Consultation for parents “Constructive and model activities of preschool children”
Children's design
Currently, experts in the field of pedagogy and psychology pay special attention to children's design
. It is no coincidence that in modern preschool education programs this activity is considered one of the leading ones.
Designing from building materials and construction sets fully meets the interests of children, their abilities and capabilities, since it is an exclusively children's activity
Thanks to design, the skills and abilities, mental and aesthetic development of the child are especially quickly improved. Children with well-developed construction skills develop speech faster, since fine motor skills of the hands are connected to speech centers. Dexterous, precise hand movements make it possible to quickly and better master writing techniques.
The child is a born designer, inventor and researcher. These inclinations inherent in nature are realized and improved in design, because the child has an unlimited opportunity to invent and create his own buildings and designs, showing curiosity, intelligence, ingenuity and creativity
The child learns through experience the structural properties of parts, the possibilities of their fastening, combining, and design. At the same time, he creates as a designer, learning the laws of harmony and beauty
Children who are interested in design are distinguished by a rich fantasy, imagination, an active desire for creative activity, a desire to experiment and invent; They have developed spatial, logical, mathematical, associative thinking, memory, and this is the basis of intellectual development and an indicator of the child’s readiness for school.
Design as a type of children's creativity contributes to the active formation of technical thinking, thanks to it the child learns the basics of graphic literacy, learns to use drawings, patterns, sketches.
Children get acquainted with the properties of various materials: building elements, paper, cardboard, fabric, natural, waste materials.
Construction from play building materials is the most accessible and easiest type of construction for preschoolers
The parts of construction sets are regular geometric bodies (cubes, cylinders, bars, etc.) with mathematically precise dimensions of all their parameters. This allows children, with less difficulty than from other materials, to obtain the design of an object, conveying the proportionality of its parts and their symmetrical arrangement. There are many sets for middle-aged children: tabletop, for playing on the floor. As a rule, in building kits, individual elements are secured by overlapping each other, placing one against the other.
In addition to building sets for children 4-5 years old, we recommend Lego sets, which have more durable connection methods, as well as plastic “Techno” ones, whose fastenings are more complex - using screws and nuts
Construction from paper, cardboard, boxes, spools and other materials is a more complex type of construction in the middle group. And for the first time we will introduce children to it from the second half of the school year. It is not easy to construct a three-dimensional craft from a flat material; paper, cardboard are given in the form of squares, rectangles, circles, etc. Before making a toy, you need to prepare a pattern, lay out and glue parts and decorations on it, make the necessary cuts and only then fold and glue the toy. This whole process requires the ability to measure and use scissors. All this is much more difficult than constructing buildings by assembling them from separate ready-made forms, so children must have some skills when working with tools.
Using natural materials in their games, children become familiar with their properties and learn to fill their free time with interesting activities. Starting from the middle group, children can make toys from natural materials: branches, bark, leaves, chestnuts, pine cones, spruce, nut shells, straw, acorns, maple seeds, etc. The peculiarity of crafts made from this material is that its natural form is used. Quality and expressiveness are achieved by the ability to notice similarities in natural materials with objects of reality, and to enhance this similarity and expressiveness by additional processing using tools.
Consultation for parents “Design in a child’s life
Consultation for parents “Design in a child’s life”
One of the most natural activities for a child and his favorite activities is design, that is, the creation of something whole from individual elements. Construction allows the child to create his own unique world. Take a closer look at your playing child - his toys cannot “live” without houses, rooms, and pieces of furniture. Therefore, even if he does not have a construction set, the child creates a play space from what is at hand: furniture, sofa cushions, boxes, as well as various natural materials.
So what is construction - empty entertainment or useful, developing activity?
Constructive activity is undoubtedly important in the development of a child’s mental processes and mental abilities. During the construction process, the child easily acquires many knowledge, skills and abilities.
- Firstly, they develop spatial thinking and constructive abilities of the child.
In practice, the child not only learns such concepts as: right, left, above, below, but also begins to understand how to create this or that object.
- Design also contributes development of imaginative thinking
: after all, a child, when creating a structure, must be guided by some image of what will happen.
- Since design activity involves analyzing a building, describing the spatial arrangement of individual parts, planning one’s actions, and reporting on the actions taken, the child’s speech also develops and his vocabulary expands.
- Working with a construction set, a child develops fine motor skills, eye.
All this is extremely important for the further development of thinking.
- 5. In addition, this type of activity develops such qualities as perseverance, attentiveness, independence, organization (the ability to plan one’s activities and finish the job).
- And most importantly, construction provides great opportunities for imagination, imagination and allows the child to feel like a creator.
Games with construction sets are useful for all girls and boys, very young children and schoolchildren. The very first construction toys in a child’s life are simple blocks. They can be used at an early age. At first, 2-3 cubes are enough for the baby. Later the number of cubes can be increased to 6-8 pieces. The construction set of a 3-4 year old child must be supplemented with new parts (plates, bricks, prisms). When introducing constructive activities, start by familiarizing children with the material. Let them first freely manipulate the parts of the construction set, then start building something themselves. At this age, a child needs an example from an adult and a demonstration of design methods. Gradually, the child moves on to more independent construction of elementary buildings (paths, houses, fences, doll furniture).
By the age of 3–5 years, design takes on a new meaning for a child. At this age, it is closely associated with story-based games, therefore, in addition to the set of construction parts, select toys that match the size of the parts, cars, dolls, animals. This will allow the child to play with the buildings, and it will be much more interesting for him to build for someone.
Using game techniques, you can encourage the child to change familiar buildings according to the proposed conditions. For example, the doll has “grown up” and needs a bigger house; a lot of cars drive across the bridge; how to make it wider, the river has “flooded”, and the bridge needs to be redone, made longer, etc.
Of course, not everything will work out right away, so parents need to be very patient. The help of an adult at this age stage consists of an explanation, while simultaneously showing the method of action. Gradually the child becomes a more technically skilled builder and improves his abilities with each new idea.
A child of senior preschool age should purchase a wooden construction set, consisting of many parts of various shapes: cones, cylinders, bars, etc. This type of designer has still not lost its relevance. Thanks to its simplicity and varied possibilities, it is interesting to children throughout preschool age.
You should not give your child all the details at once; it is better to add them to the game gradually. When introducing your child to the details of the construction set, remember that some parts have both “adult and child” names, for example, cylinder and pipe, triangular prism and roof.
By older preschool age, design becomes an independent activity and is interesting to the child in itself, as an opportunity to create something. Children's buildings become more complex and interesting; they use a greater variety of building parts. Often they turn into plot compositions (cities, gas stations, fairy-tale kingdoms, a zoo). Contemplation of the finished result of one’s own efforts causes joy, aesthetic pleasure and a feeling of self-confidence in the child. Therefore, do not destroy buildings and do not force children to put everything back in its place every time after playing!!! A child can play with such buildings for several days.
By this age, children have already accumulated sufficient experience in understanding the surrounding reality; they are able to give a basic aesthetic assessment of various architectural structures. It is very important to maintain the child’s interest in design, enrich his experience, and attract children’s attention to the architectural and artistic merits of various structures (churches, theaters, bridges, towers, lighthouses).
After all that has been said above, all that remains is to wish the parents to introduce and, if possible, make friends with their child in the world of the designer. If your child doesn’t like playing with one construction set, offer him another, remember that there are a great variety of construction sets now.
