Substitute toys for role-playing games for preschoolers.

Substitute toys for role-playing games for preschoolers. Consultation on the topic

Substitute toys for role-playing games for preschoolers

In preschool age, play becomes the leading activity, but not because the modern child, as a rule, spends most of his time in games that entertain him; play causes qualitative changes in the child’s psyche.

It is often said that a child plays when, for example, he manipulates an object or performs one or another action shown to him by an adult (especially when this action is performed not with a real object, but with a toy). But real play action will occur only when the child means another by one action, and another by one object.

A toy is found not only in a child’s play, but also in the everyday life of an adult. Often a toy is a friend, a life partner, a source of joy, a tool or material for play. The toy presents in a generalized form the typical properties of objects, including people and animals, which require appropriate actions with them. So, for example, a doll is a generalized image of a child that allows children to reproduce a whole range of appropriate actions: bathing, feeding, changing clothes, etc.

Toys are varied in type, material, manufacturing technique, age and educational purpose. The image in toys is conditional and generalized. The nature, degree of generality and convention depend on the type of toy and its specific purpose. Toys are divided into three groups according to the degree of complexity and generality:

Realistic toys (a dog of a specific breed).
Conventionally shaped toys (a dog of an unknown breed, a doll as a generalized image of a person).
Substitute toys (a stick instead of a thermometer, a chair instead of a horse).

When analyzing the features of a preschooler’s play activity, it is necessary to remember that its development is facilitated by the development of the sign function of consciousness, which consists in the ability to use one object as a substitute for another. A prerequisite for mastering the sign function is the mastery of objective actions and the subsequent separation of the action from the object by the preschool child. Therefore, in addition to toys depicting real objects, the child must have objects that can be used as their substitutes: reels, boxes of various shapes, natural materials (cones, acorns, leaves). During the game, the child can give them a new game name and act in accordance with this name. Substitute items also include those that in practical pedagogy are usually called attributes: all kinds of hats, beads, robes, etc. The situation when a child turns a sofa into a steamboat, chairs into train cars, is also an indicator of the development of the sign function of consciousness, and therefore a high level of mental development.

For the development of children's thinking, imagination, speech and in order to raise play to a higher level, various substitute toys are of particular value. For example, when pretending to iron clothes, a child can take not only a toy iron, but also a brick made of building material. Substitute toys can be wooden and plastic circles, rings with a diameter of 3-5 cm, boards, strips of cardboard, substitute items, children’s favorite treats - candies, apples, etc. Together with the teacher, children can make substitute toys and attributes for games - cut out “pancakes”, “cutlets”, “fish”, “vinaigrette” from cardboard, foam plastic, using all this in games that imitate the labor process. By encouraging children to use gaming materials that replace objects that are well known to them, we create a situation in which the child will be faced with the need to designate substitute objects and actions with them in words, which will contribute to his active development.

The value of this toy is that for the first time children independently operate with conventional concepts. Play actions with a substitute toy are based not on visual signs of the object, but on imagined, assumed ones. Using such a toy, the child generalizes his previous gaming experience. A substitute toy requires more schematic generalized play actions and denoting it with a word so that it enters the context of the game and is understandable to others.

Replacement toys are made from a variety of materials. Dolls and animal toys can be made not only from fabric, but also from natural material (straw, wood, grass, etc.). Substitute items are needed from any natural material (chestnuts, pine cones, shells, straw, etc.) For games, you can prepare different sets of toys, united by a common plot. For example, for playing with a doll: doll, blanket, stroller, furniture (bed, table, chair); for playing with a dog toy: a feeding bowl, a sleeping mat, a leash for walking, etc.

For example, if a child is playing with a doll, then instead of it you can offer him a little chick wrapped in a blanket. Playing with such a “doll,” the child shows the missing, but represented by him, the main parts of the human body: the legs at the bottom of the toy, the head at the top. He plays with her as with an ordinary doll, and gradually the word increasingly begins to designate and replace objects that are missing but necessary for the game, their qualities, imaginary properties and states.

How to teach a child to play with such a toy? First, the adult names the substitute toy, and then the child. He calls it as required by the game's design.

The main requirement for a substitute toy is convenience in performing play actions and proportionality with other play material. If conventionally figurative and realistic toys can be bought, then the introduction of substitute toys into children’s play depends on the adult’s imagination, on his penetration into the content of the child’s game. Children watch with great curiosity how an adult, having understood their game plan, creates an object needed for the game from natural material. It is important that the substitute toy resembles the depicted object with general contours or some typical property, a characteristic detail necessary to display game situations (“The kitten” can be made of soft terry cloth, if it is rolled up and tied with a bow “around the neck”; instead bowls for feeding a kitten, you can offer a circle of cardboard, a plastic lid, etc.).

Often children not only enthusiastically use substitute toys offered by adults, but they themselves choose and agree in advance what they will mean: “This is a cat,” “This is a bowl,” “This will be the mother - a big cat, and this is her kitten.” While playing with such toys, the child tries to explain to other children what the substitute object means: “It’s a cat, touch it, it’s so fluffy, you can’t see the eye, it’s probably sleeping.”

Game substitutes for objects may have significantly less similarity with them than, for example, the similarity of a drawing with the depicted reality. However, game substitutes should allow you to act with them in the same way as with the replaced item. Therefore, by giving his name to the chosen substitute object and attributing certain properties to it, the child also takes into account some of the features of the substitute object itself. When choosing substitute objects, the preschooler proceeds from the real relationships of the objects. He readily agrees, for example, that half a match will be a bear, a whole match will be a mother bear, a box will be a bed for a bear. But he will never accept this option, where the teddy bear is a box, and the bed is a match. “It doesn’t happen like that,” is the child’s usual reaction.

So, communication between an adult and a child should be aimed at developing progressive ways of solving game problems for each age period. Children's activities should take place in increasingly complex game problem situations based on practical and play experience. Children who have mastered how to solve the first game problems should complicate the task. For example, not just give the doll tea, but sit it down at the table, prepare lunch first, etc. As children master game problems that are solved visually and effectively (an indicator of which is children's independent play), it is necessary to demonstrate new, more generalized ways of solving them with the help of substitute toys. For example, instead of a plate, offer a doll who really wants to eat a leaf from a tree. Later, children should be shown new ways to solve game problems using drawn objects (an adult takes the soap shown in the picture for bathing, etc.) And finally, it is necessary to show game actions with an imaginary object (give the doll an imaginary apple).

Familiarization with the environment and educational games create the basis for the emergence of play, but children’s independent play is determined by the appropriate organization of the subject-play environment and the activating communication between the adult and the child during the play. Timely changes in the play environment, selection of toys and play material that activates recent impressions in the child’s memory, direct the child to independently and actively solve a play problem, encourage different ways of implementing it and reproducing reality. The object-game environment changes taking into account the practical and play experience of children. It is important to promptly expand not only the range of toys with different themes, but also to promptly supplement the gaming material. An independent story game is formed more successfully if toys are introduced into it gradually (a conventional toy, a more realistic one, a substitute toy). The ability to use substitute objects in play activities is a necessary element in the development of children's play. It is very important to have a “Build It Yourself” construction corner in the group room, which includes sets of various building materials, a Lego-type constructor, a set of cubes; a corner of theatrical activities, where there are masks, bi-ba-bo toys, various costumes for role-playing games; various waste materials: boxes of different shapes and sizes, natural materials, a set of various rags, threads, spools, etc. For example, you can make a table, chairs, a sofa for dolls from cubes and building material, you can make a house and much more. Counting sticks turn into spoons, ladles, pistols and even pasta. Bricks serve as phones, pieces of bread, cakes, and cones turn into delicious ice cream. Beds are made from pieces of fabric, and food is made from cardboard and foam rubber for dolls.

Thus, substitute toys develop the child’s imagination, thinking, speech, and contribute to the development of relationships with peers. The possibility of using substitute items in play activities should be the subject of special discussion between the teacher and parents, since the latter often strive to buy as many ready-made toys as possible, not suspecting that they thereby harm the mental development of the child, in particular his imagination. But all subsequent schooling will be associated with the need to imagine, imagine, and operate with abstract images and concepts. This is, firstly. And secondly, the ability to use various objects (signs) instead of real objects will allow the child to subsequently learn more complex systems of signs, such as language, mathematical symbolism, and various types of art.

TYPES OF TOYS.

Thematic or figurative toys (dolls, animal figurines, household items).
Toys - tools (scoop, spatula, net).
Technical toys with program or non-program control (transport units, machines).
Game construction sets - prefabricated.
Didactic toys and games.
Toys for sports and outdoor games (balls, jump ropes).
Theatrical and decorative toys (puppet theater characters, costumes, decorations).
Fun toys.
Sounding musical toys.
Game materials and homemade toys.
Play equipment (houses, layouts).
Computer toys and games.
Educational toys (puzzle games).

For children from one to three years old

Crafts that develop fine motor skills will play an important role in thinking, the ability to analyze and reason. When it comes to babies who have only recently begun to walk independently, it is important to consider that their perseverance is minimal.

And the ability to correctly hold and manipulate a pencil or scissors in your hands or sculpt figures from plasticine is so rare in everyday life that it is equated to something especially admirable. That is why kids make crafts under the close supervision of an adult.

The goal of an adult when doing joint needlework is to guide, give an idea and provide the necessary tools and materials. During the work, an adult must not only show what and how to do, but also discuss all the actions performed. At the same time, clearly stating all the names and names of the processes.

You can forget about thorough correctness, evenness and beauty when working with one-year-olds. The main thing is that this form of communication brings positive emotions to both, and there is a desire to continue.

On the Internet you can find many photos of educational crafts, the sight of which will inspire you to create them. In this case, a wide variety of materials are used, ranging from leaves, twigs, paper and to specialized paraphernalia.

For children from three years old

Most children start kindergarten at three years old. At this age, they are already more independent, since they can do a lot themselves: draw specific objects, cut out elements with straight sides.

Fine motor skills are already quite well developed. In this regard, they are able to cope with more complex crafts. Difficulties may arise in the first stages, but each time it will turn out better. Movements will become more harmonious and confident.

Educational crafts for kindergarten can be made from various materials: paper and cardboard, plasticine, glitter and small beads, feathers, pine cones and acorns. Working with small elements will help in the future with practical issues, such as tying shoelaces, fastening buttons on a blouse, and so on.

Cave

You will need:

thick cardboard from a box;
large sheet of paper;
glue gun

Step-by-step instruction:

Cut out three elements from cardboard: a free-form base and two curved arcs of different sizes.
Place the arcs perpendicular to the base and secure with hot glue.
Crumple the paper and cover the resulting structure with it, leaving an entrance on one side.
The voluminous, spectacular craft is ready. You can place animal figures inside, placing them on a pile of straw or on pebbles.

Examples

Below are several options for educational crafts for children of different ages. They can be performed both at home and in a kindergarten group.

Tips for successful work

Before you begin your chosen work, you should listen to the following tips:

Prepare all required materials in advance.
Scissors for children should first of all be safe, so they are suitable only with rounded ends.
Consider protecting your work surface. It is better to cover it with oilcloth, and put special plastic boards for modeling.
When painting with paints, you should make sure that the water is not very cloudy. After completing the drawing, it is good to cover the paints to prevent them from drying out, and wash your hands well.
When sculpting, if there is no goal to dry the material, you need to wrap it in a suitable material: clay - in a piece of damp cloth, plasticine - in plain paper.
Markers should be stored with their caps tightly closed.
It is good to sharpen pencils with a sharpener.

Mouse from a sleeve

Required tools and materials:

sleeve;
cardboard;
colored paper;
paints;
glue;
scissors.

Progress:

Paint the bushing gray and let dry. This will be the body of the little mouse.
Cut out ears and paws from gray cardboard.
Make cuts in the sleeve to fix the cardboard elements in them.
Cut an oval out of pink paper and glue it to the base. This will be the tummy.
All that remains is to draw the eyes with eyelashes, a nose and two teeth.

Educational crafts for kids can be good helpers in studying many topics. For example, when studying shapes, you can make a chest of drawers from matchboxes and label each one with a certain meaning: circle, triangle, square. Then cut out these shapes from colored cardboard. This way the child will learn not only to cut out the simplest shapes, but also to sort them correctly.

Shark made of clothespins and paper

Necessary materials:

pin;
colored paper;
glue gun;
toothpick;
felt-tip pen.

Progress:

Cut out two parts from blue paper: the upper part of the shark and the lower part. Draw an eye on the top.
Cut out a small fish from orange paper. One that fits in a shark's mouth.
Cut a small stick from a toothpick and glue an orange fish to its top. And glue the free part of the stick to the edge of the inside of the lower part of the shark.
Take a clothespin and glue blue parts to its ends to make a shark. It turns out that when the clothespin is opened, the shark will begin to open its mouth, and the fish will try to escape. But when closed, it will again be eaten by predatory fish.