To develop thinking, there are many techniques and interesting exercises. Let’s master at least some of them.
When it should be started?
Previously people thought that abstract thinking in children is formed not earlier than in the younger school age. And before that, it is simply impossible to influence its development. But, according to recent studies, this is not entirely true. If you deal with kids, the result will also can be seen. Of course, it is not necessary to force a child of preschool age to solve examples and tasks. All your activities should be aimed specifically at developing logical and imaginative thinking, the ability to draw conclusions and generalize. Therefore, to engage, of course, in the form of the game, you can already with two or three years. Parents will act as the main teachers.
First steps
First of all, you need to use the child’s natural curiosity. Develop and support the desire of children to learn something new. Answer all his questions, do not postpone and do not say that you have no time. The kid learns quickly, so you need to speak with him in a language that is accessible to him. In particular, it’s easy to answer, but in detail, with examples from life. It is important to teach children to distinguish the properties of certain subjects. For this we need to pay attention to colors, shapes, sizes, structure, smell, other characteristics of the things around us.
Similarities and differences
When the kid learns to determine the properties of objects, start looking for similar and opposite features in familiar objects. In the summer you can see the clouds, looking for them in the shape of a hare, then an elephant, then a house with a pipe. In the winter, watch the snowdrifts in the same way. Their outlines will please any small dreamer, too.
for free
At home it is better to look for differences. For this you do not even have to allocate special time. The most common cooking of dinner will turn into a game, if among vegetables (carrots, potatoes, onions, beets), you suddenly put an apple or banana next to it. The task of the child is to find what is odd one out.
The development of speech
As the vocabulary is replenished, the baby has more opportunities to play. If he already knows the letters, use cards with words. If not, say the words out loud. By the way, this way you can easily learn to read.
Ask the child to continue a series of words, and then call them one word. For example: a doll, a typewriter, soldiers, a ball (toys), onions, carrots, garlic, beets (vegetables). You can and vice versa – my mother calls one common word, and the child selects those words that meet the given topic. The more words, the better.
It is equally important to develop children’s memory. Some parents believe that the ability to remember is given to us by nature, and it is difficult to influence it. In fact, this skill can be successfully trained. jump-rope rhyme, songs, poems, puzzles, proverbs and sayings – that’s what in an accessible form trains the memory of kids. Also, be sure to teach the child to retell in his own words a read or heard fairy tale, seen on the TV cartoon. It will be very useful to him at school.
It is interesting
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Games
If classes are fun, it’s even better and more useful. Thanks to positive emotions, the material is fixed faster. It’s not difficult to invent games, and most importantly, that they are aimed at training abstract thinking. For example, ask the kid that the elephant has the most important thing? And the flower? The bee? The answer of the child is not so important here, as is the process of active reflection. Having asked a number of such questions, go to more abstract things: geometric forms, feelings, concepts. If the child is experiencing difficulty with the answer, ask him to draw something that is difficult for him to imagine. You can simply use different colors and shapes for this. Say, the hope to depict in the form of a green circle, joy is like a pink triangle, and love is like a red heart. Associations here everyone will have their own.
Creation
Abstract thinking is useful not only in school, in solving tasks. It is very useful in everyday life. The value of this particular kind of thinking cannot be overestimated in creative professions. In a word, you need to think about the development of your child’s abstract thinking.
Psychologists and educators offer this method of creative play, like the shadow theatre. The child will quickly learn to make the shadow of his hand become a wolf, a hare or a dog. You can also use improvised items, toys, cut out figures from thick cardboard. Such games develop fantasy, imagination, imaginative and abstract thinking.
