Development of independence and initiative in preschool children

Features of the initiative of preschoolers

Irina Terentyeva

Features of the initiative of preschoolers

The current situation in Russian education is characterized by an intensive search for ways to form an initiative , responsible person who is ready to make decisions independently in a situation of choice. Initiative is one of the main components of the development of a child’s active personality. Children's initiative is manifested in the free activity of children according to their choice and interests. The opportunity to play, draw, design, compose, etc., in accordance with one’s own interests. Support for the initiative is also a condition necessary for creating a social situation for the development of children.

The volitional qualities of a person are the core side of a person’s character, and serious attention should be paid to their upbringing. A very important volitional quality necessary for a child’s future activities is independence. Independence is a complex human character trait. It concerns all aspects of his life and activity, where initiative plays one of the most important roles in the formation of a full-fledged personality. Interest in the problems of formation and development of initiative today is quite natural. initiative are increasingly being raised , which, in fact, is the task of the state and society (T. S. Borisova, M. S. Govorov, T. F. Ignatenko, S. A. Petukhov, I. E. Plotnik, etc.).

Beginning the study of the concept of “ initiative ”

Pedagogy was founded on the work of the Czech humanist thinker J. A. Komensky, the creator of
the “Great Didactics
,” who believed that “it is possible to achieve a comprehensive knowledge of things, mastery and use of them only through the medium of the new.”
And also the founder of scientific pedagogy in Russia, K. D. Ushinsky, who emphasized the need to develop and support originality as an individual’s desire to show personal initiative in his activities. A. S. Makarenko in his pedagogical writings named the defining feature of initiative - the readiness to take action on one’s own initiative.
Preschool childhood is an important period of human development. initiative is most actively developed in preschool age . Starting with the three-year crisis and the emergence of the “I myself”

, the most favorable period established by nature itself is the age from 3 to 5 years.
An initiative personality develops through activity. And since the leading activity of preschool age is play , the higher the level of development of creative initiative , the more varied the play activity, and, consequently, the more dynamic the development of the individual.
The initiative of children at this age finds a way out in various games and physical activities. Initiative is manifested in the desire to act on an internal impulse; this is a very important quality; it determines the level of development of children, especially in early preschool age . Just like independence, this component is visible during communication, play activities, and creativity. Initiative in childhood is equal to curiosity, ingenuity, and an inquisitive mind. Suppression of children's initiative leads to the fact that preschoolers develop fear of the world around them, lack of confidence in their abilities, and sometimes laziness. He knows in advance that he will not be able to get dressed or brush his teeth without his mother’s help. The performance of dependent children at school is significantly lower than that of their peers who are accustomed to greater independence.

One of the basic principles of preschool education is to support children in various activities, including play, which is the leading activity throughout the entire period of preschool childhood . Supporting the initiative is also very important for creating a social situation for the development of children. At the stage of completion of preschool education, one of the targets of the Federal State Educational Standard for Preschool Education provides for one of the age characteristics of children’s capabilities - “show initiative and independence in various types of activities - play, etc.” [23]. As we know, the game has no obvious product. The game is about playing, not winning. Therefore, the task arises of finding forms of activity that are productive. Here you can turn to visual and constructive activities. Initiative is most clearly manifested in games with rules. According to A. N. Leontyev, mastering a rule means mastering one’s behavior. Therefore, the teacher’s task is to motivate children’s play actions by directly participating and emotionally becoming involved in children’s games. In the role of the organizer of the game, the teacher introduces rules into the child’s life, and in the role of a detached observer, he analyzes and controls the children’s actions. Only the combination of these roles can ensure the development of will, arbitrariness and initiative in preschoolers . In a preschool setting, the distribution of different types of games by type of activity during the day can be organized as follows.

• Direct educational activities will include a variety of didactic games in accordance with the content of educational work in relevant areas.

• Educational activities during the day involve the organization of leisure, active, theatrical games, games with rules, as well as the organization of story-based games together with the teacher, which help enrich the gaming experience of children.

• Free activity is accompanied by the organization of pedagogical support for amateur children's games (role-playing, directorial, experimental games, as well as games with rules, active, leisure, folk organized on the initiative of the children themselves. This creates conditions for the formation of age-related new formations.

The content of work on the development and pedagogical support of initiative in the game should correspond to the age of the students.

Independence is manifested in the desire and desire to make efforts to solve problems in everyday activities, while being as independent as possible from an adult, based on one’s experience and knowledge, engaging in search activities until the problem is completely resolved. This quality is a sign of readiness for school.

Uniting children into a playing group of different ages allows teachers to solve a number of the most important problems in the development of children, since such games are of great importance not only for the formation and development of the game of preschoolers , but also for the favorable emotional and personal development of preschoolers , for whom the game is no longer leading, but predominant activities. The application of the above provisions will allow, while maintaining the enormous developmental potential of children's play, to develop the initiative of preschoolers , while adequately using the capabilities of the game as a pedagogical form.

An enterprising child must be able to realize his or her activities creatively and demonstrate cognitive activity. The novelty of the product of children's activity is subjective, but extremely important for the development of the child's personality.

The conditions necessary to create a social situation for the development of children corresponding to the specifics of preschool age (clause 3.2.5) are called:

— creating conditions for children to freely choose activities and participants in joint activities;

— support for children’s initiative and independence in various types of activities (play, research, project, cognitive, etc.)

;

— supporting children’s spontaneous play, enriching it, providing play time and space.

This is the most important part of the work of teachers, the implementation of which determines the successful development of the child, and therefore the successful formation of target guidelines, that is, the actual implementation of the Federal State Educational Standard for Education. Thus, work on mastering the content of educational areas should be based on or include a sufficient range of games organized on the initiative of an adult , as well as traditional games with content of a corresponding focus. In parallel, special work must be organized to develop children’s initiative in play , which ensures the formation of target guidelines. From the above it follows that it is necessary to develop in preschoolers the two most important qualities for life, first of all, during play, as well as creative activities. In addition, there are many non-standard techniques that form a highly developed personality.

Independence and initiative play a huge role in preparing students for their future life and work, regardless of the area in which they will realize themselves.

Development of children's initiative

March 13, 2020

Kharchenko Elena Vladimirovna

The initiative of children is understood as an innate quality, no matter what they do - this is all the “first step”; children are naturally initiative. Indeed, the child takes his first steps with interest and explores the world around him with pleasure. But as he gets older, more and more often his parents reprimand him: “don’t touch”, “leave it”, “don’t go there”, “sit here”, “keep quiet”. In such conditions, children's initiative does not develop. The child’s initiative is most actively formed starting from the crisis of three years and the emergence of the “I myself” phenomenon; the most favorable period is the age from 3 to 5 years. The initiative of children at this age finds a way out in various games and physical activities. Parents should not stop this process. It is important not to confuse initiative with independence, although these concepts are very close.

Advice for parents “Development of children's initiative”

“If you sow care, you will reap initiative”

(V.O. Klyuchevsky, Russian historian of the 19th century)

At the stage of completion of the preschool education stage, the target guidelines defined by the Federal State Educational Standard for Educational Education provide for the following age characteristics of children’s capabilities: - shows initiative and independence in various types of activities; - able to choose his or her occupation and participants in joint activities; - capable of volitional efforts; - tries to independently come up with explanations for natural phenomena and human actions; - Capable of making one's own decisions. Research by psychologists proves that it is in the preschool period that favorable opportunities open up for the formation of the foundations of independence, responsibility, initiative and creative abilities of the child.

Initiative shows personality development , especially in the early stages of development, manifests itself in all types of activities, but most clearly in communication, objective activity, play, and experimentation. This is the most important indicator of children's intelligence and development.

The initiative of children is understood as an innate quality, no matter what they do - this is all the “first step”; children are naturally initiative. Indeed, the child takes his first steps with interest and explores the world around him with pleasure. But as he gets older, more and more often his parents reprimand him: “don’t touch”, “leave it”, “don’t go there”, “sit here”, “keep quiet”. In such conditions, children's initiative does not develop.

The child’s initiative is most actively formed starting from the crisis of three years and the emergence of the “I myself” phenomenon; the most favorable period is the age from 3 to 5 years. The initiative of children at this age finds a way out in various games and physical activities. Parents should not stop this process. It is important not to confuse initiative with independence, although these concepts are very close.

A child’s independence is the child’s own performance of some activity, doing, or process. Whereas initiative is such a character trait when there is a push, a launch of activity, this is an internal urge for something new, this is an internal impulse for change and movement. Speaking about initiative, it should be noted that this definition is often associated with impulsiveness. The difference is that impulsiveness is often unconscious, a person succumbs to impulse under the influence of attraction, passion, sudden desire.

The initiative is more often conscious, because the child calculates certain future steps, and therefore it requires a certain level of development of memory, thinking and will, and the ability to plan.

An proactive preschool child - what does this mean?

An initiative child strives to organize games, productive activities, meaningful communication, he knows how to find an activity that suits his own desires; join the conversation, offer an interesting activity to other children. An initiative child is distinguished by meaningful interests.

In early preschool age (3-5 years), initiative is manifested in the child’s choice of game themes, formulation and resolution of new game problem situations, in the questions and proposals with which the child addresses adults and peers, in the organization and implementation of independent productive activities.

In older preschool age (5-7 years), initiative is manifested in all types of child activity - communication, object-based activities, play, experimentation. He can choose a business of his own choosing, join in the conversation, and offer an interesting activity for everyone. The child easily gets involved in play situations and initiates them himself, creatively develops the play plot, using a variety of knowledge obtained from different sources. Initiative is associated with curiosity, an inquisitive mind, ingenuity, the individual capabilities of children, support for the freedom of their behavior and independence. At the same time, freedom and independence - not permissiveness and anarchy, but looseness and openness - are inextricably linked with a culture of behavior. Initiative is an indispensable condition for improving all cognitive activities of a child, but especially creative ones. “Creative initiative” deserves special attention. Creative initiative should be understood as the child’s involvement in a story-based game as the main activity of a preschooler.

There are three levels of creative initiative:

1st level

The child actively deploys several semantically related conditional actions (role in action), the content of which depends on the existing play environment; actively uses substitute items, giving the same item different in-game meanings; enthusiastically repeatedly reproduces the favorite conventional game action (chain of actions) with minor variations.

2nd level

Has an initial idea (“I want to play hospital”, “I am a driver”, etc.); actively searches for or modifies the existing gaming environment; accepts and designates playing roles in speech; develops individual plot episodes (within the usual sequences of events), actively using not only conventional actions, but also role-playing speech, various role-playing dialogues; during the game he can move from one plot episode to another (from one role to another), without caring about their coherence.

3rd level

Has a variety of game plans; actively creates the subject environment “according to the plan”; combines (links) different plot episodes into a new whole during the game, building an original plot; can consciously use role reversal; the plan also tends to be embodied primarily in speech (verbal inventing of stories) or in an object model of an imaginary “world” (with small toys-characters), and can be recorded in plot compositions in drawing, modeling, and design.

It is important for an adult to know how to support a child’s initiative.

1. A necessary condition for the development of proactive behavior is its upbringing in conditions of developmental, non-authoritarian communication. Communication between an adult and a child, based on the principles of love, understanding, tolerance and orderliness of activity, will become a condition for the full development of the child’s positive freedom and initiative. Adults need to learn to tactfully cooperate with children: do not try to show and explain everything at once, do not immediately present any unexpected surprises, noise effects, etc., it is necessary to create conditions so that children can guess a lot on their own and enjoy it.

2. A prerequisite for the interaction of an adult with a child is the creation of a developmental environment, saturated with socially significant patterns of activity and communication, contributing to the formation of such personality qualities as activity, initiative, goodwill, etc. It is important to organize children’s activities, including independent ones, so that the child exercises yourself in the ability to observe, remember, compare, act, achieve your goal. Something that is attractive, funny, interesting, arouses curiosity and is fairly easy to remember.

3. We should not forget that the material with which the child did something himself is especially easy to remember and retains for a long time in memory: he felt, cut, built, composed, depicted. Children should gain experience in creative, exploratory activities, putting forward new ideas, updating previous knowledge when solving new problems. A properly organized subject environment and its content, a number of effective methods and techniques, close interaction with parents, organization of joint practical activities of adults and children are important conditions for the maintenance and development of children's cognitive activity.

4. One of the effective means of developing children’s initiative is games. Different types of games (active, intellectual, communicative, etc.) help activate the resources and potential of children. In addition, it is very important when the child initiates the play - with an adult or other children.

5. It should be noted that for the development of initiative, the participation of parents in this process is important. The simplest self-service skills are formed precisely from the child’s elementary desire to help mom wash the dishes or dad tighten a screw. It is important here: firstly, do not hit hands when the child “climbs to help”; secondly, do not sigh “initiative is punishable” when the child makes a mistake in something.

6. To develop initiative, it is necessary to encourage the child’s desire to talk, talk and make contacts.

7. The development of children's initiative proceeds very well in the creative process. Drawing, modeling, designing, and creating crafts actively help the child express himself and initiate creative impulses.

What do parents and teachers need to remember about developing initiative in children?

Write or plan a list of daily activities for your child to do.

Planning is the basis of initiative, it is like a boundary beyond which it is possible (and sometimes so pleasant) to go; praise the child for showing initiative, an unusual way of doing things; in general, show positive emotions towards the manifestation of any activity that comes from the child; “a drop wears away a stone”: unobtrusively tell your child where his beating energy can be used; offer several options, and when he chooses his own, praise him for his initiative.

Observe what the child does with interest (plays toy soldiers, dismantles cars, draws patterns in notebooks, etc.). Even if this hobby seems useless, support it. Help organize this activity (buy books on this topic, look for information on the Internet, etc.).

True creative activity is selfless, so don't expect instant results. The main criterion for the success of an activity is the presence of persistent interest in it.

Be tolerant of your child's mistakes. You shouldn’t finish it for him, warn him against mistakes, talk about what could have been better. Criticism is possible only when the child is confident enough in himself.

Leave the child alone so that he has the opportunity to do his own thing or, as you think, do nothing.

Constant, purposeful activity in which the child is involved leaves no room for observation. reflections, creativity. Observe your child, notice moments of his own authorship, help him realize his individuality and teach him to value himself as a creative person. The parents’ own example is contagious, but you should not compare the child with yourself (“here I am at your age,” etc.).

It is important for a child to see you not only when you are doing household chores, but also when you are doing something with interest, joy, and delight. A perfect parent is an unattainable fortress for a child, and possible shortcomings provoke a desire to correct them and surpass them. Help your child “formulate” his interests into a final product, for example, making a frame for drawings, an exhibition, hanging certificates on the wall, creating an album of achievements, etc.

It is important for a child to have his parents evaluate his activities. Initiative in children is manifested in the energy and activity of the child, as well as in a certain courage and risk. Its development presupposes the friendly attitude of adults who must support and develop this personality quality. But initiative must be reasonable and morally justified. A parent's smile, an approving look, an attentive turn of the head, an enthusiastic story about their child's achievements over the phone to relatives - this is what children are able to draw, build, sculpt, and, in general, create for. Don't skimp on your attention!

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Comments

Lugovtsova Tatyana Viktorovna

14.03.2020 12:31

The article is correct. The child’s initiative must be developed. Praise him more often, and scold him carefully so that he understands his mistakes.

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Children's initiative: essence and support technologies

 The article is devoted to the current topic of developing initiative. At the present stage of development of pedagogical thought, special attention is paid to supporting the initiative of preschoolers. The author analyzes the prerequisites for the emergence of this phenomenon, the concept of “initiative,” conditions and technologies for supporting children’s initiative.

Key words : initiative, activity, independence, diligence, psychological and pedagogical conditions, Federal State Educational Standard for Preschool Education.

The goal of modern education is the formation of an active, purposeful, proactive, creative personality. This is due to various factors: economic (in conditions of increasing competition, the business community requires people with a supra-situational vision, proactive and not afraid of difficulties), social (modern society needs people who are able to sympathize, empathize, help unselfishly, direct their energy to transform social reality ), personal (only strong individuals who easily adapt to changing personal conditions can achieve success in conditions of uncertainty).

Of course, the formation of most personal qualities begins in early childhood. That is why today extremely important requirements are placed on preschool education, as the first level of general education. Thus, the Federal State Educational Standard for Preschool Education, approved in 2013, among other things, determines the social and normative characteristics of a child’s possible achievements before starting school, which includes the manifestation of initiative in various types of activities [2, paragraph 4.6.]. Thus, the development and support of children's initiative is one of the tasks facing a teacher of a preschool educational organization.

In order for this task to be achieved, it is necessary to correctly define the concept of children's initiative and distinguish it from synonymous concepts. Initiative is often associated with independence. But, despite the connection between these concepts, their essence is different. A child can independently perform actions imposed from outside (make a sandwich because mom said) or on his own initiative (make a sandwich for mom). In this case, the action initiated by the child can be performed either independently (he draws by himself) or with one of his peers or adults (he invited his sister to draw a card for dad together). So, initiative is independence in making decisions and planning your actions to achieve your intended goal.

Initiative must also be distinguished from diligence. Of course, both of these concepts are based on will and moral feelings. The ability to complete a task and take responsibility for actions and actions taken are important components of both diligence and initiative. However, diligence is limited to specific instructions from the outside, without which the execution of the action becomes impossible. Initiative implies a child’s self-motivation, the desire to transform reality, creativity in solving problems, and the ability to see a way out in non-standard conditions. This is an extremely important difference that teachers should pay special attention to and direct their teaching efforts in this direction.

Any action initiated by a child must be based on clear moral values ​​so that the initiative does not turn into a violation of the boundaries of others. So, for example, if a child does not have enough of a toy to realize his play plan, and he takes it away from a peer, this is a negative initiative. However, if in a given situation the child finds a compromise (agrees to be given this toy voluntarily, finds a replacement, etc.), then this is a positive initiative based on respect for the feelings of peers, taking into account their opinions and needs. Teachers should strive for this by supporting children’s initiative: it should be formed on the basis of the child’s understanding of moral values ​​and boundaries. Here it is important to instill basic safety requirements and talk with children about the fact that some of their actions can have negative and sometimes dangerous consequences for them. After all, passivity should develop into initiative, and initiative should not develop into adventurism.

Initiative is a complex, multidimensional concept. As a characteristic of a strong personality, it includes such components as self-confidence, responsibility, critical thinking, creativity, determination, will, and communication skills. Support for initiative should have a clearly defined individual focus, based on the strengths and weaknesses of the child’s temperament. Thus, the teacher must determine exactly those personality traits that especially need attention and work with them. For example, in order for a melancholic child to feel the strength to make proactive decisions, it is important for him to be self-confident, so the teacher must work to increase his self-esteem. Sanguine children may not be persistent enough and may not follow through. Therefore, the teacher works on the strong-willed side of the personality and builds perseverance, because initiatives abandoned halfway are synonymous with failure in adult life. Phlegmatic people are excellent performers, but it is difficult for them to think beyond the situation. Therefore, it is important to place emphasis on developing the child’s creativity and creative potential. It is important for impulsive choleric people to better control themselves so that their proactive actions do not have a negative connotation and take into account the interests of others.

The harmonious development of a child in general and support for initiative in particular should take place in a psychologically comfortable climate. It is extremely important to recognize the child’s personality and interests, follow his aspirations and support his activity and curiosity, and an adequate response from an adult to initiatives. Recognition creates a healthy basis for the child to develop self-confidence and, as a result, he is not afraid to take initiative and take responsibility for his actions. The authority of an adult should not suppress children's initiative, but, on the contrary, support his active actions through praise and encouragement. Moreover, the very attempt to show initiative or independence is already a reason to note and evaluate his successes and praise him for his efforts.

It is easier to support initiative against the backdrop of the child’s personal motivation. This means that the child’s motivation for some activity must develop into self-motivation, which is the basis of initiative. Self-motivation is closely related to a child’s interest in a particular activity. Undoubtedly, an activity will be interesting for us when we achieve success in it. Therefore, the experience of successfully overcoming difficulties, victories and positive results plays a huge role in supporting initiative.

What approaches can a teacher use? The use of fairy tale therapy, coaching and case technologies seems to be effective.

If we talk about fairy tale therapy as an effective way to develop the personality of a preschooler, then we can distinguish 2 main areas of work. Firstly, a discussion of fairy tales, determining the motives of the characters’ actions, evaluating them, reflecting on what they read on the subject of what the child himself would do in a given situation. Secondly, the writing of fairy tales, where the hero, on whose behalf the child, with the help of an adult, comes up with a story, finding himself in various situations, finds a way out of difficult circumstances, tries various ways to solve the problem, without fear of making mistakes.

The coaching approach involves following the interests of the child. The adult controls and directs the child’s activities less and less, giving him the opportunity to independently find solutions and explore. Thus, the child increasingly shows initiative in making decisions, courage in their implementation, and responsibility for the consequences.

Case technologies are an innovative interactive form of organizing the educational process. In addition to the fact that a case (a game organized by a teacher, consisting of finding solutions to a given problem) stimulates the child’s intellectual abilities, his curiosity, cognitive activity, and communicative qualities of the individual, it also creates favorable conditions for the child to put forward hypotheses, various options for solving the problem, thereby supporting his initiatives.

Thus, the use of modern technologies that provide the child with the opportunity to propose, try, and analyze various options for solving a task or problem should be extremely effective in supporting children’s initiative and have a positive effect. The teacher’s task is to choose the right technologies, taking into account the individual characteristics and temperament properties of the students.

Literature:

1. Vachkov I. V. “Introduction to fairy tale therapy, or hut, hut, turn to me in front of you...” - 2nd ed. - M.: Genesis, 2015. - 288 p. — (Fairy tale therapy: theory and practice).
2. Order of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation (Ministry of Education and Science of Russia) dated October 17, 2013 N 1155 “On approval of the federal state educational standard for preschool education” (Registered with the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation on November 14, 2013 N 30384).
3. Safargalieva E. S. Using quest technology to enhance the educational activities of junior schoolchildren [Text] / E. S. Safargalieva // Modern problems and promising directions of innovative development of science: a collection of articles of the International Scientific and Practical Conference (December 15, 2016, . Ekaterinburg). At 8 o'clock. Part 4 / - Ufa: AETERNA, 2016. - 231 p. — pp. 163–165.
4. Furman B. Child skills in action: how to help children overcome psychological problems / Ben Furman; Per. from English - M.: Alpina non-fiction, 2013. - 228 p.

Familiarize yourself with the indicators and levels of initiative in communication, gaming, cognitive-research, productive practices, as well as physical activity in preschool children , which became the basis for the development of tools for assessing the quality of preschool education.

The development of indicators and levels of initiative in communication, play, cognitive-research, productive practices, as well as physical activity in preschool children is based on the following principles.

The first is the intellectual and motivational-dynamic characteristics of the activity of a preschool child. The extreme normative points at 3 years and 6-7 years (corresponding to the beginning and end of the age range) and the point of qualitative shift in the child’s mental development, when we can say that he is no longer the same as at 3 years old, but not yet at all the same, are identified , as at 6-7 years old. The point of this qualitative shift can be attributed to the interval between 4-5 years, based on numerous scientific studies of child development.

Thus, in the preschool age range, three holistic “images” of a preschooler are built, the sequential change of which should serve as the most general guideline for the teacher in assessing the individual and group progress of children in development.

The second basis is the activity and initiative of the child as a subject of activity in various spheres of life.

The main areas of his initiative were identified as the most important in the development of a preschool child.

Under the initiative, according to the explanatory dictionary of S.I. Ozhegov, is understood as “initiation, internal motivation for new forms of activity, enterprise, ... a leading role in some actions.” [Ozhegov S.I., 1997, p.247]

In pedagogy, initiative is considered as a manifestation of an active position in communication, activity, and behavior, the source of which is the child himself. Compared to other indicators when assessing children's development, the areas of child initiative have a number of significant advantages.

On the one hand, the spheres of the child’s initiative ensure the development of his most important mental processes (mental new formations of age), and on the other hand, they ensure the child’s emotional well-being, his self-realization, the completeness of his “living” of the preschool period of childhood, inclusion in those types of cultural practices (types activities) that are traditionally allocated by society for the education of preschoolers.

Main areas of child initiative:

– creative initiative (involvement in a story-based game as the child’s main creative activity, where imagination and imaginative thinking develop);

- initiative as goal-setting and volitional effort (involvement in various types of productive activities - drawing, modeling, design, which require efforts to overcome the “resistance” of the material, where voluntariness and the planning function of speech develop);

– communicative initiative (the child’s involvement in interaction with peers, where empathy and the communicative function of speech develop);

– cognitive initiative – curiosity (involvement in experimentation, simple cognitive and research activities, where the ability to establish spatio-temporal, cause-and-effect and generic relationships develops).

– motor activity (initiative) is the natural need of children to move, the satisfaction of which is the most important condition for the harmonious development of the child and his state of health.

Each type of activity contributes to the development and manifestation of a certain area of ​​initiative. However, it is also true that in all types of children's activities, different areas of initiative are involved to one degree or another.

The progressive development of each type of initiative in 5 types of children's activities is assessed based on the subject-content orientation of the child's activity. The conventional steps in the development of each type of initiative are the transformation of the child’s plan, his “movement” from being bound by the existing subject field and procedural motivation to a clearly defined plan-goal and motivation to achieve the desired result. This allows us to distinguish in each type of initiative three levels of initiative in children of different ages in the range from 3 to 7 years (3-4, 4-5, 5-6, 6-7 years): low, medium, high.

Three levels of initiative (low, medium, high) are described in 5 areas of children's initiative, which corresponds to 5 types of children's activities:

- in a story game;

- in a game with rules;

- in productive activities;

— in cognitive and research;

- in motor activity.

Indicators, levels and key characteristics have been developed for each type of children's activity.

1. CREATIVE INITIATIVE (observation of a story game).

1st level (typically at 3-4 years).

Indicators: actively deploys several conditional actions related in meaning (role in the action), the content of which depends on the existing game environment; actively uses substitute items, giving the same item different in-game meanings; enthusiastically repeatedly reproduces the favorite conventional game action (chain of actions) with minor variations.

Key features: within the framework of the existing object-game environment, actively deploys several game actions related in meaning (role in action); variably uses substitute objects in a conventional game meaning.

Level 2 ( typically at 4-5 years old).

Indicators: has an initial plan (“I want to play hospital”, “I am a driver”, etc.); actively searches for or modifies the existing gaming environment; accepts and designates playing roles in speech; develops individual plot episodes (within the usual sequences of events), actively using not only conventional actions, but also role-playing speech, making role-playing dialogues varied from time to time; during the game he can move from one separate plot episode to another (from one role to another), without caring about their coherence.

Key features: has an initial concept that can easily change during the game; takes on a variety of roles; when unfolding individual plot episodes, he reinforces conditioned actions with role-playing speech (variable dialogues with toys or peers).

Level 3 (typically at 6-7 years old).

Indicators: has a variety of game plans; actively creates the subject environment “according to the plan”; combines (links) different plot episodes into a new whole during the game, building an original plot; can consciously use role reversal; the idea also tends to be embodied primarily in speech (verbal inventing stories) or in an object model of an imaginary “world” (with small character toys), and can be recorded in the product (plot compositions in drawing, modeling, design).

Key features: combines various plot episodes into a new coherent sequence; uses detailed verbal commentary on the game through events and space (what happens where with the characters); partially embodies the game concept in the product (verbal - story, objective - layout, plot drawing).

1. INITIATIVE AS GOALS SETTING AND VOLITIONAL EFFORT (monitoring productive activities).

1st level (typically at 3-4 years).

Indicators: shows a desire to get involved in the process of activity (I want to sculpt, draw, build) without a clear goal, is absorbed in the process (manipulates the material, draws a lot of sheets, etc.); the completion of the process is determined by the exhaustion of material or time; to the question “What are you doing?” responds with the designation of the process (I draw, I build); the naming of the product may appear after the end of the process (a specific goal is not formulated in advance).

Key signs: absorbed in the process; a specific goal is not fixed; quits work as soon as distractions arise and does not return to it.

Level 2 (typically at 4-5 years old).

Indicators: reveals a specific intention-goal (“I want to draw a house..., build a house..., make a house...”) – works on limited material, its transformations; the result is fixed, but satisfies anyone (during the process of work, the goal may change, depending on what is obtained).

Key features: formulates a specific goal (“I’ll draw a house”); in the process of work he can change the goal, but fixes the final result (“The result is a machine”).

Level 3 (typically at 6-7 years old).

Indicators: has a specific intention-goal; works on the material in accordance with the goal; the final result is recorded, demonstrated if it satisfies, or destroyed if it does not; independently selects material or graphic samples for copying (“I want to do the same”) in different materials (modeling, drawing, design).

Key features: indicates a specific target, holds it during operation; fixes the final result, strives to achieve good quality; returns to the interrupted work and completes it.

1. COMMUNICATIVE INITIATIVE ( observation of joint activities: productive and playful (game with rules, story game)).

1st level (typically at 3-4 years).

Indicators: attracts the peer’s attention to his actions, comments on them in speech, but does not try to make the peer understand; also acts as an active observer: he aligns himself with an already active peer, comments and corrects the observed actions; tries to be (play, do) close to peers; situational in his choice, content with the company and attention of anyone.

Key signs: draws the peer’s attention to actions that interest the child (“Look…”), comments on them in speech, but does not try to be understood; is content with anyone's company.

Level 2 (typically at 4-5 years old).

Indicators: deliberately attracts a certain peer to joint activities based on the subject and at the same time a brief verbal explanation of the plan, goal (“Let’s play, do...”); leads pair interaction in the game, using speech step-by-step sentences - encouraging the partner to take specific actions (“You say...”, “You do...”); supports dialogue in specific activities; can find a similar or complementary game object, material, role, without entering into conflict with a peer.

Key features: initiates paired interaction with a peer through a short verbal incentive sentence (“Let’s play, do...”); supports dialogue in specific activities; begins to show selectivity in choosing a partner.

Level 3 (typically at 6-7 years old).

Indicators: initiates and organizes the actions of 2-3 peers, verbally developing initial plans, goals, planning several initial actions (“Let’s play like this..., draw...”); uses a simple agreement (“I will…, and you will…”), without infringing on the interests and desires of others; can integrate into the joint activities of other children by choosing appropriate playing roles and materials; easily maintains dialogue in specific activities; can initiate and maintain a simple dialogue with a peer on an abstract topic; selective in choosing partners; consciously strives not only to implement the plan, but also to mutual understanding, to maintain coordinated interaction with partners.

Key features: in detailed verbal form, offers partners initial plans and goals; agrees on the distribution of actions without infringing on the interests of other participants; selective in his choice, consciously strives for mutual understanding and maintaining coordinated interaction.

1. COGNITIVE INITIATIVE – CURIOSITY (observation of cognitive, research and productive activities).

1st level (typically at 3-4 years).

Indicators: notices new objects in the environment and shows interest in them; actively examines things, practically discovering their capabilities (manipulates, disassembles and assembles, without trying to achieve the exact initial state); repeats actions many times, is absorbed in the process.

Key signs: shows interest in new objects, manipulates them, practically discovering their capabilities; repeats actions over and over again.

Level 2 (typically at 4-5 years old).

Indicators: anticipates or accompanies with questions the practical study of new objects (“What is this? What for?”); reveals a conscious intention to learn something about specific things and phenomena (“How does this happen? How can I do this? Why is this so?”); makes simple assumptions about the connection between an action and a possible effect when studying new objects, strives to achieve a certain effect (“If you do it like this..., or like that...”), not limiting yourself to simple manipulation; integrates his new ideas into the plots of the game, themes of drawing, design.

Key features: asks questions regarding specific things and phenomena (“What? How? Why?”); makes simple assumptions, carries out variable actions in relation to the object under study, achieving the desired result.

Level 3 (typically at 6-7 years old).

Indicators: asks questions regarding objects and phenomena that lie beyond the circle of the immediately given (“How? Why? Why?”); reveals a desire to explain the connection of facts, uses simple causal reasoning (“Because...”); strives to organize and systematize specific materials (in the form of a collection); shows interest in educational literature and symbolic languages; independently undertakes to do something using graphic diagrams (sculpt, design), draw up maps, diagrams, pictograms, write down stories, observations (masters writing as a means of systematization and communication).

Key signs: asks questions about abstract things; shows a desire to organize facts and ideas, is capable of simple reasoning; shows interest in symbolic languages ​​(graphic diagrams, writing).

1. MOTOR INITIATIVE ( observation of various forms of motor activity).

1st level (typically at 3-4 years).

The child regularly moves in space, performing various types of movements and actions with objects. His movements are energetic, but are procedural in nature (that is, movement is performed for the sake of movement). The child does not attach importance to the correct execution of movements, but he compensates for low motor efficiency with energy.

Key signs: participates with pleasure in games organized by adults; when an interesting object appears, it does not limit itself to contemplating it, but moves closer to it, strives to make physical transformations with it (rolls, throws, etc.)

Level 2 (typically at 4-5 years old).

Indicators: makes conscious movements differentiated with respect to objects and goals. Shows interest in certain types of movements and physical exercises (running, jumping, throwing). Following the recommendations of an adult, he improves his movements (for example, performs coordinated hand movements when running, catches the ball with his hands, etc.), but after a while he may return to the original way of performing them. Enjoys trying his hand at new types of physical activity.

Key signs: asks an adult why he can’t do certain movements; in play he strives to master new types of movements, imitating an adult.

Level 3 (typically at 6-7 years old).

Indicators: the child is attracted to physical activity, he strives to improve its performance (jump further, run faster). He listens to an adult's advice on how to achieve better results, and, having mastered a particular motor skill, constantly uses it.

Shows interest in various forms of physical activity (cycling, swimming) and strives to master them. He does not complain about physical fatigue and associates it with his sporting achievements.

Key signs: asks an adult how to perform certain physical exercises most effectively, willingly performs various activities associated with physical activity, notes his achievements in a particular sport.