weakening. The number of children lagging behind in their activities, who consider themselves even weaker than they actually are, further increases by almost 3 times. Self-esteem, inflated at the beginning of the shift, sharply decreases.

How do younger children cope with such a difficult situation?

Children with low and low self-esteem often have a feeling of inferiority and even hopelessness. Even in cases where children compensate for their low luck with success in other areas, a “muted” feeling of inferiority, inferiority, and acceptance of the position of a laggard lead to negative consequences.

b) Sense of competence Success, awareness of one's abilities and skills to perform various tasks efficiently lead to the formation of a sense of competence - a new aspect of self-awareness at a young age. If a sense of competence in activities is not formed, the child’s self-esteem decreases and a feeling of inferiority arises, his personal development is distorted.

Children themselves realize the importance of competence in a specific area of ​​activity. When describing the qualities of the most popular peers, younger children point, first of all, to intelligence and skills.

In order for children to develop correct self-esteem and a sense of competence, it is necessary to create an atmosphere of psychological comfort and support in the unit. Counselors, distinguished by high professional skills, strive not only to meaningfully evaluate the activities of children (not just to evaluate, but to give appropriate explanations), but also to convey their positive expectations to each ward, to create a positive emotional background for any, even low, assessment of their activities.

They evaluate only specific activities, but not the individual, do not compare children with each other, do not encourage everyone to imitate the successful, orient children towards individual achievements - so that tomorrow’s activities are better than yesterday’s. They do not praise the best children, especially those who achieve high results without much effort. And, on the contrary, they encourage the slightest progress in the activities of a weak but diligent child.

c) The emergence and influence of reflection Towards the end of early childhood, reflection appears and, thus, new approaches to assessing one’s achievements and personal qualities are created.

Self-esteem becomes, in general, more consistent with reality, and judgments about oneself become more justified. At the same time, there are significant individual differences. It should be especially emphasized that in children with high and low self-esteem, it is extremely difficult to change its level.

Young children who come to children's camp for the first time are in a stressful state and experience increased anxiety. Experiences and anxiety accompany the assessment process in any case, no matter how friendly and calm the atmosphere may be. What causes this?

A child, in the process of communicating with a social environment close to him, the requirements of which he needs to satisfy, creates his own level of aspirations. On the verge of the child’s level of aspirations and his ignorance of the possible outcome of the assessment, experiences, worries, and anxiety arise, which negatively affect the identification of even those knowledge and skills that he has a good command of.

He needs an assessment at the level of aspirations, and therefore anxiety arises, fueled by worries about future relationships in the social environment rather than for a truly accurate and error-free assessment.

This anxiety may disappear if for the child these relationships lose meaning, if he finds another environment in which he will not be viewed and evaluated through the prism of the results of his activities and evaluations of them.

It should be especially emphasized that the lack of assessment in conditions of simultaneous assessment of other children is the worst type of assessment. This situation disorients the child, forcing him to build his own self-esteem not on the basis of an objective assessment, which reflects his actual capabilities, but on very subjective interpretations of hints, semi-understandable situations of behavior of the counselor and peers. The intonation, gesture, and facial expressions of the counselor acquire special semantic meaning for children precisely when they are not assessed in the usual way.

Different children are attentive in different ways. Some children have stable, but poorly switched attention; they perform one task for quite a long time and diligently, but find it difficult to quickly move on to the next. Others easily switch during their activities, but are just as easily distracted by extraneous moments. For others, good organization of attention is combined with its small volume. There are also inattentive children who concentrate their attention not on the activity, but on something else - on their thoughts, etc. The attention of these children is quite developed, but due to the lack of the necessary direction, they give the impression of being absent-minded.

The first group includes children who became such at a certain period of their life. The sudden inattention and absent-mindedness could be the result of a long-term chronic illness of the child, which exhausted his nervous system. Along with this, the cause of inattention can be a conflict with an adult or peers. The child, constantly in a state of tense anticipation, cannot concentrate on the instructions of the counselor, etc.

Another group of absent-minded children are those who suffer from absent-mindedness from birth due to weakness of the nervous system. We are actually talking about a small congenital uneven development of individual brain functions, in which attention most often suffers. The child lacks energy and is forced to resort to frequent changes in activities. He is able to notice everything that the counselor and his peers are doing around him, but he does not have enough energy to be attentive to the counselor’s demands. This is not his fault, but his misfortune. This child needs more rest. He should not experience overload. He should work less, but more often. In addition, both the child and the adult should be in an environment of peace and quiet.

Nothing penetrates the human soul without attention. The counselor has several means at his disposal to draw the children’s attention to what he is telling them.

• Enhancing the impression

You can strengthen the impression in a direct way, for example, by raising your voice, emphasizing words, drawing a large map and bright colors, etc.; and indirect, removing impressions that could distract attention: lack of silence in the room, objects that entertain the attention of children.

• Direct demand for attention

One of the best remedies is frequent contact with children. In order to keep children's attention constantly focused on the issue of discussion, it is useful to force young children to perform several actions on the received command. For example, stand up, sit down, spread your hands, curl your hands, etc. under some counting rhyme. This gives children the habit of being attentive to the words of an adult every minute.

Measures against absent-mindedness

In addition to the absent-mindedness of individual children, there is also a general absent-mindedness of the group, a drowsy state that precedes falling asleep. The reasons for this condition are physical and psychological.

• The reasons are physical: the room is too hot, too little oxygen in the air, which often happens in cramped and rarely ventilated rooms; further – body immobility, full stomachs, severe fatigue in general.
• The reasons are psychological: monotony and monotony of what is happening, fatigue from the same actions.

Entertaining event

The most boring activity can be made entertaining for children by external means that are not related to the content of the activity; the activity is made entertaining, like a game of attention, like competition, in resourcefulness, etc. With small children these are very useful techniques; but these external measures cannot limit the stimulation of attention.

The internal fun of activity is based on the law that the new must complement, develop or contradict the old, thanks to which it can enter into any association with what is already known. The older the child becomes, the more internal entertainment should displace external ones.

It is very important to find out how children imagine what is being said. Children think concretely and tend to take everything literally. Meanwhile, when explaining, we often speak abstractly and just as often use words in a figurative meaning, which causes many misunderstandings in classes with young children.

If you need to give children certain general principles, they must be specified with some example, etc. All the same, the children will be more specific, but without the help of a counselor they will do it in such a way that, as they say, you will not be happy. The same applies to new concepts: they must be illustrated by the child’s experience, etc.

The syntax of a young child is predominantly the syntax of a simple sentence. Therefore, the counselor's instructions are to avoid long, complex phrases. The terms must, of course, be carefully explained. Any reservations or amendments to what the counselors have just said are unacceptable, as they confuse the children.

Understanding requires knowledge, but isolated, fragmentary knowledge is not everything for understanding. Our story, our reasoning is always some chain of events, judgments, etc. And a child is able to understand only when he is able to trace this entire chain from beginning to end. The younger the child, the less developed he is, the more difficult it is for him to do this, and the shorter the story should be: otherwise the child will lose the thread. In addition, as already noted, the thread must be straightforward: any deviations to the side greatly complicate the child’s understanding.

It is easier for us to understand the meaning of some actions if we know in advance the final result or purpose of them. We understand a foreign text better if we know in advance what is being said. In the same way, a child picks up the thread of a story or argument more easily if he knows in advance where it will lead. That is why it is recommended to begin the briefing by clarifying the purpose and expected result.

A small child is prone to visual thinking. It helps him a lot in understanding, since one image, one picture can immediately cover something that sometimes requires a long series of phrases. Every experienced counselor knows how difficult it is for a small child to make causal and temporal connections. Meanwhile, we truly understand something only when we know why it happened and what consequences it entails. It is necessary to distinguish logical justifications from causal explanations, which are given to children with even greater difficulty.

Logic is not yet sufficiently developed in young children. Quite often they ask the question “why?” in the sense of “on what basis do you think this is correct?” understood as the question: “How did you come to this idea?” Therefore, in junior detachments, counselors, as a rule, are not very eager to prove something to children, remembering that this often may not make it easier for children to understand, but rather complicate it.

At a young age, it is very often quite possible to be content with the fact that a given thought, a given statement is convincing for children thanks to well-chosen examples, checking the result, etc. Logical evidence should be given only where it is really necessary, and causal explanations are easier for a child if they go from cause to action.

Compared to asking “why?” The question “why?” is much clearer to a child. Therefore, this question is very popular in junior units, for example: “Why does a cat have sharp claws?” (although, of course, such a teleological formulation of the question is completely wrong). This question is especially clear to a child if we are talking about goals close to his experience and interests.

Another feature of children's thinking is the inability to consider an object or situation from different angles, the inability to simultaneously perform all the required actions.

For example, when one thought develops and another is lost, etc. In such a complex activity as establishing cause-and-effect relationships, children, considering a phenomenon that has several causes, usually name only one of them, and if several consequences follow from one cause , then not all are indicated, but most often only one.

The third question still remains to be answered: “Why do children often say that they understand without actually understanding?”

Older children sometimes act this way out of false shame, so as not to appear stupid. But kids especially often answer this way, and quite sincerely and confidently. The point here, of course, is not a matter of false shame, but a lack of self-control. That’s why, when working with kids, you need to constantly monitor whether they really understood.

The desire of younger children to repeat, to assimilate new things as they were given, sometimes turns out to be excessive. This happens even when they are asked to “tell it in their own words.” A brief retelling is much more difficult for children than a detailed one. To tell briefly means highlighting the main thing, separating it from the details, and this is precisely what children do not know how to do. If you ask children to briefly tell only the most important things, they often miss significant semantic points, and the meaning of their retelling suffers greatly from this.

How to help an unsuccessful child overcome self-doubt? The counselor needs to create conditions for the ward to experience success and the positive emotions associated with it. To do this, it is recommended to set tasks for the child that will be feasible and feasible for him. We must try to identify those areas of activity in which the child can show initiative and earn recognition in the squad. Isolating the “successful” areas of activity of an unsuccessful child allows you to change the attitude of peers towards him for the better.

It is useful to record, celebrate and encourage the slightest successes of the child in his activities, the most seemingly insignificant changes for the better. Particular attention should be paid to not allowing new failures to take hold. To do this, by training the child’s will, you need to force him to complete the work he has begun, without postponing it until “later” at the first mistakes.

Particular attention should be paid to the nature and form of reprimand and encouragement of an unsuccessful child. In no case should reproach concern the child’s abilities. It must be extremely specific and aimed at eliminating deficiencies clearly recognized by the student himself (for example, violations of discipline, negligence in work, etc.).

It is also important what the counselor’s tone of speech is at the moment of reprimand. Irritation and anger in the voice only cause a negative reaction from the ward. You need to try to talk to him calmly, kindly and interested.

You should also pay attention to such points associated with an unsuccessful assessment, such as its detailed justification, as well as highlighting the criteria by which the assessment is carried out, so that they are understandable to the children themselves.

A technique that can be quite effective is turning a loser into a “mentor” who helps another loser.

Observation of unsuccessful and undisciplined children shows that their bad behavior is most often a reaction to failure, a form of protest against the existing negative attitude towards them on the part of their counselor and peers.

Therefore, work with such children should be aimed not only at filling gaps in their knowledge, skills and abilities, but also at changing their social position.

An attempt, through the organization of an activity new to the child, allows, through changing his relationship with the team, to achieve positive changes in relation to the unsuccessful child, to increase his success.

The success of educational work directly depends on the education and pedagogical skills of the counselor. The latter is based on the concept of pedagogical tact.

The following main features of pedagogical tact are distinguished:

1. Naturalness, ease of handling without familiarity;
2. Sincerity of tone, devoid of any falsehood;
3. Trust in the ward without connivance;
4. Request without begging;
5. Advice and recommendations without intrusiveness;
6. Demands and suggestions without suppressing the pupil’s independence;
7. Serious tone without tension in relationships;
8. Irony and humor without derogatory mockery;
9. Demanding without petty pickiness;
10. Efficiency in relationships without irritability, coldness and dryness;
11. Firmness and consistency in the implementation of educational influences without unreasonable cancellation of the requirement;
12. Development of independence without petty supervision;
13. Speed ​​and timeliness of educational influence without haste and rash decisions;
14. Attentiveness to the child without emphasizing your control;
15. Calm concentration and balance in communication, excluding indifference and excessive excitability;
16. Conducting a conversation with a child without didacticism or moralizing.

The main sign of pedagogical tact is finding a measure in the relationship between the counselor and the ward in the process of communication.

And finally, about child theft in junior units.

We will try not to use the word “theft”, since we are dealing with children of seven or eight years old. Of course, even at this and at an earlier age, many children will never take someone else’s, since this moral norm is literally absorbed by them with their mother’s milk. But many children are raised in families where no attention is paid to moral issues, and often children see adults bringing something home from work without considering it reprehensible. Growing up in such an environment, and even having a tendency to impulsive behavior, when a child acts without reasoning or thinking about the consequences of his actions, it is very easy for him to commit something that can be classified as theft.

Where it leads? If the squad finds out that such and such a boy or such and such a girl has stolen something, and the counselor loudly gives this act the appropriate moral assessment, then the child will gain a reputation as a thief. Naturally, children will not want to be friends with a thief in the future. And very soon the child who committed such an act will remain isolated. Where should he go, because he needs communication? And he will find this communication among those children (usually older than him) for whom his action is not only not a crime, but, on the contrary, allows him to occupy a certain position in the circle of new friends. To prevent these new friends from turning their backs on him, he will now have to live by their laws. Thus, he can take the path of deliberate theft.

If the child’s misdemeanor is not immediately classified as theft, but we try to help the child overcome his undesirable characteristics by developing him personally and spiritually, then there is a much greater chance that the development of the ward will not take an asocial path, although there may be prerequisites for this. In such cases, adults must talk to the child, but only in private and not in the form of scolding or lecturing, but in a confidential conversation. We must try to convey to the child the moral meaning of his action and reveal to him the experiences of other people (the victim) caused by the crime. The child should feel that you are very upset because you consider him a good person.

However, it should be made clear to the child that he will not be allowed to do this. The child must return the stolen property to another child or where he took it. The counselor can return the stolen property to the owner to save the child from public shame.

About other reasons for children's theft, the famous children's pediatrician Benjamin Spock writes the following: “For example, a seven-year-old boy, well raised by conscientious parents, who has enough toys and other things and small pocket money, steals. He probably steals small sums of money from his mother or friends, pens and teachers, or pencils from his desk neighbor. Often his theft is completely pointless, because he may have the same thing. Obviously, it's about the child's feelings. He seems to be tormented by a need for something and is trying to satisfy it by taking things from others that he actually doesn’t need at all. What does he need?

In most cases, such a child feels unhappy and lonely. Perhaps he lacks the kind attention of adults or he cannot find friends among his peers (this feeling of abandonment can occur even in a child who enjoys the love and respect of his friends). The fact that seven-year-old children steal most often suggests that at this age children are especially acutely aware of how they are moving away from adults. If they don’t find true friends, they feel abandoned and useless. This is probably why children who steal money either give it to their comrades or buy candy for the whole squad, that is, they try to “buy” the friendship of their squad mates. During early adolescence, a child may also feel more lonely due to increased shyness, sensitivity, and desire for independence.

At any age, one of the reasons for theft is an unsatisfied need for love and affection. Other reasons are individual: fear, jealousy, discontent.”

Features of working with children of primary school age

The boundaries of primary school age, coinciding with the period of study in primary school, are usually set from 6-7 to 9-10 years. During this period, further physical and psychophysiological development of the child occurs.

At this age, fundamental changes occur in the social situation of the child’s development. He becomes a “public” subject and now has socially significant responsibilities, the fulfillment of which receives public assessment. During early childhood, a new type of relationship with other people begins to develop. The unconditional authority of an adult is gradually lost and by the end of childhood, peers begin to become increasingly important for the child, and the role of the children's community increases.

Educational activity becomes the leading activity at a young age. It determines the most important changes occurring in the development of the psyche of children at this age stage. Within the framework of this activity, new psychological formations are formed that characterize the most significant achievements in the development of younger children and are the foundation that ensures development at the next age stage. The leading role of educational activities in the process of child development does not exclude the fact that the youngest child is actively involved in other types of activities, during which his new achievements are improved and consolidated.

At this age, thinking moves to the center of the child’s conscious activity. The development of verbal-logical, reasoning thinking, which occurs during the assimilation of knowledge, rebuilds all other cognitive processes: “memory at this age becomes thinking, and perception becomes thinking.”

Significant changes occur in the development of attention; all its properties are intensively developed: the volume of attention increases especially sharply (2.1 times), its stability increases, and switching and distribution skills develop. By the age of 9-10, children become able to maintain attention for a long time and carry out a randomly assigned program of actions. At a young age, memory, like all other mental processes, undergoes significant changes. Their essence is that the child’s memory gradually acquires the features of arbitrariness, becoming consciously regulated and mediated.

Younger ages are sensitive to the development of higher forms of voluntary memorization, therefore targeted developmental work on mastering mnemonic activity is most effective during this period. There are 13 mnemonic techniques, or ways of organizing memorized material: grouping, highlighting reference points, drawing up a plan, classification, structuring, schematization, establishing analogies, mnemonic techniques, recoding, completing the construction of memorized material, serial organization of associations, repetition.

The difficulty of highlighting the main, essential is clearly manifested in one of the main types of activity - retelling. A brief retelling is much more difficult for children than a detailed one. To tell briefly means highlighting the main thing, separating it from the details, and this is precisely what children do not know how to do.

The inability to overcome the learning difficulties that arise in this case sometimes leads to the abandonment of active mental work. Then children begin to use various inadequate techniques and ways of performing tasks, which psychologists call “workarounds,” which include mechanical repetition without understanding it. Children reproduce the story almost by heart, word for word, but at the same time cannot answer questions about it. Another workaround is to perform a new task in the same way as a previous task.

At this age, another important new formation appears - voluntary behavior. The child becomes independent and chooses what to do in certain situations. This type of behavior is based on moral motives that are formed at this age. The child absorbs moral values ​​and tries to follow certain rules and laws. This is often associated with selfish motives and desires to be approved by adults or to strengthen one’s personal position in a peer group. That is, their behavior is one way or another connected with the main motive that dominates at this age - the motive of achieving success. New formations such as planning the results of action and reflection are closely related to the formation of voluntary behavior in younger children.

The child is able to evaluate his action in terms of its results and thereby change his behavior and plan it accordingly. A semantic and guiding basis in actions appears; this is closely related to the differentiation of internal and external life. A child is able to overcome his desires if the result of their fulfillment does not meet certain standards or does not lead to the set goal. An important aspect of a child’s inner life is his semantic orientation in his actions. This is due to the child’s feelings about the fear of changing relationships with others. He is afraid of losing his importance in their eyes.

The child begins to actively think about his actions and hide his experiences. The child is not the same on the outside as he is on the inside. It is these changes in the child’s personality that often lead to outbursts of emotions on adults, desires to do what they want, and whims. “The negative content of this age manifests itself primarily in mental imbalance, instability of will, mood, etc.”

The development of the personality of the youngest child depends on his success and the assessment of the child by adults. A child at this age is very susceptible to external influence. It is thanks to this that he absorbs knowledge, both intellectual and moral. “The counselor plays a significant role in establishing moral standards and developing children’s interests, although the degree to which they are successful in this will depend on the type of relationship they have with their peers.” Other adults at camp also play an important role in the child's life.

At a young age, children's desire to achieve increases. Therefore, the main motive of a child’s activity at this age is the motive of achieving success. Sometimes another type of this motive occurs - the motive of avoiding failure.

Certain moral ideals and patterns of behavior are laid down in the child’s mind. The child begins to understand their value and necessity. But in order for the development of a child’s personality to be most productive, the attention and assessment of an adult is important. “The emotional-evaluative attitude of an adult to the actions of a child determines the development of his moral feelings, individual responsible attitude towards the rules with which he becomes acquainted in life.” “The child’s social space has expanded - the child constantly communicates with the counselor and peers according to the laws of clearly formulated rules.”

It is at this age that a child experiences his uniqueness, he recognizes himself as an individual, and strives for perfection. This is reflected in all areas of a child’s life, including relationships with peers. Children find new group forms of activity and activities. At first they try to behave as is customary in this group, obeying the laws and rules. Then begins the desire for leadership, for superiority among peers. At this age, friendships are more intense but less durable. Children learn the ability to make friends and find a common language with different children. “Although it is assumed that the ability to form close friendships is determined to some extent by the emotional connections a child develops during the first five years of his life.”

Children strive to improve the skills of those types of activities that are accepted and valued in an attractive company in order to stand out in its environment and achieve success.

At primary school age, the child develops an orientation towards other people, which is expressed in prosocial behavior, taking into account their interests. Prosocial behavior is very important for a developed personality.

The ability to empathize is developed in the conditions of a children's camp because the child participates in new business relationships, involuntarily he is forced to compare himself with other children - with their successes, achievements, behavior, and the child is simply forced to learn to develop his abilities and qualities.

Thus, the younger age is the most critical stage of childhood. The main achievements of this age are determined by the leading nature of the activity and are largely decisive for subsequent years. By the end of the younger age, the child must want to learn, be able to learn and believe in himself.

Full-fledged living of this age, its positive acquisitions are the necessary foundation on which the further development of the child as an active subject of knowledge and activity is built. The main task of adults in working with children of primary school age is to create optimal conditions for the development and realization of children's capabilities, taking into account the individuality of each child.

If the products obtained as a result of efforts turn out to be of high quality, effective in use, and valuable in the eyes of others, then a person develops a basic, deep-seated conviction in his own competence. In this case, the famous formula of a three-year-old person “I myself” is supplemented with the very important word “I can” - “I can do it myself,” “I can handle it.” This, if you like, is largely the psychology of a winner. People with this kind of inner conviction, when faced with a difficult problem, think not about how difficult it is, but about how to solve it. And they usually succeed. Failure for them is a reason not to give up, but to gain new knowledge and find additional resources and opportunities.

In the case when the products created by the child turn out to be unusable, unclaimed and unappreciated, he develops a deep awareness of his own failure as a destructive alternative to competence.

So, in order not to become unhappy, it is important for a child to be convinced of his own competence. Can we help him with this? Can we “help” him in another way - to feel unsuccessful? So, the leading need for personal development at the age in question is to be convinced of one’s own competence. That is, create something yourself. Therefore, even children who are pronounced extroverts often prefer to make something alone during this period. Let's give them this opportunity. Even if you see that the child is not doing well, that he is upset or angry, do not rush to the rescue until you are asked for help. Let's believe him this time too. He is able to decide whether he needs our advice and trusts us enough to ask for help when he really needs it. If you are asked to evaluate something or help with something at an inopportune hour, when you do not have the time, energy or simply desire to do it, say so directly. Decide for yourself when you really (not necessarily “tomorrow”) will be able to pay the necessary attention to this child’s request, and be sure to say about this too. Trust again that your child is capable of understanding everything correctly. This will not hurt him. On the contrary, he will once again feel his importance from the fact that they speak to him seriously and frankly, as to an adult. Pain can be caused by a quick, disinterested glance at what he has put so much effort into, and a formally indifferent “well done, now go to sleep.” Such an attitude devalues ​​not only the fruit of creation - it devalues ​​the creator himself.

The child uses example as the main form of evidence. When explaining something, everything comes down to the familiar, the particular, the known.

The following features can be distinguished in a child’s thinking. Firstly, children are characterized by animism (animation of inanimate nature, celestial bodies, mythical creatures). Secondly, syncretism (insensitivity to contradictions, linking everything with everything, inability to separate cause and effect). Thirdly, egocentrism (inability to look at oneself from the outside). Fourthly, phenomenality (the tendency to rely not on knowledge of the true relationships of things, but on their apparent relationships).

The peculiarity of children's thinking - spiritualizing nature, attributing to inanimate things the ability to think, feel, do - Jean Piaget called animism (from the Latin animus - soul). Where does this amazing property of the thinking of younger people come from - to see something alive where, from the point of view of an adult, it cannot exist? Many found the reason for children's animism in the unique vision of the world that a child develops by the beginning of preschool age.

For an adult, the whole world is orderly. In the consciousness of an adult, there is a clear line between living and nonliving, active and passive objects. There are no such strict boundaries for a child. The child proceeds from the fact that living things are everything that moves. The river is alive because it moves, and the clouds are alive for the same reason. The mountain is not alive because it stands.

From the moment of his birth, the youngest child heard an adult’s speech directed at him, full of animistic constructions: “The doll wants to eat,” “The bear has gone to bed,” etc. In addition, he hears expressions such as “It’s raining,” “The sun has risen.” ". The metaphorical context of our speech is hidden from the child - hence the animism of thinking in the younger ones.

In a special, animate world, a child easily and simply masters the connections between phenomena and acquires a large stock of knowledge. A game and a fairy tale, in which even a stone breathes and talks, is a special way of mastering the world, allowing a preschooler in a specific form to assimilate, understand and in his own way systematize the flow of information that befalls him.

The next feature of children's thinking is associated with the establishment of natural causality between events that occur in the surrounding world, or syncretism.

Syncretism is the replacement of objective cause-and-effect relationships with subjective ones that exist in perception. In his experiments, J. Piaget asked children questions regarding causal relationships in the world around them. "Why doesn't the sun fall? Why doesn't the moon fall?" In their answers, the children indicated various properties of the object: size, location, functions, etc., connected in perception into one whole. "The sun doesn't fall because it's big. The moon doesn't fall because the stars. The sun doesn't fall because it shines. The wind doesn't fall because the trees sway." Let us give an example of syncretism in the story of a six-year-old child. “Little Red Riding Hood is walking through the forest, a fox meets her: “Why are you crying, Little Red Riding Hood?” And she answers: “How can I not cry?!” The wolf ate me!"

The next feature of children's thinking is the child's inability to look at an object from the position of another and is called egocentrism. The child does not fall into the sphere of his own reflection (does not see himself from the outside), he is closed in his own point of view.

The phenomenality of children's thinking is manifested in the fact that children rely on the relationships of things that seem to them, and not on what actually exists.

So, it seems to the child that there is a lot of milk in a tall and narrow glass, but if it is poured into a short but wide glass, it will become less. He does not have the concept of conservation of quantity of a substance, that is, the understanding that the quantity of milk remains the same despite the change in the shape of the vessel. In the process of growing up and as he masters counting and develops the ability to establish one-to-one correspondence between objects in the external world, the child begins to understand that a certain transformation does not change the basic qualities of objects.

The development of the emotional-volitional sphere is associated with the formation of the regulatory function of the psyche. During the age period under consideration, children are prone to strong experiences; due to the plasticity of nervous processes, a rapid change of feelings occurs. In children, feelings associated with their learning activities and the process of cognition begin to acquire special significance. They are no longer satisfied with just gaming activities. Moral feelings are further developed, on the basis of which such qualities as responsibility, hard work, honesty, and partnership are formed.

By the beginning of this age period, the processes of excitation in the child prevail over the processes of inhibition. The regulatory function of the will is manifested in the activation and inhibition of the child’s activities. A young child should develop such concepts as “necessary”, “possible”, “impossible”. It is necessary to put away toys, brush teeth, make the bed, etc. - all this is a motivating, activating function of the will. You cannot throw things around, etc. - these verbal influences from adults are aimed at inhibiting the child’s motor activity. “It’s possible” forms rules of behavior in the child’s mind, on the basis of which the formation of such important personality traits as discipline and responsibility occurs: “You can go for a walk after ... (you do everything else necessary),” etc.

Many younger children have developed strong-willed qualities that allow them to successfully complete various tasks. Children are able to set a goal, make a decision, outline a plan of action, make a certain effort to overcome an obstacle, and evaluate the result of their action. In order for a child to develop volitional qualities, an adult must organize his activities, remembering that volitional action directly depends on the difficulty of the task and the time allotted for its completion.

Children's range of needs is expanding. New needs emerge to gain the status of a schoolchild. The child wants to learn new information no longer through play, but in communication with adults and other children; he begins to realize his needs, however, often the needs and interests are aimed at the external, most attractive side of learning.

It should be borne in mind that self-esteem in young children is generally inflated. And one of the difficulties of children’s activities will be associated with the formation of adequate self-esteem

Here are some points still worth paying attention to.

Some children of this age do not have a sufficiently varied experience of communicating with strangers - both adults and children.

Some children get lost without the skill of "surviving in a crowd"

It's no secret that those around you are not always friendly and understanding. Teach your child not to get confused when you are criticized or - the child's version - teased. The main thing is that the child understands: when criticizing him, you are assessing not his personality as a whole, but a specific action. It’s great if you have developed a fairly stable positive self-esteem.

It is important for a child to be able to express his needs in words. Ask your child to communicate his desires in words; if possible, organize situations where he needs to ask an unfamiliar adult or child for help.

At camp, the child will often find himself in situations of comparison with peers. This means that it is worth watching him in games that include a competitive moment, competition among children. How does he react to the success of others, to his own failures and similar situations?

Try to get your child used to working independently and not requiring constant attention and encouragement from an adult. After all, in a camp, a counselor is unlikely to be able to give everyone equal attention. Gradually stop praising your child for every step in the work - praise him for the finished result.

Teach children to sit quietly and work for a certain time. Include a wide variety of activities in your daily routine, alternating quiet work with active games. This is especially important for an excitable, active child. Gradually he will get used to the fact that it is possible to squeal and rush around at a certain, “noisy” time.

We would like to draw your attention to the fact that all of the listed criteria are also far from being the ultimate truth, and there is no need at all to try to ensure that this child meets all of them without exception and in full: by the way, when guided by this test, it is not necessary to use only ratings “yes” or “no”: the options “always, sometimes, often, rarely, never” are also allowed. By observing nature and the events of the surrounding life, children learn to find spatiotemporal and cause-and-effect relationships, generalize, and draw conclusions.

The child must:

1. Know about everyday life.

2. Have a supply of information about the world around you and be able to use it.

3. Be able to express your own judgments and draw conclusions.

For younger ones, a lot happens spontaneously, from experience, and adults often believe that special training is not required here. But that's not true. Even with a large amount of information, a child’s knowledge does not include a general picture of the world; it is fragmented and often superficial. By including the meaning of some event, knowledge can be consolidated and remain the only true one for the child. Thus, a child’s stock of knowledge about the world around him must be formed within the system and under the guidance of an adult.

Intellectual readiness for school also presupposes the development of certain skills in a child. For example, the ability to highlight a task. This requires the child to be able to be surprised and look for the reasons for the similarities and differences between objects and their new properties that he notices.

The child must:

Be able to perceive information and ask questions about it.

Be able to accept the purpose of observation and carry it out.

Be able to systematize and classify the characteristics of objects and phenomena.

In order to intellectually prepare a child in a camp, adults must develop cognitive needs, provide a sufficient level of mental activity, offering appropriate tasks, and provide the necessary system of knowledge about the environment.

Developing specific functions does not at all mean conducting developmental classes. If a child lives with everyone else, and not in some parallel world, then daily participation in the life of the group is the key to his full development. We can do anything with our children, even knit brooms, and this will develop them. Because along the way we will discuss that these twigs are flexible and these are rigid, these are longer and these are shorter. That the brooms today are somehow brownish, unlike those made a couple of days ago, they were yellow. That today we tied fifteen brooms, and tomorrow we need to do more. That you can’t finish it yet, because you haven’t finished the job yet. And together we will clean the workplace. And we'll sharpen the knife for tomorrow's work.

And he doesn’t need any additional “development” or “training”. For the development of a child, it is completely indifferent what exactly to take as a basis. His mental functions can be loaded with any material, through any activity.

The main thing is that he will see exactly how to obtain information and take this method into service. Or he won't take it. But you did your job. Shown. Once, twice, three times. You gave the child an opportunity, that's what matters. And through their actions they began to form a stereotype of his behavior. In this case, this stereotype is as follows - if I don’t know something, then I need to ask or spy on someone else. This is development.

While focusing on the child’s intellectual activity for camp, one should not lose sight of emotional and social readiness, which include skills on which the child’s success in camp significantly depends. Social readiness implies the need to communicate with peers and the ability to subordinate one’s behavior to the laws of children’s groups, the ability to take a role in the camp, the ability to listen and follow the instructions of the counselor, as well as the skills of communicative initiative and self-presentation. This may include such personal qualities as the ability to overcome difficulties and treat mistakes as a certain result of one’s work, the ability to assimilate information in a group learning situation and change social roles in the team.

Often, trying to be objective in assessing children's successes, adults do not skimp on critical remarks. Without noticing the child’s achievements, they ultimately ensure that the child refuses to do activities at all, makes no attempts to overcome difficulties, shedding tears or running away. This behavior is called “learned helplessness” in behavioral psychology. Let's look at how it is formed. If a person finds himself in a situation where external events, as it seems to him, in no way depend on him, they cannot be prevented or modified, and then this state is transferred to other situations, then “learned helplessness” is evident. A very short history of uncontrollability of the external environment is enough for learned helplessness to begin to live its own life and control human behavior. In a young child, “learned helplessness” often arises due to the complete absence of any reactions from the adults around him.

When there is no reaction on the part of the counselor to the actions, efforts, and words of the children, then the kids cannot compare their behavior with the reaction of an adult, and therefore understand which behavior is approved and which is not. The child finds himself in a situation of uncertainty, and the most harmless way out of it is complete inactivity. The second reason for the emergence of “learned helplessness” is the monotony of an adult’s reactions to a child’s actions.

The same type of reactions of adults contribute to the formation of helplessness. Moreover, this applies to both constantly positive and constantly negative reactions. The danger lies precisely in the uniformity of adults’ reactions to the actions of children. A child who, in response to different (good and bad) behavior, receives exactly the same reactions from adults (indifferent, pleasant, negative), and in response to his different efforts (intense or minimal) receives the same assessments (eternal dissatisfaction or unreasonable delight), loses guidelines for managing your own activity.

A third reason for helplessness may be that so much time passes between the actions of children and the reactions of adults that the child cannot connect the reactions of the environment with his own actions. Adults' disapproval is perceived as something autonomous, completely unrelated to children's behavior and therefore loses any regulatory role.

Learned helplessness is much easier to prevent than to overcome. Therefore, the counselor should not spare time and effort to show the child the benefits of independence, while not forgetting to provide varied and timely feedback. The reactions of adults should be different in response to different actions of children and the same - to the same ones. Simple and clear principles of education to avoid helplessness are as follows.

Rule "Communication is not a luxury." The world around us does not always change somehow due to children’s actions. Whether the picture is neatly colored or carelessly, clothes are hung up or thrown on the floor - this will not make the book cry and the shirt will not run away. In such cases, the reaction of adults is absolutely necessary. And for this, at least the counselor should be nearby. Therefore, the first rule is: communicate with your children, tell them about your feelings, sensations, opinions.

Rule of diversity. In response to children's different behavior, the counselor should behave differently. You can be angry or happy, you can show all the diversity of your feelings, it is only important to show your children what their actions these feelings relate to.

Timeliness rule. The time interval between action and reaction should be minimal. React immediately after the action. This is especially important in the case of extreme behavior, unusually bad or unusually good.

Rule of chance. Some may object to the previous rules. Indeed, it is impossible to comment on any action of a child. Yes, this is not necessary. Unsystematic and random consequences work better than constant ones. It is enough just to show your attitude to the child’s actions from time to time.

Attitude to mistakes and failures

The attitude towards one’s own failures and mistakes largely determines a child’s activity. If every mistake for a child is proof of his intellectual incompetence, lack of recognition and acceptance by adults, then he has less and less strength and desire to master new skills. One way or another, the moment comes when the child declares: “That’s it, I won’t do it anymore” - or continues to study, driven by the fear of disapproval, overcoming internal resistance and thereby acquiring somatic diseases.

But an error can also simply serve as a not very suitable result, one of the attempts. Failure can stimulate further activity in the child, igniting in him the excitement of achieving victory over his own ineptitude. How a child will treat his mistakes depends on the attitude of adults towards them. Their opinion for the younger ones is the most authoritative on all issues. If the counselors believe in this child and rejoice at his most insignificant successes, then the child also concludes that he is competent in the activity that he is now mastering. If every failure of a child is perceived by adults as a universal catastrophe, then he, too, comes to terms with his own worthlessness. It is very important to be extremely attentive to the baby’s activities and literally look for reasons for approval and praise.

Praise can benefit a child, increase his self-confidence, and build adequate self-esteem if counselors:

They praise the child sincerely;

They express approval not only in words, but by non-verbal means: intonation, facial expressions, gestures, touches;

They are praised for specific actions, efforts, initiative;

Do not compare the child with other people.

Useful criticism

Using praise in communication with a child, adults probably understand that it is impossible to do without critical comments. Criticism helps a little person to form realistic ideas about the results of his work, about his own strengths and weaknesses, and ultimately contributes to the creation of adequate self-esteem. But criticism from counselors can also be destructive; it can reduce a child’s already low self-esteem and increase his uncertainty and anxiety. You can make criticism useful for your child using the rules of useful criticism.

Rules for useful criticism:

1. The golden proportion of education. It is difficult for a person to agree with criticism of himself if he does not have a firm belief that he is “generally good”, that he is needed and important for loved ones, that is, if a person’s basic psychological needs are not satisfied: for safety, security and stability, love, a sense of belonging, self-respect and respect from others. Satisfying these needs is as important for a child’s psyche as vitamins are for his body. Seals of approval are one means of accomplishing this serious task. These signs can be a kind look, a gentle touch, an attentive listening and, of course, verbal praise. The golden proportion of upbringing indicates the ratio of approval and criticism when addressing a child. This is a "4:1 ratio": four marks of approval for every criticism. In this case, the information contained in the critical statement will quite possibly be perceived by the child and used by him in his development.

2. Separation of criticism and feelings. Separate criticism from expressing your own feelings. Helpful criticism is always calm. If you experience irritation, resentment, anger, fear, anxiety, you will not be able to hide your feelings; they will definitely break through at the most inopportune moment. Therefore, during periods of “storm,” it is better to refuse criticism and leave it until better, “calmer” times.

3. Kind criticism. Your criticism will be useful for the child if the comments indicate your love and respect for the child. Love and respect can be conveyed by soft intonation, a kind, attentive look, and gentle words: “Sunny, listen...”, “Vanya, I want to tell you...”.

4. Criticism of actions. Useful criticism concerns the child's actions and actions, but not his personality.

5. Specific criticism. Helpful criticism includes your specific wishes. Tell your children specifically what you don’t like about their actions, make sure they understand you.

6. Creative criticism. Helpful criticism includes not only what you are not satisfied with, but also what you want from your child. Place an emotional emphasis on the second.

7. Reasoned criticism. Helpful criticism includes explanations of the benefits of desired behavior. If you tell a child, “Do this because I said so,” then this will be an order, not an explanation. The child will not be able to see the connection between his actions and the benefits they will bring.

8. Criticism with training. Finish your critique with training in the desired behavior. For example, after your comment about abandoned clothes and an explanation of how and why they are tidied up, you invite the child to imagine that he has come after a walk and is changing his clothes. Let the child tidy up his clothes as needed while playing. Completing a workout is the best time to praise. This addition of criticism will help the child learn new, more acceptable behavior. There is a huge difference between what a person knows and what a person can do. Any knowledge requires practice and training. You can tell your child in detail how to ride a bike, but this does not mean that he will master the skill on the first try.

Children don't always want to exercise. So don't forget to encourage the kids. Turn your workout into a fun game. Younger children like to come up with different situations and play different roles in them. Children love to use their favorite toys to act out imaginary stories. Thus, a teddy bear can learn to behave in a dental office, and a Barbie doll learns not to make noise during quiet hours.

Piggy bank of "golden keys":

1. For a child with innate caution, entering into an unfamiliar situation is greatly facilitated by a calm and detailed preliminary story from an adult about who and what awaits the baby, how he should behave, and how the situation will end. Do not rush your child to quickly start playing with unfamiliar children; he needs to take a closer look and feel safe.

2. A child with unpredictable behavior has difficulty being distracted from play to go to dinner or go to bed, so he needs time to prepare for this moment. Inform the playing child about the upcoming lunch 15-30 minutes in advance, remind again 10-15 minutes in advance. Such preparation will make it easier for the child to get used to routine moments.

3. Give a child with increased activity more opportunities to expend excess energy. Daily physical activity in the fresh air is beneficial: long walks, running, sports activities. Learn how to communicate well with others, how to behave in public, how to ask a friend to return his toy, and other social skills. Introduce your baby to several basic emotions, such as joy, interest, surprise, suffering, sadness, disgust, contempt, anger. Pay his attention to how they manifest themselves in facial expressions, gestures, posture, intonation, tempo and volume of speech.

4. For an aggressive child, his popularity in the peer group is of great importance. Unable to gain authority among children in any other way, he strives to take a leadership position in the group with the help of his fists. Counselors can teach the child how to improve his status in the children's team. Among children, appearance, beautiful clothes, sociability, and willingness to share toys are valued. What matters is the intellectual level, speech development, physical development, agility, and the degree of mastery of various types of activities. But the main role is played by the level of development of social skills.

Popular kids typically have the following communication skills:

Gradually join group classes, making relevant comments, sharing information, and only then move on to active actions;

Sensitive to the needs and actions of others;

They do not impose their will on other children;

Agree to play near other children;

Able to maintain friendly relationships;

If necessary, they come to the rescue;

Able to carry on a conversation;

Share interesting information;

Respond to suggestions from other children;

Able to resolve conflicts;

In conflict situations, they are not prone to aggression or the use of physical force.

5. It is useful to teach a sensitive, emotional child to count to ten before doing anything. This useful habit will develop conscious inhibition and self-control.

6. Help a shy child expand his circle of acquaintances.

What an adult comes up with is not immediately perceived by a child. The counselor has to take an active part in the child’s communication with peers. Therefore, the next stage is called the active assistance stage. Its task is to form in the child an understanding of the benefits of behavior offered by adults. After the child is convinced that thanks to tips he can be more successful in communication, you can move on to the stage of a “kind mirror” and active support. It consists of introducing the child to himself. It is important for a child to know what qualities are inherent in him and what they are called. The result of the work will be the development of his self-awareness. The adult in this case is a mirror in which a small person can study his reflection. But the mirror must be kind! In it, the child must first of all see his strengths, and recognize his weaknesses as a continuation of his strengths.

Sometimes adults have a negative attitude towards those qualities of the baby that are part of the structure of temperament, and therefore are naturally conditioned.

It is important for adults to understand that any trait of temperament can be neither bad nor good. Everything that is given by nature cannot be appreciated. A person with any temperament is in demand in life. The Universe needs someone who, not knowing the ford, climbs into the water, and someone who measures seven times and cuts once. If all of humanity consisted only of people of the first kind, then it would burn like a flock of butterflies flocking to a fire.

A person needs to know what he is like, but at the same time be absolutely sure that he is “good.” Here is the formula for the structure of self-awareness: “I am Petya - a good - boy - was, is, will be - must, have the right.” There are five components in this formula, which, when combined, create for everyone a unique picture of their own personality. It includes awareness of one's physical appearance, gender, destiny, rights and responsibilities. But the most important component is a person’s attitude towards his appearance, his gender, and his life. It is this that makes a person self-confident or not, an optimist or a pessimist.

When telling your child about himself, convey to him your kind attitude towards him. Any of his traits are not shortcomings, they are just his features, which sometimes help him in communicating with people, and sometimes hinder him. Thus, adults contribute to the formation of adequate self-esteem in the child, without violating his self-acceptance, his idea of ​​himself as “good.”

The next stage is teaching the child self-support. Its essence is to give the baby the “golden keys” you found. Let him know not only about his characteristics, but also how to live with them. So, if a small person needs to get a book from a shelf under the ceiling, he will not wring his hands and sob: “Oh, I’m unhappy!”, but will simply take a stepladder.

As they grow up, these children will get used to using the “keys” given to them, which gradually become an integral part of their communicative style. Over time, the collection of “golden keys” is enriched and replenished with new ways to improve communication skills. And finally the time comes when the matured child himself comes up with a new, more advanced way of interacting with people - the stage of independent search begins. It begins with the first attempt at creative communication and continues throughout life.

We all have the luxurious opportunity to endlessly and limitlessly search for “golden keys” to the land of love, mutual understanding, revelation, happiness, unanimity and surprise before the Other.

At a young age, intensive development of intelligence occurs. The development of thinking leads to a qualitative restructuring of perception and memory, turning them into regulated, voluntary processes. A 7-8 year old child usually thinks in specific categories. By the beginning of adolescence, children, as a rule, can already reason independently, draw conclusions, compare, analyze, find the particular and the general, and establish simple patterns.

If preschoolers were characterized by analyzing perception, then by the end of early childhood, with appropriate development, synthesizing perception appears. Developing intelligence creates the ability to establish connections between elements of what is perceived. This can be easily seen when children describe the picture. These features must be taken into account when communicating with a child and his development.

Age stages of perception:

6-9 years - description of the picture;

After 9 years - interpretation of what he saw.

Memory at a young age develops in two directions - arbitrariness and meaningfulness. Children involuntarily remember what they see, which arouses their interest, presented in a playful way, associated with bright visual images, etc.

Under the influence of the environment, memory develops in two directions: the role of verbal-logical, semantic memorization increases (for the youngest, visual-figurative memory predominates, children are prone to memorization through mechanical repetition, without awareness of semantic connections). Young boys and girls have differences in memory. Girls know how to force themselves, their voluntary mechanical memory is better. Boys appear to be more successful in mastering memory techniques. During the learning process, perception becomes more analytical and takes on the character of organized observation. The counselor specially organizes children’s activities in the perception of certain objects, teaches them to identify essential signs, properties of objects and phenomena. One of the effective methods for developing perception is comparison. At the same time, perception becomes deeper, the number of errors decreases.

The possibilities of volitional regulation of attention at a young age are limited. A younger child (unlike a teenager, who can force himself to focus on uninteresting, difficult activities for the sake of a result that is expected in the future) can usually force himself to work hard in the presence of “close” motivation (praise, other positive evaluation). At a young age, attention becomes concentrated and stable when the activity presented by an adult is clear, bright, and evokes an emotional attitude in the child. The content of children's internal position changes. At this age, children’s claims to a certain position in the system of business and personal relationships of the children’s group appear. The emotional state of a child begins to be increasingly influenced by how his relationships with friends develop, and not just by successes in activities and relationships with adults. And if for 6-7 year olds the relationships of children with each other are regulated mainly by the norms of “adult” morality, i.e. success in activities, fulfilling the requirements of adults, by the age of 9-10 the norms associated with the qualities of a true comrade come to the fore.

The character of younger children has the following features: impulsiveness, a tendency to act immediately, without thinking, without weighing all the circumstances (the reason is age-related weakness of volitional regulation of behavior); general lack of will - a child of 7-8 years old does not yet know how to pursue an intended goal for a long time, or stubbornly overcome difficulties. Capriciousness and stubbornness are explained by the shortcomings of family upbringing; this is a unique form of protest against the demands that the camp makes, against the need to sacrifice what one “wants” for the sake of what one “needs.” In general, during this age period of a child’s life, as a rule, the following qualities are formed: arbitrariness, reflection, thinking in concepts; In addition, a qualitatively new, more “adult” type of relationship with adults and peers should appear.

The leading activity is teaching. For teaching to become a leading activity, it must be organized in a special way. It should be akin to play: after all, a child plays because he wants to, it is an activity for its own sake, just like that. The product of educational activity is the person himself.

A. Einstein: “It is a big mistake to think that a sense of duty and compulsion can help one find joy in looking and searching. It seems to me that even a healthy predatory animal would lose its greed for food if it were possible to force it to eat continuously with the help of a whip.” even when it is not hungry, and especially if the food offered forcibly is not chosen by it.”

Neoplasms

The main new developments of the child: 1. personal reflection; 2. intellectual reflection.

Personal reflection

At an older age, the number of factors influencing self-esteem in a child significantly expands.

Children between the ages of 9 and 12 continue to develop the desire to have their own point of view on everything. They also develop judgments about their own social importance—self-esteem. It develops through the development of self-awareness and feedback from those around them whose opinions they value. Children usually have a high rating if adults treat them with interest, warmth and love.

However, by the age of 12-13, the child develops a new idea of ​​himself, when self-esteem loses its dependence on situations of success and failure, but acquires a stable character. Self-esteem now expresses the relationship in which self-image relates to the ideal self.

Younger age is the completion of the development of self-awareness.

Intellectual reflection

This refers to reflection in terms of thinking. The child begins to think about the reasons why he thinks this way and not otherwise. A mechanism arises for correcting one’s thinking using logic and theoretical knowledge. Consequently, the child becomes able to subordinate the intention to an intellectual goal and is able to maintain it for a long time. In the future, the ability to store and retrieve information from memory improves, and metamemory develops. Children not only remember better, but are also able to reflect on how they do it.

Mental development

7 – 11 years – the third period of mental development according to Piaget - the period of specific mental operations. The child's thinking is limited to problems relating to specific real objects.

The egocentrism inherent in the thinking of the youngest child at 6-7 years old gradually decreases, which is facilitated by joint games, but does not disappear completely. Children who think concretely often make mistakes when predicting the outcome. As a result, children, once they have formulated a hypothesis, are more likely to reject new facts than change their point of view.

Decentration is replaced by the ability to focus on several signs at once, correlate them, and simultaneously take into account several dimensions of the state of an object or event.

The child also develops the ability to mentally trace changes in an object. Reversible thinking arises.

Relationships with adults

The behavior and development of children is influenced by the leadership style of adults: authoritarian, democratic or permissive (anarchic). Children feel better and develop more successfully under democratic leadership.

Peer relationships

From the age of six, children spend more and more time with peers, almost always of the same sex. Conformity intensifies, reaching its peak by the age of 12. Popular children tend to adapt well, feel comfortable among their peers, and are generally cooperative.

A game

Children still spend a lot of time playing. It develops feelings of cooperation and competition, and such concepts as justice and injustice, prejudice, equality, leadership, submission, devotion, and betrayal acquire personal meaning.

The game takes on a social connotation: children invent secret societies, clubs, secret cards, codes, passwords and special rituals. The roles and rules of children's society make it possible to master the rules accepted in adult society. Playing with friends between the ages of 6 and 11 takes up the most time.

Children of primary school age are, first of all, characterized by extreme mobility. They need frequent changes of movements; maintaining a statistical position for a long time is extremely tiring for them. At the same time, children’s movements are not yet organized, poorly coordinated, their reserve of motor skills is not large, they need to be replenished and improved. Relative weakness of muscles and flexibility of bones due to a large layer of cartilage tissue can lead to poor posture and curvature of the spine. The child’s motor system is not yet strong enough, which necessitates very careful attention to the dosage of physical exercise.

The attention of children of this age is extremely unstable, they are easily distracted, and it is difficult for them to concentrate on one task for a long time. They perceive concrete material more easily; a living image is much closer to them than an abstract concept.

The game represents a natural activity for children of this age. Their emotions are vivid and expressed, openly and directly. At this age, children are especially cheerful and trusting.

Taking into account all these characteristics of children, classes with schoolchildren of this age should be structured in a unique way.

One of the goals: to promote children's physical development and improve basic motor skills. It is at this age that it is important to develop in children a stable habit of standing straight and orderly, moving correctly and freely in dancing.

An equally important task is to develop children’s overall organization, develop social behavior skills, and facilitate the organization of a friendly children’s team.

Taking these educational tasks into account, the most suitable content for choreography classes for children of primary school age is the study of children's, light folk, mass and ballroom dances, a little educational training, rhythmic exercises and gymnastics. It is necessary to alternate types of work, remembering the need of this age for frequent changes of movement and the difficulty of statistical provisions for them.

The duration of the lesson is no more than 60 minutes and is structured according to the following scheme.

Classes begin with the organized entry of children into the hall, arranged according to height, marching to the music. The cheerful and clear sounds of the march, a certain pattern of general movement, create a cheerful mood in children and a serious attitude towards the upcoming lesson.

Having walked around the hall, the children stop in lines to the leader and bow to the music, greeting the leader.

After bowing, the children form a circle and perform simple order and rhythmic exercises, which teach them to listen carefully to the music and move rhythmically. Children learn to start and finish movements on time, to move according to the content, character, speed, and rhythmic structure of the music. Rhythmic exercises are based on natural movements and allow you to practice basic motor skills - walking, running, jumping.

This entire introductory part takes 8-10 minutes. Having finished the rhythmic exercises, the children line up and move on to preparatory dance exercises.

Preparatory dance exercises according to the classical dance system, necessary for the correct execution of dance movements, are included in each lesson. They are given in a limited number and small dosage and are performed in the middle, without the machine. These exercises are difficult for primary school children due to the requirement to maintain precise form of movement, as well as the slow pace at which they are performed. Therefore, you should do them for no more than 10 minutes.

Preparatory dance exercises give the child the knowledge necessary for learning dance: the child must know from what starting position the dance begins, how to correctly extend the leg when performing dance movements, how to hold the back when extending the leg, when squatting, how to hold the hand - opening it to the side or raised above your head. Therefore, children become familiar with the positions of the legs (1st, 2nd, 3rd), with the positions of the arms; learn to move the leg to the side, forward, and later also backward; do half squats, getting used to bending your legs at the knee and stretching them; learn to jump in place, maintaining correct posture and landing softly.

When performing these exercises, children keep their hands on their belts, since the position of the 1st or 2nd positions is difficult for them and is usually performed incorrectly.

Children do preparatory dance exercises as shown by the leader, and they are repeatedly reminded of the need to correctly and accurately perform the movement form.

When performing jumps, you should not do the whole group at the same time. By performing each line in turn, it is easier to keep track of each child, and the rest of the children standing in other lines will rest at this time.

Having completed the preparatory exercises, you can move on to performing dance elements, combinations, etudes. This part of the lesson takes 15-20 minutes.

Dance elements can be performed in a circle (alternating move, polka movement, etc.) or in lines, forward, backward, diagonally.

The last part of the lesson, which takes up all the remaining time, is devoted to games, gymnastics, and dancing. The games are built with the introduction of dance movements. Each game is based on some kind of educational task - musical, gymnastic or organizing. The game form of these tasks satisfies the child’s need for free, independent choice of movements; the collective form of games allows him to get to know his friends better and teaches him to obey the general rules of the game. Carefully selected music helps children find the right character and rhythm of movements.

The lesson should end with a bow and an orderly exit from the hall.

Work with boys of this age is carried out according to a similar plan. The classes do not differ significantly from working with girls. The very manner of movement is somewhat different: in boys, the nature of the movement is more energetic and courageous. When selecting topics for dance sketches and performances, as well as rhythmic games, one should remember that the interests and hobbies of boys are different from those of girls. It’s good to introduce moments of competition: who will do it more deftly, who will jump higher, etc. Boys like to demonstrate their strength; they practice with great enthusiasm, achieving good results.

Children of primary school age are distinguished by great plasticity and pliability. They easily accept what is shown to them. But movements that are difficult for children and performed with great effort are learned mechanically and are never natural, free, or expressive. Their assimilation is superficial and fragile, and children receive harm, rather than benefit, from the activities. Professor E. Arkin, studying preschool age, noted: “There is nothing easier than training a child, and this is the great temptation and the greatest danger for the normal development of a child’s individuality.”

When choosing a dance repertoire, you should also take into account the interests and inclinations of children of a given age. The dance shouldn't look fake.

The dance language for a children's piece undoubtedly depends on the capabilities and abilities of the students. Therefore, in terms of the number of movements and their technical difficulty, they are limited. However, this does not exclude the need to create a high-quality wealth of movements that combine the natural impulse of movements with a conventional dance language.

When choreographing a dance, you don’t need to follow the line of least resistance and choose movements that are simply accessible to children. It is necessary to take into account the style, the nature of the composition, what combinations may include certain elements of classical dance, what can be used from folk, modern dances, whether the most accessible movements of a dance step, running, polka steps, waltz steps will justify themselves in the created image, on the chassis, on the balance and others, combined with a visual and expressive plastic combination of various lines and turns of the body. The specificity of the dance language is that, like a leitmotif, it can be repeated, varied and modified. Therefore, it is necessary to create not just movements, but their dynamic picture (by analogy with the picture of sounds in music). In this regard, the task of the choreographer is to constantly enrich knowledge in the field of his art and music, on the one hand, and the developmental psychology of students, on the other.

When creating a play situation, when working with children of primary school age, at rehearsals, and when performing dances, we cannot avoid the guarantee of children's co-creativity. In the conditions of the game they get acquainted with the language of stage dance. The very convention of the dance language is perceived by children as a game with rules. Children are given the opportunity to name the qualities of the dance image themselves in terms of imagery, expressiveness and form. The content of the image, combined with its conventional form, evokes a complex sense of reality (a chain of reflexes) and gradually becomes as natural as the combination of words and sounds in a song. From here, further steps are taken to deepen and expand children’s understanding of the dance image and the components that make it up. Acting and musical expressiveness, the logic of dance movement - its organic nature, combined with the aesthetic rules of movements of classical, folk and ballroom dance.

Based on the polysemy of the dance image, children develop the diversity of their spiritual qualities, since the sphere of human experiences reflected in art, as well as their awareness, is as reliable as the logical information revealed by science. Through the art of choreography, through emotional excitement, children discover the beauty of life. For them, reality takes on a new form in the art of dance in the form of sensory information built on the sensation of movement, and is intended to develop the creative potential of the individual.

Children of middle school age usually make up the main core of choreographic groups.

The desire of these children to study is explained by their age characteristics. They are distinguished by great activity and receptivity, they are characterized by the desire to act and carry out some tasks. They are attracted to participate in lively and interesting creative work in common with their peers.

Classes in the choreographic group are very popular among them. During the classes, their need for movement and lively activity is satisfied, and the cheerfulness characteristic of children of this age is manifested.

Physically, they are much more developed and stronger than children of primary school age, and it is easier for them to learn a variety of dance movements. They study with passion and persistence. In classes, children find satisfaction of their individual interests, since the entire process of educational and production work allows them to creatively participate in the creation of dance.

With children of this age, facilitating the unification of children into a friendly team is of particular importance.

The collective structure of classes, the joint performance of dances in front of an audience, the common interest of children in the successful completion and performance of dance performances help unite children into a friendly team, teach children to take responsibility for a common cause, and increase the demands of each team member on himself and on the work as a whole.

Dance classes for middle school-aged children are conducted in quite an in-depth manner. They can be more demanding in terms of precision in performing movements and achieve a conscious attitude of children towards all the educational material they are going through. The attention of children of this age is quite stable, their receptivity is more organized than that of younger schoolchildren, they are capable of working more persistently on each task. The children's ardent desire to learn to dance and their determination to achieve their goals create an atmosphere of business and seriousness in the classes.

The content of classes with children of secondary school age includes all the same sections that are included in the program of classes with children of primary school age. The degree of complexity of the educational material and the dosage of physical and mental stress change significantly. In addition, certain sections receive a different meaning than when working with children of the younger group.

The scope of work on classical training exercises is significantly expanding. Children study them both at the bench and in the middle. The exercises are given in a more complex form, because at this age children are capable of coordinating simultaneous movements of the arms, legs, head, and body. They perform the movements shown to them accurately and clearly.

In groups of this age, training exercises of folk dance are introduced for the first time, performed in the same way at the barre and in the middle. When learning elements of folk dance, it is necessary to have a conversation about the style and nature of the movements of folk dance, connecting them with the peculiarities of life, everyday life, and the history of a given nationality. Of course, the information provided to children must be consistent with their overall development and the knowledge that students in this class have. Children also need to be introduced to the music and songs of the people whose dance they are studying, as well as to national costumes and ornaments.

Work on the development of children's creative abilities is of great importance. Children of this age are impressionable and observant, they are very active in creating a dance image, and in their work they display great creative ingenuity, imagination, and humor.

If in classes with children of primary school age children's creative abilities developed in the process of games of a wide variety of contents, in classes with children of secondary school age this work is carried out in the form of composing dance sketches that help children understand the content of the dance, find the characteristic features of the dance image, and think through all the details. action unfolding in dance.

Children are very interested in their creative activities. In independent work, they show the courage, liveliness and spontaneity inherent in children of this age. They willingly compose a number of options on the topic given for the sketch, listen carefully to the comments and instructions of the leader, and look through and discuss the sketches of their comrades with great interest.

It is quite natural to combine work on etudes with musical and rhythmic tasks. With a thoughtful and competent selection of musical accompaniment for etudes, it is quite possible to use this material to introduce children to all musical concepts, terminology, and means of musical expression, i.e. do the work that is one of the tasks of the rhythmic exercises section. At the same time, music helps children develop the content of the etude, distribute their actions and movements in accordance with the content and structure of the musical passage, and give expressiveness to the dance. In the process of this work, children get used to moving musically and rhythmically, which is very important in dance training.

Conducting a study in a group of this age, a number of plays from the collection “Children's Pieces for Piano” by V. Kosenko were taken as the basis for the etudes: “Rain”, “After the Butterfly”, “We Bought a Teddy Bear”. Listening and analyzing these plays, composing dance etudes by children, viewing and discussing them contributed to the musical development of children; on the other hand, this course of work helped the children to compose meaningful and expressive dance scenes.

When working on the expressiveness of dance performance, an individual approach to each child is of great importance, helping to develop the child’s natural abilities.

At the age of 9-10 years, the number of boys in a choreographic group increases significantly, since at an earlier age they rarely show a desire to dance.

Boys, like girls, love dance; in it they strive to find an outlet for their energy and activity. They are attracted by beauty, strength, dexterity, and a variety of dance movements. They study willingly and diligently, achieving excellent results in many cases. But at first, dancing is not easy for boys: at this age they are often baggy and clumsy, and they are slower than girls in mastering dance movements. This hurts their pride and may cause them to stop studying.

Boys do not immediately begin to understand the meaning of training exercises. They immediately want to dance and act, and the task of the teacher-choreographer is to keep them in the team, interest them, cheer them up and encourage them in a timely manner. It takes a lot of initiative and creativity to get boys involved in activities. In the simplest tasks, put a meaning that is close to boys, thereby not only getting them interested, but also getting to know them better, identifying the abilities and inclinations of each of them.

Thus, the structure of the first lessons with boys should be somewhat different from the first lessons with girls. From the very first lessons, girls are fascinated by the learning process itself. They are not tired of the monotony of exercises and the requirement for precise execution of movements. They perform classical dance training exercises with great satisfaction, feeling the beauty of correct and precise movement. They consciously approach the exercises and understand that this gradually leads them to study and perform dances.

Boys, when entering a choreographic group, want to immediately start with dancing, believing that dancing is not at all difficult. Only after some time do they begin to understand that to perform dances well requires serious and systematic preparation.

Getting boys interested in movements that require strength, agility, and endurance should be approached with caution. It is unacceptable to overload with difficult, tiring movements. Complex elements (squats, sliders, etc.) introduced into classes without prior systematic preparation, in excessive quantities and in isolation from the dance, can be harmful to children, causing excessive physical activity, and on the other hand, having a bad effect on the development of artistic taste children.

Infatuation with naked technique harms children, both boys and girls, leads to mechanical performance of dance and misdirects children in the very essence of the art of dance. Even at this age, it should be clear to children that dance always contains a certain content, since it is a reflection of thoughts, feelings, and moods.

A well-known difficulty in teaching children of this age is pairing boys with girls. Boys eagerly learn and perform dances that are only for boys. When dancing with girls, boys at the beginning of training turn out to be weaker, which is unpleasant for them. In addition, at this age, boys often avoid girls, do not want to pair up with them, take their hands, etc. Here it is necessary to carry out a lot of educational work in order to create simple and friendly relations between them. This is achieved gradually, using various methodological techniques, leading after some time to the desired results. Showing the dance achievements of boys to girls and girls to boys, uniting them in a common dance performance, talking about joint work, friendship, the need for common efforts to achieve good results - all this will gradually lead to the establishment of the right relationships. A full-fledged children's creative team is being created. Participation in dancing between girls and boys allows them to prepare an interesting, colorful dance repertoire. At the same time, bringing children together is educationally beneficial.

The dance repertoire for children of this age is quite diverse. It includes folk dances that require performers to have a certain level of dance preparedness: Kazakh, Tatar, Uzbek dances. Dances with a plot are of great interest to them.

When choosing a repertoire, you need to pay attention to ensure that the content of the production is not excessively childish, and also does not exceed their dance capabilities. It is necessary to teach children to perform dances correctly, beautifully, expressively, in content and form that meet the capabilities, needs and interests of children of this age.

The duration of classes for children of this age is two academic hours. Classes are held twice a week.

The lesson plan given below represents the usual, normal layout of various types of educational material. Depending on the circumstances (conducting a conversation, preparing for a concert, etc.), this scheme can be changed; however, it is important that changes in the usual course of classes occur as rarely as possible, since a harmonious and definite course of classes has the most positive effect on the general order, on the organization and discipline of the children's team, it creates a calm and business-like mood among students.

The lesson for middle school children begins with formation, march, formation to bow and bow to the leader. Then serial and rhythmic exercises are carried out. This introductory part of the lesson takes 8-10 minutes.

The next part of the lesson is exercises for developing dance technique. Exercise at the barre, then the children move in an organized manner to the middle of the hall and perform several exercises in the middle of the hall, followed by jumping and stretching. The greatest effect in the classes was achieved when conducting one lesson at the machine, the next one in the middle. Training exercises take 30-40 minutes. They are conducted more intensively than in the younger group, the pace of exercises is accelerated, and more stringent requirements are imposed on the accuracy of movements.

In classes with girls, more space should be given to classical dance exercises. Exercises for preparing folk dance in groups of girls are best done in the middle, directly connecting with the study of dance elements and combinations of the folk dance planned for study. Work on learning dance elements takes 12-15 minutes.

In classes with boys, preparatory folk dance exercises should be the basis of training. They are performed both at the barre and in the middle, and in a manner more energetic and courageous than in a group of girls. The study of dance elements and combinations also needs to be associated with the preparation of a specific folk dance.

The rest of the lesson is devoted to sketch work or learning a dance performance. It is better if sketches are done specifically on the theme of the dance performance, so that children can master the content more deeply and more specifically understand the images of the dance they are learning.

It’s good, when learning a dance with a group of boys, to introduce various folk games that exist in the nationality whose dance you are learning. So, for example, when staging a Kazakh dance, tell the children the content of the games “Asyk”, “Kazaksha Kures”. The boys take great pleasure in making sketches on the themes of these games. Episodes successfully developed in the sketches can be included in the final version of the Kazakh dance.

It should be noted that when staging folk dances that have their own special style and manner of performance, such as Georgian and Moldavian, the time of preparation and study increases significantly, since it is not always possible to immediately convey the character and technical execution of movements characteristic of a given people.

Adolescent children, for the most part, are not new to the team. They are a friendly, close-knit group with well-known dance training. There are every opportunity to carry out serious educational work with these children, while at the same time opening up the opportunity for children to receive great pleasure and satisfaction from choreography classes.

Classes are structured in the same way as with children of middle school age, but, due to the characteristics of the mental and physical development of adolescents, there are changes.

Boys and girls at this age develop unevenly: girls begin to overtake in development. Sexual formation begins earlier. During this period, adolescents are particularly sensitive and hyperexcitable, which should be taken into account carefully.

The transition to adolescence leads to the loss of childlike spontaneity that distinguishes younger schoolchildren. Children begin to show emphasized independence, a keen interest in everything around them, and their activity acquires a certain focus. However, this activity still has childish characteristics: having set himself some task, the teenager sometimes quickly changes it, getting carried away by some other activity.

In pursuit of personal achievement, teenagers can sometimes take on overwhelming tasks. Thus, when studying in a choreographic group, teenagers are no longer satisfied with simple and accessible dance movements.

Boys' desire to perform movements that are excessively difficult and beyond their strength, which they become familiar with from the performances of professional dancers, leads to an overestimation of their strength. Conversations and instructions will help you understand the futility of such mechanical training of movements that are not associated with any content and are tempting only because of their technical difficulty.

Girls of this age tend to get carried away with classical dance movements and often overestimate their capabilities. They are attracted to stage activities and have a desire to stand out. To successfully combat these unhealthy attitudes, it is necessary to show a lot of tact and great patience.

Being highly sensitive, teenagers are sensitive to criticism. You should carefully and very specifically point out the shortcomings (imperfect movements, misunderstanding of the nature of the dance, arrogance in relationships with other children, etc.)

At this age, relationships between children begin to take on a more conscious and meaningful character. The ability to control oneself, restrain oneself, come to each other’s aid, be able to convince the other if he is wrong, etc. is demonstrated.

In adolescents, friendships are more conscientious: friendships are established with less gullibility than among younger ones, but are distinguished by stability and consistency, and the prospect of long-term joint activities is manifested in it.

Classes with teenagers should be conducted on more complex material, at a much faster pace. Students are able to learn dance movements more quickly, and this allows them to be introduced to more complex combinations of dance movements.

For students of this age, folk dances are of great interest, requiring special brightness and clarity of execution, those dances in which the folk character is clearly reflected and the images are especially expressive.

Kazakh folk dance occupies a large place in the repertoire of students of this age. Distinguished by the variety of content, the strength and brightness of the images, the richness of drawings and movements, it introduces children to folk art and strengthens their love for their native art.

As teenagers acquire dance skills and knowledge, they discover an ever-increasing interest in the art of dance. Their ability to make critical assessments grows, they show independence in expressing their attitude to the dance repertoire offered to them. Individual small dances no longer satisfy children; they find themselves drawn to dances with action, which would allow them to show the characters and relationships of the characters in more detail.

The forms of work that are of greatest interest in classes with children of this age are dances with a plot, choreographic sketches, a dance performance or a musical.

A choreographic performance is a complex and difficult form of work that requires a lot of preparation. However, the creation of an extensive dance performance contributes to the development of children’s creative abilities, their interest increases, and they show a more conscious and independent attitude towards dance performance.

First of all, when working on a choreographic performance, it is very important that the content of the performance is close to children, and its volume and form would allow the work to be completed without overtiring the children.

When working on “large forms” of children's dance performances, special preliminary preparation of children is required. Dances with a plot and dance sketches can only be carried out if children are able to act expressively and truthfully. This skill is acquired in the process of working on sketches. By composing their own versions of individual episodes of action, children think more deeply about the content of the episode, it takes on a more real and concrete form for them. In this work, children discover observation, taste and creativity.

Productions of professional ballets by teenage children should be considered erroneous and incorrect. This disorients children, teaches them to be undemanding about mediocre dance performances, they develop a false idea of ​​their dancing achievements, and they begin to be attracted to the ballet stage because they feel like artists. It is impossible to develop children's artistic taste through mediocre performance of "ballets", not to mention the harmful belief in their own "artistry" for children.

In addition, high-quality performance of classical ballet in working conditions with children is impossible not only because of the technical difficulty of the dances, but also because of the special style of performance that is inaccessible and alien to them.

The structure of a lesson for teenagers is no different from the structure of a lesson for middle school-aged children. Only the selection of exercises, dance combinations, and dance performances changes (becomes more complicated).

The number of participants in the team of high school age is small. Usually, due to the heavy workload of the school process, regular attendance at a choreographic group is too much of a burden for them. As a result, they have to be combined with children of secondary school age, which presents certain difficulties.

Older schoolchildren need a special selection of repertoire, since they can learn dances that, in their content and form, correspond to their age development. For them, it is necessary to include additional repertoire, which significantly complicates the work in the group.

For this age, productions that carry both technical and semantic loads are interesting. They are fascinated by youth themes, where they express joy from the consciousness of their youth, grace, and dexterity. The realities of our time encourage them to study and master new directions in choreography, such as modern, hip-hop.

Learning additional dance routines with senior members of the group requires special lesson planning.

In terms of educational and training work, the same tasks are given to the entire group. However, it is better to give older members of the group separate training exercises that have a more complex form.

One of the convenient techniques for teaching material of varying difficulty in a lesson is to perform exercises in the middle along the lines, when each line or some lines receive different tasks. For example, less prepared students standing in the first and second rows perform jumps with a change of legs (changement de pied) from the 5th position to the 5th position, and older students occupying places in the third and fourth rows do this movement in combination with various classical dance movements, for example, glissade, assemble and two jumps with alternating legs.

Or some lines perform a simple “rope” and with a step, others - double and triple “rope”, etc.

When working at a support for high school students, you can also complicate the material by including half-toe lifting in the work.

It is necessary to comply with the capabilities of the child performers, taking into account both their age and the degree of choreographic training. That is, firstly, the child’s opportunity to understand the idea of ​​the work, to convey and reflect the thoughts and feelings expressed in the dance. Secondly, it is necessary to take into account the ability to technically cope with the performance of a particular dance.

Any production, as a rule, is made for a given group, with certain performers in mind. Therefore, not every production can be transferred to another team without changes. Our research has shown that changes have to be made not only in cases where the borrowed dances, both in content and form, are too difficult for a given group of children, but also when these dances are too easy for them.

Briefly formulating the requirements for the repertoire of children's choreographic groups, we have the right to say that productions must satisfy three main requirements - ideological, artistic and accessible. These three qualities are interconnected and mutually conditioned. If at least one of them is missing, the production will no longer be complete.

The criterion for the ideological nature of a work should be the value of its main idea, its significance for modern social society, its educational significance for children.

The criterion for the artistry of a work should be, perhaps, a more accurate correspondence between the idea and the form, with the indispensable condition that this idea will be valuable, the feelings awakened by this work are highly moral, and the form is beautiful and at the same time accessible to children.

Good quality of form presupposes that the thoughts and feelings expressed in the work are embodied in truthful, living images; the actions performed by the actors are appropriate; events develop in a logical sequence; the composition is distinguished by rigor and harmony, i.e. thoughtfulness, conciseness, the absence of everything superfluous, and the language of the work (i.e., the movements included in the dance) is characterized by accuracy, freshness, brightness, expressiveness, and compliance with the ideological concept.

The criterion for the accessibility of a work should be the correspondence between the ideological and artistic requirements and the strengths of the child performers. The idea should be lofty, but in each specific case one must also take into account whether it is understandable to children of a given age, whether children experience the feelings that they need to express in the production.

The solution to all these issues depends in each individual case on specific conditions - the composition of the children's group, its training in the field of dance art, etc.

It is also important to remember that the concept of the production reaches the audience only through the performers. Therefore, the naturalness and expressiveness of the dance will serve as an indicator of the artistry of the performance. This is achieved, on the one hand, thanks to a correct understanding of the main idea of ​​the production, and on the other, thanks to confident possession of the necessary technical means.

It is necessary to indicate a number of mistakes that are not appropriate in teaching practice when working with children of different ages.

This is a mechanical transfer of productions for adults into a children's environment. Take, for example, the duets from Swan Lake. No matter how highly poetic and beautiful in form these duets may be, they are unacceptable for children’s performance because they represent dialogues between lovers. Children of primary and secondary school age are not yet familiar with the feelings and thoughts that permeate these duets.

Staging work on such dances is also inappropriate from an educational point of view. It also cannot develop the child's creative abilities. Without understanding the content of the dance, without understanding the nature of the image, children get used to copying the teacher’s movements without comprehending them, i.e. They get used to treating dance formally.

Another mistake that can be made in production work is dividing children into groups not based on their age, but on the basis of their level of dancing ability. In this case, it is impossible to ensure the same understanding of the production concept by the children of the entire group.

Proper distribution of children into groups makes it easier to choose topics. The theme of a children's choreographic group should be planned taking into account the age characteristics of children.

Children's mastery of dance performances and their performance in front of an audience represents, as it were, the sum of what they have completed in a choreographic group during the school year.

The entire process of dance production provides great opportunities for the education of students and for their artistic growth.

Dance performance and methods of working on performance should be determined primarily by pedagogical tasks - to cultivate a child’s conscious attitude towards the material being studied, to develop the child’s creative abilities, to provide strong and sufficient skills in the field of dance art, and most importantly to educate a personality that will meet all standards and standards. standards of a modern democratic society.

The methodology for working on a production includes preliminary preparation. The preparatory work contains several stages:

1. Selecting a topic taking into account its educational significance for children.

When determining a topic, it is important to carry out a lot of work to collect relevant material, as well as consult with dance workers.

2. Drawing up a script that is understandable, close to children and accessible for them to execute.

3. Selection of a piece of music that corresponds to the content of the dance production, as well as when developing individual episodes of the script, which makes it possible to link action and movement with music.

Music helps to reveal the content and images of the dance. Therefore, a necessary requirement is the artistry of the music and its accessibility for children of this age.

Genuine folk melodies should be used as musical accompaniment for national dances. And give preference to those treatments in which the folk character is carefully preserved.

To create a large choreographic production, you should, if possible, use the music of one composer, or, as a last resort, take the music of composers similar in style.

4. Preliminary selection of expressive means (movements that will be included in the production) and the form of the production (approximate outline of the drawing) constitute the next stage of the work. However, in practical classes with children, sometimes it is necessary to replace some movements with others or change the dance pattern, because it is almost impossible to establish the exact form of the dance in preliminary work - it is finally established only in the process of working with a given group.

5. Outline a short, meaningful, understandable and interesting conversation about the content of the intended dance performance, the nature of the images reflected in it, the relationship of the characters, etc. The conversation preceding the production should be lively and entertaining so that the children have a vivid picture of the action unfolding in the production.

6. Think over the design of the choreographic production. The stage costume is of great importance in this regard, as it helps to clearly convey the dance concept to the viewer. A costume develops a child’s artistic taste, so you need to pay close attention to its suitability to the image, its colors, grace, lightness, etc. A folk dance costume must preserve the basic features of a folk costume and at the same time be age appropriate.

Accessories and objects that children will use while performing the dance must be well made and prepared before starting work on the production.

Proper use of scenery will also help children to accurately navigate the stage.

Having completed the preparatory part of the work, you should begin practical exercises with children.

This work should begin with a conversation about the production, then listen to the music and analyze it, then move on to a practical demonstration of individual movements and dance combinations included in the dance, indicating the nature of their performance.

Training sessions, according to the program of the choreographic group, must continue and be carried out in parallel with the production work. The stronger the dance skills acquired in classes, the easier it will be for children to use them in the future to reveal the content of a particular dance.

The most important part of the work is finishing the dance. Achieving expressive, precise and meaningful dance performance requires painstaking and persistent work.

Let us indicate some techniques that help achieve high-quality dance performance:

repetition of individual parts of the dance and the entire production; additional explanations about the need for truthful reproduction of the dance image;

the performance of the same role by several children with a critical assessment of the image created by each of them;

performing at dance classes in costumes made for this repertoire;

involving other teachers in watching the production with a subsequent exchange of opinions, making it possible to draw conclusions useful for the work.

When working with children of primary school age, the first dance performances should be educational in nature and be one of the ways to consolidate skills and knowledge in a form that is interesting for children. During the year, one or two productions should be prepared for showing.

For children of primary school age who study in a choreographic group, one of the first difficulties is correct orientation in space.

Just as when learning to draw, children are taught how to hold a pencil and paper correctly, how to draw lines correctly, how to make an ornament, so in dance classes you need to explain to children and teach them how to hold themselves correctly, move correctly, navigate in space, move along a certain area in a certain drawing ( circle, straight lines) remember the change in pattern, move from one movement to another. These problems are solved in the first dance performances of children of primary school age.

As an example of such a training performance, you can take the dance “Cheerful Rain”.

The dance consists of very simple movements that children learn in class. A fairly varied dance pattern is very useful for children - it requires careful attention to changes.

As a musical accompaniment for this composition, it is good to take D. Shostakovich's "Polka-Hurdy Organ", which is distinguished by its lightness, cheerfulness, fun and is quite understandable for children of this age.

There is no specific plot in this production. The dance elements include only two movements: gallop and jumps. But the various formations of dancers from a straight line to a semicircle, to pairs, etc., used in full accordance with the character and structure of the musical accompaniment, give children the first impression of a completed dance.

In the process of learning the performance, children need to be repeatedly pointed out that in dance, while maintaining precision of movements, it is necessary to remember their sequence and the transition from one movement to another. Children are asked to strictly adhere to the dance pattern; they must understand that the slightest deviation from the drawing distorts the dance.

A dance drawing is like a drawing on paper. This analogy is understandable and accessible to children.

It is explained to the children that the individual movements they learned in class have so far been performed by each individual, but now, in a general dance, these movements must be coordinated with the movements of other dance participants.

Before learning the dance, children are introduced to music. They are told which composer wrote the music and what it is called. It is good to draw children's attention to the general character of this music, to the different sounds of its parts, and to the fact that in accordance with changes in the character of the music, the movements in the dance should change. This helps children understand that the structure of the dance should be organically connected with the music.

Considering the instability of the attention of children of this age, it is better to learn the dance in small parts, achieving precision in the execution of the movement, attracting the children’s attention to the musical accompaniment. Once the children have mastered the first parts of the dance, they can move on to the subsequent ones, constantly returning to repeating what they learned earlier.

Performances such as the dance “Merry Rain”, which solve educational problems, give positive results in the development of the child and facilitate further activities with children.

In introducing children of primary school age to the repertoire of folk dances, we came to the conclusion that first of all they need to be introduced to the dance of their nationality, it is close and familiar to them.

We took Kazakh dance for work. The question arose of what Kazakh dance should be like for children of this age, when the supply of dance movements is still very limited, when they do not yet know how to work patiently and persistently, when their attention is unstable. Our observations have shown that the introduction of playful moments enlivens classes, evokes the creative initiative of children, and promotes the expressiveness of their movements. At this age, the organizing influence of rhythmic games also turned out to be useful, which teach children to listen to music, easily and quickly navigate in a group, and switch from general movement to movement according to individual tasks.

To consolidate the movements of the Kazakh dance, you can play the game “Temirbay”, “Aigolek”.

When starting production work in a group of children of middle school age, it should be remembered that in most cases children of this age already have basic dance skills. The initial skills they acquire are the foundation for further work.

When drawing up a curriculum and selecting a repertoire of dances to learn with children of this age, it is also necessary to take into account the children’s capabilities and their physical development.

In order not to distort the true character of the dance, not to reduce the artistry of the performance, when choosing, it is necessary to take into account: the content of the dance, the availability of dance movements, feasible physical activity (tempo of the chosen dance, its duration, etc.)

Children of this age receive vivid and lasting impressions from the life around them: they actively participate in the social life of the school, spend the summer in school and health camps, attend theaters, concerts, etc.

Taking into account the interests of this age, it is better to create dance performances, the content of which would be close to children, would reflect moments from their lives and would contribute to the development of children's observation and creative abilities.

Such productions in this group of our team were: “School Waltz”, “To the Old Ones”, “At the Dance Lesson”.

Our task also included introducing children to the dance folklore of other nations and selecting dances that were appropriate in content and form for schoolchildren of a given age.

We chose the “Tatar” dance, which in its content and dance elements was quite consistent with the age and dance training of both girls and boys. Of course, movement classes were conducted with boys in a different way than with girls. In performing the movements, we sought from them strength, masculinity, and dexterity. This was achieved by introducing individual dance elements into barre exercises; dance combinations were practiced along lines and with individual participants.

At the beginning of work on the production, the boys were embarrassed, fearing that they would not be able to match their movements with the movements of the girls. In the process of staging the dance, the boys got used to joint activities with girls, and in the future the children developed simple friendly relationships.

Production work in senior groups is based on the repertoire of folk, pop, and modern dances (especially loved by high school students).

When choosing a folk dance, we carefully approached its content and the construction of figures. We took into account that children of this age are only teenagers and the content of folk dances is not always accessible to them. The dance depiction of the relationships and feelings of adult youth in their performance seems far-fetched and unnatural.

Contemporary dances are of great interest in the production work of this group, where participants take an active part in their creation.

We took a modern hip-hop dance. The high school students enthusiastically composed and demonstrated the movements and combinations they had invented. Each of the participants contributed something of their own to the creation of the dance.

The next production was based on the new direction of modern modern dance. The choreographic production “At a Jazz-Modern Lesson” was preceded by a master class conducted by V.Yu. Nikitin, associate professor, candidate of art history, teacher and choreographer of modern dance at GITIS. during a trip to an international competition in Bulgaria (Varna).

During the master class, the children mastered the basics of a new dance style: parallel positions, coordinated movements, free form of expression of plasticity.

The plot was based on the lesson process. A strict teacher conducts a lesson, while he leaves the class, the children create chaos: one takes on the role of the teacher, imitating his image, others violate discipline, and then... the teacher enters... the lesson continues, now in the joint creative activity of the teacher and children.

During the entire production process, we observed great interest from the participants. Those children who attended the master class explained with great enthusiasm and a sense of responsibility the dance material that formed the basis of the dance performance. It was not difficult for the children to create dance images, since they were close to them. And the role of teacher was nominated for a participant who took a very serious approach to practicing each movement while learning. The children themselves saw in her the image of a teacher and without a doubt offered their choice.

The staging work done in groups of primary, middle and high school age helped to identify certain methods and means that make it possible to achieve good results both in terms of the educational impact on children and in terms of the artistic quality of the productions being learned.