Play activity
The leading activity is the game. Play is a form of activity in which a child reproduces the basic meanings of human activity and acquires those forms of relationships that he subsequently realizes and acts. It does this by replacing some objects with others, and real actions with abbreviated ones.
D.B. Elkonin argued that a game is a symbolic-modeling type of activity in which the operational and technical side is minimal, operations are reduced, and objects are conditional. It is well known that all types of activities of preschoolers are essentially modeling, and the essence of modeling is to recreate an object in another, non-natural material.
The subject of the game is an adult as a bearer of certain social functions, who enters into certain relationships with other people and follows certain rules in his activities.
In the game, an internal action plan is formed. It goes like this. A child at play is focused on human relationships. To reflect them, he must internally reproduce not only the entire system of actions, but also the entire system of consequences of these actions, and this is only possible when forming an internal plan of action.
As shown by D.B. Elkonin, play is a historical education, and it arises when a child cannot participate in the social work system because he is still too small for this. But he wants to enter adulthood, so he does it playfully, making some contact with this life.
Role-playing game (game components, features, types of plots, stages of formation).
The outstanding Russian psychologist L. S. Vygotsky also noted that although the child creates imaginary situations during role-play, the feelings he experiences are very real. “Katya is a mother,” says the tiny girl, and, trying on a new role, she plunges into an imaginary world. And, regardless of whether her “daughter” was bought in an expensive toy store or sewn by a caring grandmother from Katya’s old tights, the little mother does not just repeat after her elders the manipulations that are supposed to be performed on babies, but experiences a real feeling of maternal love for her “ baby."
As the game and game design become more complex, children's feelings become more conscious and complex. And fa both reveals the child’s experiences and shapes his feelings. When a child imitates the astronauts, he will convey his admiration for them and his dream of becoming the same. And at the same time, new feelings arise: responsibility for the assigned task, joy and pride when it is successfully completed. I.M. Sechenov gave a physiological justification for the importance of play for the formation of feelings; he proved that play experiences leave a deep imprint on the child’s consciousness. Repeated repetition of the actions of adults and imitation of their moral qualities influence the formation of the same qualities in the child.
From the above, we can conclude that the plot-role-playing game is a school of feelings, in which the emotional
baby's world.
4. During the course of role-playing games, the preschooler’s intelligence develops
.
The development of a plan in a role-playing game is associated with the general mental development of the child, with the formation of his interests. Preschool children develop an interest in various life events, in different types of adult work; they have favorite book characters whom they strive to imitate. As a result, the ideas of games become more persistent, sometimes taking over their imagination for a long time. Some games (in “sailors”, “pilots”, “cosmonauts”) continue for weeks, gradually developing. The emergence of a long-term perspective of the game speaks of a new, higher stage in the development of gaming creativity. In this case, there is no repetition of the same theme day after day, as happens with children, but a gradual development, enrichment of the planned plot. Thanks to this, children's thinking and imagination become purposeful. The child's prolonged stay in one role forces him to delve deeper into the meaning of what he portrays.
5. Role-playing games develop imagination and creativity
.
Planned, coordinated actions in long-term role-playing games are combined with improvisation. Children outline a general plan, a sequence of actions, and during the game new ideas and new images arise. So, during a multi-day “sea voyage”, first one or the other participant in the game came up with new interesting episodes: divers sank to the bottom of the sea and found treasures, in hot countries they caught lions and took them to the zoo, in Antarctica they fed polar bears. The development of gaming creativity is also reflected in how various life experiences are combined in the content of the game. Already at the end of the third and fourth years of children’s lives, one can observe that they combine different events in play, and sometimes they can include episodes from fairy tales that were shown to them in the puppet theater. For children of this age, vivid visual impressions are important. Later (in the fourth and fifth years of life), children incorporate new experiences into their old favorite games. Reflecting life in a game, repeating life impressions in different combinations - all this helps the formation of general ideas and makes it easier for the child to understand the connection between different phenomena of life.
Types of games and their impact on a child’s mental development
While playing, the child not only has fun, but also develops. During this time, cognitive, personality and behavioral processes develop.
Children play most of the time. In preschool childhood, play goes through a significant development process.
Younger preschoolers play alone. The game is a manipulative and constructive object in nature. The game improves perception, memory, imagination, thinking and motor skills. Role-playing plays out the actions of adults as the child observes them. Parents and close friends serve as role models.
During the middle stage of preschool childhood, a child needs a peer to play with. Now the main focus of the game is simulating relationships between people. The themes of role-playing games are varied, certain rules are introduced, which the child strictly adheres to.
The focus of the games is varied: family games, where the heroes are mom, dad, grandma, grandpa and other relatives; educational games (nanny, kindergarten teacher); professional games (doctor, commander, pilot); fairy-tale games (goat, wolf, rabbit), etc. Both adults and children can participate in the game or substitute toys.
In older preschool age, thematic role-playing games are distinguished by a variety of themes, roles, game actions, and rules. Objects can be conditional, and the game becomes symbolic, that is, the cube can represent various objects: a car, people, animals - it all depends on the role assigned to it. At this age, some children begin to show organizational skills during play and become leaders in the game.
During the game, mental processes develop, especially volitional attention and memory. If the child is interested in the game, he involuntarily concentrates his attention on the objects contained in the game situation, on the content of the actions being played out and the plot. If he is distracted and does not perform his assigned role correctly, he may be excluded from the game. But since emotional encouragement and communication with peers are very important for a child, he must be attentive and remember certain game moments.
In the process of gaming activity, mental abilities develop. The child learns to act with a substitute object, that is, he gives it a new name and acts in accordance with this name. The appearance of a substitute object becomes the basis for the development of thinking. If at first the child learns to think about a real object with the help of substitute objects, then over time operations with substitute objects are reduced, and the child learns to act with real objects. There is a smooth transition to thinking in ideas.
In the process of role-playing games, imagination develops. From replacing some objects with others and the ability to take on different roles, the child moves on to identifying objects and acting with them in his imagination. For example, six-year-old Masha, looking at a photograph of a girl whose cheek is propped up with her finger and who is thoughtfully looking at a doll sitting next to a children's sewing machine, says: “The girl thinks as if her doll is sewing. From this statement we can judge the girl’s characteristic playing style.
Play also influences the development of a child's personality. In play, he/she reflects and models for himself the behavior and attitudes of significant adults, who at this moment act as models for his/her own behavior. Basic communication skills with peers are formed, feelings and volitional regulation of behavior develop.
Reflective thinking begins to develop. Reflection is a person’s ability to analyze his actions, actions and motives and correlate them with universal human values and with the actions, actions and motives of other people. The game promotes the development of reflection, since it makes it possible to control the execution of an action, which is part of the communication process. For example, when playing hospital, a child cries and suffers while playing the role of a patient. He gets satisfaction from this because he believes that he has fulfilled his role well.
Interest in drawing and design arises. At first, this interest manifests itself in the form of a game - the child, while drawing, acts out a certain action, for example, the animals he drew fight among themselves, catch up with each other, people go home, the wind blows apples hanging on trees, etc. Gradually the drawing is transferred to the result of the action, and a drawing appears.
In the process of gaming activity, educational activity arises. Elements of educational activities do not arise in the game; they are introduced by an adult. The child begins to learn through play, so he treats learning activities as role play and soon masters some learning activities.
Since the child pays special attention to role-playing play, let's look at it in a little more detail.
Role-playing game: role and significance in child development
Natalya Aleksandrovna Potapova
Role-playing game: role and significance in child development
“ Plot-role-playing game , role and significance in the development of a child ”
In the life of preschool child , play occupies one of the leading places. playing is the main activity, a form of organizing life, and a means of comprehensive development .
For most children, the kindergarten group is the first children's society where they acquire initial skills in collective relationships. We must teach the child to live by common interests, obey the demands of the majority, and show kindness to peers.
Role-playing game is a game that helps to cultivate these qualities in children. Role-playing game is closely connected not only with individual functions (perception, memory, thinking, imagination, but also with the personality as a whole.
The pedagogical value of the game lies in the fact that during the game, in addition to the relationships dictated by the plot , the assumed role or the rules , another kind of relationship arises - no longer conditional, but real, actual, regulating real relationships between children. In the game it becomes clear: how The child’s attitude towards the successes or failures of his play partners, whether he enters into conflicts with other participants in the game, whether he is ready to help a friend, whether he is attentive to other participants in the game, and how accurate he is in fulfilling his role. Role-playing activities captivate children so much that they sometimes perceive them as real actions. Play helps a child overcome his weaknesses, control himself, and creates conditions for practicing work skills and moral behavior skills.
During the game, the child independently establishes relationships with the team, and collectivist character traits are formed. Provided it is reasonably organized, the game is a school of life , a school of work and communication with people. The playful communication between the teacher and the children allows him to direct the course of the game and manage the relationship between them. Every kindergarten teacher is faced with the task of creating a friendly, organized team and teaching children to play .
Joint play activities help children develop organization and responsibility, the ability to control their actions and coordinate them with other children. In the process of developing the plot of the game, the child acquires activity planning skills and develops the creative imagination necessary in other types of activities. The ability to play is crucial for the formation of activity, initiative, determination and other qualities that are then necessary for successful learning at school and future work.
The role of the teacher in conducting role-playing games
There are various plots of role-playing games that teachers can conduct with children in kindergarten, or which children can play on their own .
Games can be purely improvised or have a pre-thought-out script. In the second case, the game is led by a teacher who will assign roles, explain the rules, and show how the players interact with each other. However, psychologists say that this is far from the best option for the development of preschoolers .
The main goal of playing games in kindergarten is the development of the child’s creative and communicative abilities , which should teach him to make decisions, make and justify his choices. When children in a role -playing game follow only the instructions of the teacher, the game turns into training, which does not contribute to the memorization of information, or communication, or entertainment for the child , and therefore does not provide any benefit. "Family"
,
“Shop”
,
“Hospital”
,
“Pharmacy”
,
“Barbershop”
,
“Crossroads”
- the list of games for children is quite large.
The role of the educator should be limited to pushing children to choose games that would be interesting to everyone, and not imposing on them any kind of scenarios or strict boundaries of behavior. It is important to ensure that children play according to the rules .
The main goals and tasks that the teacher performs when conducting role-playing games : teach the child to play , promote the unification of children in the game; tactfully guide the choice of games, teach children to follow the rules during the game, and cultivate a sense of goodwill. In order for the game to develop, it is necessary to give children knowledge about the environment and promote the development of imagination .
In a group for conducting role-playing , a subject-development environment must be created , which is filled with all the necessary toys and attributes. However, for the development of the game, it is not enough just to equip the group with gaming material. It is also necessary to have a variety of knowledge and impressions about the surrounding reality, which children reflect in their play. Excursions and targeted walks, thematic conversations, stories about professions, display of illustrations, didactic and theatrical games contribute to the enrichment of game plots All these forms of interaction between the teacher and the child become the content of preliminary work that prepares the child for play . The teacher’s task is to direct children to enrich play activities and develop the play plot .
Let's consider the algorithm for playing games using the example of the game “Mothers and Daughters”
.
Stage one. Preparation.
"Daughters - Mothers"
This is a very conventional name for a game that talks about family, its life and relationships.
Both father and son can play We don't need such careful planning here. The child sees the essence of the relationship between parents and children . And there is no need to specifically specify the rules here, nor do you need to plan the game in advance. You can roughly define the plot , for example, let it be a day in the life at the dacha. Remember how you spend such days, discuss the roles, perhaps your child will even want to play on his own with the help of two or more dolls.
Stage two. A game .
Give free rein to your child's . Join the game at any time if your child is playing on his own . Many parents, watching such a game from the outside, see what their relationship with their child , because in such a game, the child loses exactly what he sees every day. You can take on the role of a daughter or son , giving the child the role of mom or dad . the child plays behaves ? Don't you recognize anyone? Take a closer look, this character looks like you.
Stage three. Discussion of the game.
After the game is over , discuss whether everything was logical, whether it turned out that the characters first had dinner, then went swimming and only then had breakfast. If yes, discuss why this happened, what was illogical. replay the illogical fragment right on the heels of it , discuss what could have been different and plan what you want to add to the plot in the next game .
Positive results in work can be achieved by working in close contact with parents, enriching them with knowledge about the characteristics of the child’s . In order to choose the right direction in working with parents, you can conduct a series of consultations: “ The child and his toys ”
,
“
Play with your children ” ,
“
The role of modern toys in the lives of children” .
All this work contributed to the development of parents' interest in children's play activities.
Methodological literature:
Boychenko HA et al. “ Plot -role-playing games for preschoolers”
.
N. V. Krasnoshchekova “ Plot -role-playing games for preschool children”
.
Role-playing game
Role play is a game in which the child takes on a role of his choice and performs certain actions. Children usually choose plots for games from life. Gradually, with changes in reality, acquisition of new knowledge and life experience, the content and themes of role-playing games change.
The structure of the expanded form of the role-playing game is as follows.
device, game focus. This role is chosen by the child himself. There are many professions, family situations, life moments that made a great impression on a child in a children's game.
game actions. These are actions with meaning, they are representational in nature. During the game, meanings are transferred from one subject to another (an imaginary situation). However, this transfer is limited by the possibilities of representing an action, since it is subject to a certain rule: an object can only be replaced by an object with the help of which at least a picture of an action can be reproduced.
The symbolism of the game becomes of great importance. D.B. Elkonin said that abstracting from the operational and technical side of objective actions makes it possible to model a system of relationships between people.
As the system of human relationships begins to be modeled in the game, a companion is needed. One cannot achieve this goal, otherwise the game loses its meaning.
In the game, the meanings of human actions are born, the line of development of actions goes as follows: from the operational scheme of action to human action that has meaning in another person; from an individual action to its meaning.
rules. In play, a child experiences a new form of joy—the joy of acting according to the rules. In the game of hospital, the child suffers as a patient and rejoices as a player, satisfied with the fulfillment of his role.”
D.B. Elkonin paid great attention to the game. Studying the play of children aged 3-7 years, he identified and characterized four levels of its development.
First level:
- Actions with certain objects aimed at a co-player in the game. This includes the actions of the "mother" or "doctor" directed towards the "child";
- Roles are determined by action. The roles are not named, and children in the game do not use the real relationships that exist between adults or between an adult and a child in relation to each other;
- Activities consist of repeated events, such as feeding and transitioning from one meal to the next. Apart from this action, nothing happens: the child does not act out the process of cooking, washing hands or washing dishes.
Second level:
- The main content of the game is action with an object. But here the focus is on matching the game action to the real action;
- The roles are named after the children and the division of functions is indicated. The fulfillment of a role is determined by the implementation of the actions associated with that role;
- The logic of actions is determined by their sequence in the real world. The number of actions is expanding.
Third level:
- The main content of the game is to perform actions arising from the role. Specific actions begin to appear that convey the nature of the relationship with other participants in the game, for example, turning to the seller: “Give me some bread,” etc.;
- Roles are clearly demarcated and highlighted. They are called before the game, determine and guide the child’s behavior;
- The logic and nature of actions are determined by the accepted role. Activities become more varied: cooking, washing hands, feeding, reading a book, going to bed, etc. There is a specific language: the child gets used to the role and speaks as the role requires. Sometimes during the game, real relationships between children can appear: they begin to swear, scold, tease, etc.;
- Violation of logic is condemned. This is expressed by one saying to the other: “It’s not like that.” Rules of behavior are established that children must adhere to. Improper execution of actions is noticed from the outside, this causes frustration in the child, he tries to correct the mistake and find an excuse for it.
Fourth level:
- The main content is performing actions related to relationships with other people, accepting roles from other children;
- Roles are clearly demarcated and emphasized. During the game, the child adheres to a certain line of behavior. The role functions of children are interconnected. Language is clearly role specific;
- Actions occur in an order that clearly reflects the logic of the real world. They are varied and reflect the richness of the actions of the person whom the child portrays;
- Violation of the logic of actions and rules is rejected. The child does not want to break the rules and justifies it by the fact that it is so, as well as the rationality of the rules.
While playing, a child learns about the world. The child comprehends and embodies in play his experiences associated with the reality around him. A child’s play space is his own model of the world. The child combines the pieces of reality that he remembers with his imagination. Thus, he does not imitate reality, but conveys it through the prism of his own views. Creativity lies in the action of the game and its implementation.
Games with movement develop children's motor skills. Physical activity not only develops motor skills, but also strengthens the nervous system. Didactic games strengthen the brain, role-playing games develop moral qualities, etc.
The game becomes a good school for the socialization of the individual, for the manifestation of strong-willed qualities. A complex action, a large number of participants, and the establishment of certain rules contribute to the development of a sense of collectivism in the child. He increasingly correlates his interests with the interests of other children. The game develops strategic thinking, the ability to set a goal and achieve it.
Plot-role-playing game for preschoolers. article (senior group) on the topic
The structure of a plot-role-playing game.
A role-playing game has the following structural components: - plot;
- content;
— role [17].
Let's look at each of these structural components.
A) The plot of the game.
The main component of a role-playing game is the plot; without it, there is no role-playing game itself.
The plot is the sphere of reality that is reproduced by children. The plot is a child’s reflection of certain actions, events, relationships from the life and activities of those around him. At the same time, his playful actions (turning the steering wheel of a car, preparing lunch, teaching students how to draw, etc.) are one of the main means of realizing the plot.
The plots of the games are varied. They are conventionally divided into:
- household (family games, kindergarten);
- production ones, reflecting the professional work of people (games of hospital, store, livestock farm);
- public (games to celebrate the city’s birthday, to the library, to school, to fly to the moon) [8].
B) Game content. Changes in content depending on the age of the children.
The content of the game, notes D.B. Elkonin, is what is reproduced by the child as a central and characteristic moment of activity and relationships between adults in their everyday, work, and social activities [6].
Depending on the depth of the child’s ideas about the activities of adults, the content of the games also changes.
In terms of content, the games of children of primary preschool age differ from the games of older children. These differences are associated with the relative limitations of experience, features of the development of imagination, thinking, and speech. The child cannot imagine the game before it starts and does not grasp the logical sequence between real events [7]. Therefore, the content of the games, as A.P. Usova noted, is fragmentary and illogical. Children often repeat in play actions with toys shown by adults and related to everyday life: fed the bear - put him to bed; fed him again and put him to bed again. A.P. Usova characterized such games as action games [17].
However, at the border between the third and fourth years of life, games become more meaningful, which is associated with the expansion of children’s ideas about the world around them. Preschoolers begin to combine different events, including in games episodes from their own experience and from literary works that were read to them or, which is especially valuable, shown through plot-didactic games, illustrations in books, table theater, and filmstrips.
In the fourth and fifth years of life, the integrity of the plot and the interconnectedness of the reflected events are observed in children’s games. Preschoolers develop an interest in certain scenes that they have played with before (family, hospital, construction workers, transport, etc.). Children respond vividly to new experiences, weaving them like storylines into familiar games. The enrichment of content is facilitated by the interaction of children in the game, when everyone contributes something of their own, individual.
Children of senior preschool age thoughtfully approach the choice of plot, discuss it in advance, and plan the development of the content at an elementary level. New stories are appearing that are inspired by impressions gleaned outside the preschool: based on animated series, books read at home, stories from parents, etc.
In older and preschool age, generalization of play situations continues; in addition to conditional and symbolic actions (put his head on his palm - he fell asleep), children actively use verbal comments (“Everyone seems to have slept - and we’ll immediately go to the hall for the holiday!”; “Let’s do this: we’ve already arrived in Africa!”). These speech comments are a verbal replacement of any events [2]. Children resort to them so as not to violate the logic of the unfolding of the game’s content.
Thus, throughout preschool childhood, the development and complication of the content of the game is carried out in the following directions [1]:
- strengthening the purposefulness, and therefore the consistency and coherence of what is depicted;
- a gradual transition from an expanded game situation to a collapsed one, generalization of what is depicted in the game (the use of conditional and symbolic actions, verbal substitutions).
The variety of content of role-playing games is determined by children’s knowledge of those aspects of reality that are depicted in the game, the consonance of this knowledge with the interests, feelings of the child, and his personal experience. Finally, the development of the content of games depends on the child’s ability to identify characteristic features in the activities and relationships of adults.
B) Role in the game. Role changes as children age.
The content of the role-playing game is embodied by the child through the role he takes on. A role is a means of realizing the plot and the main component of a role-playing game [8].
For a child, a role is his playing position: he identifies himself with a character in the plot and acts in accordance with his ideas about this character. Every role contains its own rules of behavior, taken by the child from the surrounding life, borrowed from relationships in the adult world. Submission of the child to the rules of role-playing behavior is the most important element of role-playing play. Deviation of any of the players from these rules causes protests from the playing partners. Thus, for preschoolers, a role is an example of how to act. Based on this sample, the child evaluates the behavior of the participants in the game, and then his own.
Throughout preschool childhood, the development of role in role-playing games occurs from the performance of role-playing actions to role-images. For younger preschoolers, everyday activities predominate: cooking, bathing, washing, driving, etc. Then role designations associated with certain actions appear: I am a mother, I am a driver, I am a doctor.
In middle preschool age, playing a role becomes a significant motive for play activity: the child develops a desire not just to play, but to fulfill one or another role. The point of the game for a 4-5 year old preschooler is the relationships between the characters. Therefore, the child willingly takes on those roles in which the relationships are clear to him (the teacher takes care of the children, the captain steers the ship, makes sure that the sailors work well and that the passengers are comfortable). At this age, role speech becomes a means of interaction.
In older preschool age, the meaning of the game lies in the typical relationships of the person whose role is played by the child with other persons whose roles are taken on by other children. In games, role-playing dialogues appear, with the help of which the relationships between characters are expressed and game interaction is established. For the quality of role performance, the child’s attitude towards it is important. Therefore, it should be borne in mind that older preschoolers are reluctant to perform roles that, in their opinion, do not correspond to their gender. When performing a role, the child takes into account not so much the external logic, the sequence of actions (there is a free runway at the airfield, which means the plane can land), but the meaning of social relations (the runway is free, but you need to ask the dispatcher so that an accident does not happen).
Used Books .
1. Boychenko HA et al. Role-playing games for preschoolers. - Kyiv: Radyanska School, 1982.
2. Valitova I.E. Psychology of development of a preschool child. -Minsk, 1997
3. Zaporozhets A.V., Elkonin D.B. Psychology of preschool children. - M.: Mysl, 1989.
4. Zvorygina E.V. The first story-based games for kids. - M.: Radug
5.Kozlova S.A. Preschool pedagogy: a textbook for students / S.A. Kozlova, T.A. Kulikova. - M.: Publishing House, 2007. a, 1988.
6.Psychology and pedagogy of preschooler play. // Ed. A.V.Zaporozhets, A.P.Usova. - M.: Mysl, 1986.
