“Nowadays the first grade at school is like an institute!”... And the point here is not only the workload that first-graders experience. All schools now need, just like colleges, to pass entrance exams (more precisely, to pass testing). For many parents, it becomes a real discovery that their child is not only unable to cope with the basic tasks of entrance tests, but also thinks differently than these tasks suggest. Child psychologists see the root of the problem, in particular, in the choice of toys. Kommersant-Dengi correspondent Natalia Tyutyunenko, together with psychologist Vera Abramenkova, learned to recognize dolls and cars that are useful and harmful for a child’s development.

White, fluffy, terrible.

My friend’s child, an adequate and “advanced” boy, did not pass the test at school. It is clear that today you cannot get into a good educational institution without certain investments. But it turned out to be quite disappointing: the child could not assemble the teapot figurine, which had been cut into pieces.

I realized that it was a teapot. But I couldn’t collect it. The school psychologist explained that he, like many other children today, thinks too straightforwardly and lacks imagination. If he has mastered the algorithm of actions, then he copes with the task, but a step to the right, a step to the left from this algorithm is a disaster. The parents were perplexed: after all, according to the general opinion, they supplied him with educational toys beyond measure.

Another friend, a child psychologist, recently returned from a children's supermarket in upset feelings: “They sell white furry frogs there! I didn’t even understand at first what kind of animal it was, but the price tag says: “A soft toy “Frog” for the little ones.” That is, not only will the child swallow lint, but he will also think that frogs are white and covered with hair ! What idea of ​​the world around you is being formed?

Undoubtedly, there are a lot of good toys today, but some of them make the hair stand on end even for a person far from psychology and pedagogy.

School for the novice maniac.

We will leave the stylistics to the conscience of the manufacturer, but, forgive the tautology, the internal content cannot but arouse the close interest of a psychiatrist. Just some kind of manual for young Chikatilo.

Educators believe that it is necessary to study the anatomy of living beings at school, under the guidance of a teacher, and only at a certain age, when the child’s psyche is ready to perceive such information.

The next example involves an insanely expensive baby doll. This doll reacts to the movement of a living creature and begins to cry, demanding to be “fed”, “watered”, “rocked to sleep”. A sort of humanoid Tamagotchi, the dangers of which have already been discussed more than once.

Of course, the idea is clear: we are raising an expectant mother. But the parents who bought this doll for their five-year-old daughter were forced to take it away from the nursery after a while: as soon as their daughter moved in her sleep, the doll began to “cry”, and the half-asleep child was eager to “rock the baby.” The result is neurosis. Both for the child and for the parents.

What do they sell in toy stores today? A correspondent of “Deneg”, who has long since passed childhood, and Vera Abramenkova, Doctor of Psychology, Deputy Chairman of the FES under the Ministry of Education, went to one of the usual stores for children to conduct a quick examination of its assortment for usefulness, uselessness or potential harm. We didn’t see construction sets, nor mosaics, cubes, alphabets, etc. But at least a third of the room was occupied by “vampire slayers,” all sorts of warriors, “ghost fighters,” after looking closely at them, the correspondent retreated to the rack with teddy bears. Nervous system You need to take care of it, God forbid, you dream about it at night.

Unnatural selection.

Every parent is confident that he knows what his child needs. By what criteria do we choose and buy toys? A small survey showed: we are guided by anything - price, the child's wishes

, their own preferences, but not considerations of didactic usefulness.

Another option is “I’ll buy it, just shut up!” or “I didn’t have such a toy as a child, at least let my child have one.” Or maybe it’s your luck that you didn’t have this? When I was little, my entire kindergarten was jealous of the owner of the then much condemned Barbie doll, which was brought from abroad and leaked into the preschool. And now, after many years of Barbie abundance, we have problems with teenage girls raised on the proportions of this doll. Girls grow up and realize that they do not live up to the parameters of their ideal. By the way, the British, having come to their senses, are now bringing the image of the British analogue of Barbie - the Cindy doll - closer to the appearance of a moderately well-fed fifteen-year-old teenage girl.

When listing the criteria for choosing toys, we did not take into account pedagogically savvy parents, of whom, fortunately, there are also many.

According to child psychologists, mothers and fathers today are divided into two categories: very educated, having studied tons of specialized literature, and catastrophically illiterate. There is no middle ground.

Typology.

Toys can be soft, plastic, porcelain, wooden, rubber, mechanical, electrified, musical, waterfowl, etc., etc. - everyone knows this.

But toys can also be educational, educational, entertaining, and healing. And in this order, and not the generally accepted one, when entertainment is in the foreground.

But let's start with the healing effects of toys. Consider, for example, wooden painted thematic boards and wooden figures drawn by an artist-psychologist, from which stories are laid out on the boards. Unconsciously, each child expresses his internal problem with their help. One boy's entire family died in an earthquake.

At first he laid out the blockage without a way out, and in the third or fourth session of working with a psychologist this way out appeared. That is, the child worked through the most problematic situation for himself, transferred it from internal to external, and solved it in a game.

Vera Abramenkova: Someone calculated that the Teletubbies generated $2 billion in profit per year from the sale of products with their images (toys, magazines, sweets, etc.). In Russia, the volume of such sales is about $100 million per year. Everyone knows that the television series was shown first. After watching the series, the child asks (or demands) to buy him a toy character, a towel, ice cream with his images... The next children's series is filmed with this money. But no one here wants to think about why the same Pokemon are banned in a number of European countries?

Today, the largest number of correct “developers” can be found in the chains of specialized stores “Little Genius”, “ Smart child", "Smart games". According to employees of these stores, Russian manufacturers are most powerful in the manufacture of wooden and, to a lesser extent, plastic products. At the same time, Russian products prevail in the age category from two to five years (60 - 70% of toys). In the categories up to two and after five years, the share of domestic toys is at best 30%.

Natalia Timoshina, administrator of one of the stores trading network“Little Genius”: Among the foreign developments there are some incredibly interesting ones, but, as a rule, there is no advertising for them on TV. Consequently, they are not on the shelves of regular toy stores. And if there are, then they lie in the farthest corner, since they are not asked. Since they are not asked for, they are not supplied. The circle is closed. In addition, if a parent decides to buy a Russian mosaic or pyramid, he will have to look for it. At the same time, domestic toys, without compromising quality, provide an opportunity to save money. For example, a foreign mosaic costs 300-1000 rubles, and a Russian one costs 150-400 rubles. At the same time, ours provides new opportunities for creativity - different colors and a playing field.

Russian designers are a separate issue. According to Natalya Timoshina, today there are quite a lot of them, the developments are sometimes more aesthetically pleasing and more useful than those of foreign analogues, but almost no one knows about them. The case of the game “Master Ball”, invented in Russia, is illustrative. A foreign manufacturer liked the idea of ​​a half-constructor-half-mosaic and bought it. (Moreover, the packaging contains the relevant details of this foreign manufacturer, but the insert still lists Russians as inventors and manufacturers. Here’s the incident.)

The attitude towards educational toys in our country is ambiguous. Some “Western” psychologists believe that, in principle, a child should be allowed everything. If the toy is really “wrong”, then he will reject it intuitively.

According to this logic, most mothers who control the choice of their child are easily labeled as neurasthenic. The other approach is more conservative. It is argued that children should be protected from the negative effects of certain products. Otherwise, you may develop something completely different from what you would like. And adherents of Waldorf pedagogy, which is fashionable in Russia today (advocating maximum accompaniment to the child’s nature), say that toys made from natural materials

: wood, wool, straw, etc.

They give the greatest scope for imagination, are not harmful to health and bring you closer to nature. But you shouldn’t completely deprive your child of modern popular games.

Practicing psychologists urge us to adhere to the golden mean: toys should be different. The child is in society, communicates with children who have purchased dolls, cars, etc.

If you limit yourself to homemade products, the child will feel uncomfortable. In addition, it’s not so bad if he has one or two negative heroes in his arsenal on whom he can throw out the negativity. But it’s also not a good idea to get too carried away with such toys.

Think for yourself, decide for yourself.

The main thing when choosing a toy is to simply think about what it is and what qualities it can form. And adhere to certain criteria. In the case of the white fluffy frog, two were violated: medical and psychological. Of course, it’s difficult to keep all the requirements in your head, but you need to take into account at least the most important ones.

With the medical-ecological criterion, everything is clear. The pedagogical aspect is also important, that is, what this toy will teach and what it will develop. For example, the designer develops perseverance and spatial thinking - great.

A child is not able to perceive a toy unemotionally, and the requirement of psychology is that these emotions be positive. There are already enough provocations of aggressiveness around.

Any toy without parental participation in the game loses a significant share of its appeal. It is very important that you show and teach.

Otherwise, it’s the same dusty corner in the children’s room. And one more thing: there shouldn’t be too many toys. Even if the nursery is littered with stacked elephants, railroads, and dolls, the child will convince you that there is nothing to play with. And he wants a new railway (doll, elephant, construction set).

Svetlana Nemtsova, school psychologist: some of the boring, old toys can and should be hidden from the child from time to time so that he forgets about them.

And when you take them out again, he will perceive them as new, the toys will “work” again.

And besides, a large number of objects in front of the eyes prevents the child from concentrating - he grabs one thing or another, making it difficult to play.

By the way, in the store we inspected there were only a few worthwhile toys. A drum, embroidery kits, a couple of board games, several soft toys and one doll.

Educational games.

(the most popular toys according to the employees of the Little Genius store)

1. Nikitin’s cubes - “Fold the pattern”, “Cubes for everyone”, “Unicube”.

Contribute to the development of spatial thinking, creative and mental abilities of the child, a tendency to analysis and synthesis. Using cubes fastened together, the child is asked to build given shapes in space. geometric shapes (RUB 191-206). 2. Zaitsev's cubes - a guide for teaching a child to read from an early age (1134 rubles).

3. Lacing games made of wood and foam rubber. Develop fine motor skills of the hands, logical thinking, attention, spatial thinking.

Consist of parts with holes and lace (RUB 45-130).

4. Montessori frames (Belarus) - tablets and inserts different forms and themes (“Mushrooms”, “Vegetables”, “Fruits”, “Butterflies”, “Fishes”, “Fractions”, “Alphabet”, “Numbers”, etc.). Develop fine motor skills, visual and figurative thinking; They teach you to recognize objects by contour, navigate on a plane, outline, and shade (RUB 85-207).

5. Magnetic construction set “Supermac” (Italy), 1600-5000 rubles. depending on the number of elements.

6. “Takeshi” construction set - soft plastic tubes

different lengths

10. Constructor “Electronic Expert” (Russia), 2040 rub.

Points 5-10 - toys for the development of fine motor skills, imagination, perseverance, spatial thinking.

Psychologists are concerned about how the quality of children's play among modern preschoolers has changed: it has become monotonous, aggressive and individualistic. One of the reasons for this sad trend is that many fashion toys, which inhibit the development of the child, distort his emotional sphere and form negative character traits. Child psychologist Inna Malash told the portal about dangerous “prestige toys.”

More than a game

For a child, a toy is an indispensable tool for learning about the world around him, allowing him to master new actions and solve new and increasingly difficult problems. Therefore, adults should approach the choice of toys with all responsibility - not only take into account the child’s age and make sure of their sanitary and hygienic safety, but also know the criteria for the pedagogical and psychological usefulness and harmfulness of “childhood friends.” To do this, it is important to have an idea of ​​the meaning of play for a child:

– play is the leading activity of a preschooler, determining the development of his intellectual, physical and moral powers;

– creative imagination is formed in the game;

– the game is a “school of voluntary behavior” (the child learns to consciously control his actions);

– a game is a “school of morality in action” (it is a game and a fairy tale that help a child understand “what is good and what is bad”; verbal explanations can be long and unsuccessful);

– in the game the child learns to communicate, interact with other people and gets to know himself;

– in play, the child learns to express his feelings and understand the feelings of other people;

– in the game there is a repetition of social practice that is understandable to the child.

Harmful toys

At first glance, it may seem like there is nothing difficult in determining which toys can harm a baby’s development. Thus, toys that do not awaken a child’s desire to understand the world around them or make independent and free creative play impossible are unconditionally harmful.

However, in practice, drawing the line between toy “good” and “evil” is often difficult for non-specialists. In addition, many adults are confused by the price factor: most toys that are harmful to the child’s psyche are not cheap at all, so there is no doubt about their “all-round” safety.

So, what toys does child psychologist Inna Malash categorically advise against introducing preschoolers to?

Female dolls (Barbie, Cindy, Bratz, etc.). When playing with an “adult” doll, a little girl is limited in her ability to imitate her mother. This adversely affects the attitude of future women towards motherhood.

Many psychologists are convinced that Barbie dolls and their analogues are the embodiment of the anti-cult of the homemaker. There are also opinions that female dolls with unnatural proportions are capable of planting the first seeds of dissatisfaction with their own bodies in the souls of girls. In the future, there may be “sprouts” in the form of such mental disorders in girls, like anorexia and bulimia.

Scary toys (monster dolls, mutants, monsters, freaks). If traditional toys - kind and cute - perform a psychotherapeutic function (namely, they help children master their fears and overcome them), then the creepy products of the toy industry, on the contrary, bring an additional portion of nightmares into the lives of children.

These toys have a direct impact on the formation of character traits: a child, copying the image of a doll, identifying himself with it, can become withdrawn, distrustful, and angry. Also, toy monster “companions” awaken uncontrollable aggression in children, cause disturbances in concentration and distribution of attention, and can cause difficulties in building relationships between the child and peers and adults.

In addition, scary toys distort the sense of beauty, and therefore prevent the formation of aesthetic taste in children.

Electronic toys (transport, musical), creating the illusion of a child’s activity, actually manipulate him and set a program of actions. In essence, the little person turns into a contemplative and passive “addition” to the toy, his activity is reduced to pressing buttons that are useless for the development of logic. And the lack of space for ideas, fantasy, transformations and experiments hinders the development of a child’s creative thinking.

Interactive dolls and animals contribute to the distorted development of the sphere of emotions and feelings. Having in their arsenal many responses to interaction with a person, these toys emotionally “disorient” the baby: stroking and rocking can be responded to with crying or sounds of displeasure, and aggression or long-term inattention can be responded to with hugs or joyful remarks.

Ways to resist toy treachery

Parental awareness of psychological harm modern games ears, alas, does not guarantee a quiet life for adults, or a happy and safe childhood for children. Aggressive advertising and laudatory notes ordered by toy manufacturers are doing their dirty work. Therefore, it is important for moms and dads to know what to do if...

...a child dreams of a harmful toy. First of all, parents should think about what attracts their baby to a toy. To do this, you need to find out how and in whose company the child is going to play with her. The answer is “I will beat her!” indicates suppressed aggression. It can be caused by dissatisfaction with the child’s basic psychological needs for love and care. Also, aggression is often provoked by grievances against parents or other close people (grandmother, brother, friend, etc.).

Joint games and conversations between parents and child, as well as special gaming methods to reduce the level of aggressiveness (for example, you can shout into a glass, have a newspaper snowball fight, mold a figure of the offender out of plasticine and break it, etc.) will help solve the problem.

If a child wants to attract the attention of his peers, he will say: “I will bring a toy to kindergarten, and then Masha (Vanya) will play with me.” Also, children often ask to buy them this or that toy, because “Masha (Vanya) has one.” A possible root of the problem is the child’s low self-esteem. In this case, it is important for parents to reconsider their parenting methods. The second common reason is the child’s undeveloped gaming skills. They can only be developed by regularly playing with a preschooler.

...a child was given a harmful toy. IN ideal relatives and friends should inform parents about what toys they are going to give. But in reality from unwanted gifts Not a single family is insured. Therefore, it is advisable for mothers and fathers to know what problems they may encounter if after the holiday they decide to get rid of a harmful toy.

Firstly, this is an insult to the “donors”. Many parents do not even try to explain to relatives and friends what harm a gifted toy can cause to a child. They are stopped by hidden and poorly understood motives (fear of loneliness and rejection, feelings of guilt, etc.). However, it is important for parents to understand: if they do not know how to negotiate with people, negotiate constructively and resolve disagreements, then they will not be able to teach this to their children.

Secondly, the child may protest violently. In order not to overshadow the holiday, you should not take away a gift from a happy baby. You can “isolate” a harmful toy after a few days. The main thing is to go to the end, without giving in to the child’s demands to return the gift. If it is difficult for adults not to deviate from the decision they have made, then they should indulge in reflection on their parental role and honestly answer themselves the questions: “Am I being led by the child?”, “Am I following his lead?” Positive answers are a reason to think about the reasons.

Toy and anti-toy

Leaving the eight-month-old baby in the care of her older brother, the mother went to the store. The older boy was playing Tamagotchi and when the baby began to cry, he did not hear the squeak of the toy. Tamagoshka “died” - the baby ended up in the hospital with a concussion, the older boy was under extreme stress. Caring for the virtual “baby” overshadowed the feelings for the real little brother. A piece of plastic and microcircuits turned out to be aggressive in nature. By manipulating the child's consciousness, he turned him into a slave to the toy, real love lost to virtual...

What are parents guided by when buying a toy for their child? Do they think about the fact that a toy is not just fun? It implants in the soul the initial concepts of good and evil, gives bright, imprinted images, and the formation of moral ideas of the individual and its development as a whole often depend on what they are. What kind of modern toy is it? And what should it be? Vera Abramenkova, Doctor of Psychology, Professor, shares her view on this problem with our readers. Perhaps her approach to this issue, based on the best traditions of Russian culture and history, on the main Orthodox principles, will help parents formulate their own criteria for choosing toys. Or at least it will make you think before buying another doll or car: does my child need it? What psychological and pedagogical information does it carry? In a word, it will help you understand: the game is a serious matter.

A little history

The interesting historical document “Catherine II on the upbringing and education of her grandchildren” gives rules regarding the education of princes through play: three-year-old Constantine and five-year-old Sasha, the future Tsar Alexander I. The very existence of such a document testifies to an extremely attentive attitude to children’s games and toys. These are the orders of the Russian Tsarina Catherine the Great for the guardians (mentors) of her grandchildren. “The gaiety of Their Highnesses’ disposition cannot be diminished. Do not forbid them to play as much as they want, as long as there is no harm in the game, and during the game they maintain decency towards the people present.

Small malfunctions during the game cannot be stopped. Their supervisors should not interfere with the game unless they themselves ask to participate in it. Games should be in the will of children, as long as those games are innocent, and their health is not harmed by them.”

The Russian Tsarina rightly noted: “By giving children complete freedom in play, one can quickly learn their morals and inclinations... By nurturing a cheerful disposition in children, one must remove from their eyes and ears everything that is contrary to this, such as sad imaginations or despondency-causing stories , also endearments... Never leave Their Highnesses in idleness. If they don’t play and don’t study, then they should start some kind of conversation, similar to their age and understanding, through which they would receive an increase in knowledge...” Wise reasoning and instructions of the Empress Grandmother! They have not lost their relevance to this day.

Russia for centuries had the highest birth rate in Europe. It was combined with a high children's gaming culture. Adults lovingly made toys and preserved them, passing them on from older to younger children. Some ancient games have gone down in history: grandmothers, burners, pile, blind man's buff, tag, etc. In many games, special game items-toys were widely used: ropes, siskins, sticks, tops, bats, etc.

Adults never stopped the games they started, did not destroy play structures, or throw away toys. Moreover, they were endowed with magical powers. It was believed that they could contribute to the harvest, wealth, happy marriage or, conversely, bring misfortune. Giving toys was a common custom - the gift brought health and well-being to the child. Like any work of folk art, the toy served as a kind of standard, reflecting centuries-old ideas about beauty and aesthetic perfection. Russian teachers understood this well. Already in the 60s of the 19th century, K.D. Ushinsky, A.Ya. Simanovich and other teachers relied on national experience in their methods, using children's folklore, traditional toys and games. The most valuable in this regard was considered homemade, created by a child in the process of independent labor and opposed, as Russian teachers put it, to “rude, vulgar and immoral factory toys.”

About the game of spillikins. Traditional toys have always had an important influence on the formation of a child’s soul. It is worth recalling one historical example, which remains for the majority in a proverb that means something meaningless and empty - “a game of spillikins.” The true meaning of this game is known today only to historians. This game was quite popular in Russian, mainly peasant, families back in the 30s and 40s of the century before last. Having its own “practical task” - to teach children patience, to cultivate the ability to concentrate, the game at the same time gave an idea of ​​the complexity and interconnection of all processes occurring in the world. “Spillikins” were a handful of evenly cut straws and a straw hook. The idea was that the players would pull the straws out of the pile one by one with a hook, trying not to touch the entire heap. If he still fell apart, then the next attempt was made by another player. The game fostered patience and caution, dexterity and attention, and most importantly - with the help of a heap of straws, the child unconsciously gained an understanding of cause-and-effect relationships, how difficult it is to change a part without destroying the whole - the entire complex system of relationships.

In our time, the game of spillikins has been reconstructed, only now the spillikins are made not of straw, but of wood. A bunch of small objects that look like elongated spools of thread must be taken apart one by one with a small hook so that the pile itself does not collapse and the neighboring spools do not move. Whoever moves the neighboring spillifish passes the hook to the next player. This continues until the whole pile is cleared or until one of the players collects the agreed number of spillikins. I think that the game has a psychotherapeutic effect and can help develop perseverance and attention. Spillittle players need to gain not only patience, but also a friendly attitude towards their fellow players - without this nothing will work. What if, for example, two brawlers were offered to sort out a pile of spillikins as punishment? At first, apparently, it will be difficult for them (emotions are seething: “He was the first!”; fists are clenched: “No, he was the first!”, etc.), but gradually the game itself will require that the conflict and aggression go away, “sort it out”, like little spillikins.

About rattles, trinkets, rattles. For a long time there has been a custom of giving infants rattles These toys are several thousand years old. And more than a hundred years ago, heated scientific debates arose around them. Some teachers “revolted” against the rattle, having an exorbitant desire for the scientific training of children from a very young age and seriously asserting that an object hidden inside the rattle, which produces noise when moving, accustoms the child to thoughtlessness, since the cause of the noise is not visible to him. But others objected that any noise in itself pleases the child, which is already very important. Noise, rustling, knocking introduces the concepts of “sound, tone, volume”, teaches them to regulate the quality and strength of their reproduction. Of course, it is also very important that from a certain time the child begins to correlate his own movements and the sound that appears.

About the mysticism of traditional folk toys and their wise mysterious power. After the baptism of Rus' by St. Vladimir, many customs and rituals associated with ancient, pagan “toys” were organically woven into the Orthodox religious and cultural context. Thus, one of the favorite children’s toys of “pre-Christian times” - a boat made of tree bark or birch bark, which was launched along a stream on the first water, began to symbolize the sailing of the “ship of salvation” (like the biblical ark) through the “waters” of the vain “sea of ​​life”. In those ancient times, the traditional Russian toy was not forced out of the sphere of everyday life. This also corresponded to the attitude of the Russian person, with his feet standing on the ground, but with his soul and heart residing in the Heavenly World. The toy, despite its “familiarity,” contained something supernatural. It is no coincidence, for example, that dolls did not have faces drawn: they were afraid that a toy with a face would come to life and live its own life, which could harm a person. It is not for nothing that the inanimate object “doll” in Russian is an animate noun that answers the question “who?”, and not “what?”.

As for the influence of a traditional toy on a child’s consciousness, it affected all levels of sensations - tactile, sound, visual. Special meaning had the material from which the toys were made. Eg, Ragdoll, unlike plastic ones, removes the psychological barrier between the child and the “world of big things”, fosters an affectionate, warm, joyful, trusting attitude towards the world, necessary for a full-fledged child’s existence. That’s why toys made from natural materials are so valued today.

But the ancient toy “whistles,” according to our ancestors, designed to ward off evil spirits and evil spirits from the child, were also the first “musical instruments” that the child encountered.

Considering the figurative symbolic picture of the world of the ancient Slavs, in relation to toys, we can recall that many clay figurines are literally strewn with images of birds. The bird - the messenger of the heavenly divine peace - symbolized the grace of the Heavenly Kingdom, the joy of angelic singing glorifying God's peace.

To this day, at the heart of traditional toys made by craftsmen in Sergiev Posad, you can see the outline of the Cross.

In contrast to these traditions, the so-called “modern toys”, most often produced according to Western models, do not leave room for “plot conjecture” and the child’s independent spiritual and artistic creativity.

Why is the game needed?

Firstly, the game is a school of voluntary behavior (D.B. Elkonin). Try to force the child to stand still - he will not stand even for two seconds. But if this action is included in the game context, the goal will be successfully achieved. Remember: “The sea is worried - one, the sea is worried - two, the sea is worried - three. Freeze! After all, even the most restless boys and girls freeze and stand, even on one leg.

Secondly, the game is a school of morality in action (A.N. Leontyev). You can explain to a child for as long as you like “what is good and what is bad,” but only a fairy tale and a game are capable of emotional empathy, through putting oneself in the place of another, teach one to act and act in accordance with moral requirements. Psychological research showed: if “enemies” are included in game interaction, in which they are forced to work together, taking care of each other, mutual hostility will soon disappear, and vice versa - for friends who turn out to be game rivals, excitement and the desire to win are often stronger than friendship.

Thirdly, play is the leading activity in preschool age, an activity that determines the development of a child’s intellectual, physical and moral powers.

According to the Russian historian and philosopher Vasily Zenkovsky, “game is free creativity, the most important manifestation of the aesthetic principle in a person,” a means of penetrating the sphere of meaning, comprehending the unity of the world and its Creator.

Also K.D. Ushinsky noted how important it is to observe children’s play to determine the general and intellectual health of children. If a child does not express interest in games, is passive, or plays in a stereotypical and primitive way for his age, this is a serious signal for an adult: such a child demands special attention, this is a “special” child - maybe a genius, or maybe dysfunctional...

With the help of games, a child’s learning is more effective and parenting is more enjoyable. The game is a diagnostic tool mental state child, his personal development, but this is also an excellent method for correcting certain defects, deficiencies, and developmental delays. One of the youngest psychological methods is play psychotherapy.

What is a toy?

Games and toys, according to scientists, are the most important components of any culture. As is the culture, so are the toys. A toy is a cultural tool through which the state of modern culture (civilization), the direction of movement: towards life or death, prosperity or degradation, mutual understanding or alienation, is conveyed in a special “folded form”. With the help of toys, the very essence of human relationships and the complex world order are conveyed to the child.

Games and toys are specific media, since they record the main trends in influencing the consciousness and behavior of a person, methods and means of his education. The media are built on the principles of games (why aren’t modern newspapers toys with countless scanword puzzles, crosswords, teawords? And how many games are there on television!), and games are built on the principles of the media.

A toy is the same information carrier for a child as a newspaper or the Internet is for an adult. . Ask yourself: what information does it convey?

The toy is a national information security agent. For example, dolls can be a political object or, as is sometimes said, a political figure. It sounds funny. However, if you remember the TV show “Dolls” with characters similar to our political figures (analogs of this program exist in many countries), you will think seriously. A scandal recently erupted in the United States: a master made a doll in the shape of the terrorist Bin Laden, which was selling briskly in stores. Young Americans really liked the new villain toy. Then - “for balance” - they made a hero doll with the features of President Bush. The business turned out to be profitable - dolls literally disappeared from the shelves. And then the puppeteer received a call from the White House and, with a severe reprimand, was accused of anti-patriotism and undermining the national security of the United States. However, he managed to convince that toys form an adequate attitude of young Americans towards the president and can positively influence the future election campaign.

A toy is a spiritual image of an ideal life, an ideal world, it is an archetype of ideas about good - real or imaginary. A genuine toy affirms goodness and predetermines the distinction between good and evil. For example, the ball symbolizes perfect form ball - the Sun or the Earth. The pyramid is a hierarchical world order. Please note: on the altar barrier in temples, angels are depicted at full height with ribbons flying in their hair, as if they had just descended from heaven, and the rustling of their wings can still be heard, and in their hands they hold a transparent sphere (an image of perfection and harmony), similar to children's ball or rainbow soap bubble.

The toy always performed, among other things, a psychotherapeutic function - it helped the child master your own desires, fears. The fear of darkness, for example, can be defeated with the help of a wooden sword - a weapon for overcoming it. Sometimes the child himself finds “toys” - functional objects that meet certain, often unconscious, needs. Any driftwood, pebble, shell, nail, rag, bird feather, etc. are endowed with special properties, experiences and meanings. We often find such “garbage” when trying to put things in order. children's corner or turning out the pockets of children's clothing before washing. And every time we encounter protests and requests from the child not to throw them away. It’s worth thinking: maybe a pebble is better than a transformer, or a shell than a monster? Remember: a toy is not only an accompaniment to the game, but also a means of education, entertainment and even treatment. Are modern toys like this?

Modern toy - what is it?

One of the main means of spiritual and moral education is the creation of an educational environment that allows you to build a hierarchy of moral values ​​and ensure the full functioning of the child. The most important integral part educational environment are games and toys.

Modern girls and boys, the very same ones for whom play is a vital necessity and a condition for development, are actually “unlearning” how to play constructively. This worries psychologists and educators around the world. What would you say if the birds stopped singing, the hares stopped hopping, and the butterflies stopped flying? The very quality, the very essence of children's play has also changed: it has become sad, aggressive, and individualistic. The centuries-old chain of transmission of the gaming tradition from one children's generation to another was interrupted. And this led to a crisis in gaming culture. In the early 70s, newspapers were full of headlines: “Where are children’s games going?”, “Who will help the toy?” and so on. But, according to the famous teacher V.M. Grigoriev, the collector, organizer and “restorer” of the folk game, began to play not less, but worse: “... the quality of games is rapidly falling. More and more primitive game forms- pranks, pranks, amusements that are already at the last edge of the game and are increasingly turning into mischief and even hooliganism: fun with fire, explosions, cruelty to animals, senseless destruction, etc. It is necessary to save and revive traditional folk games - the genetic fund of the gaming culture of every nation.”

In response to the question “What do you like to play?” the majority of children (from 4 to 6 years old) named outdoor games - tag and hide and seek, but only a few were able to formulate the rules of the game, its semantic core, 5% could not remember a single game at all, 4% named computer games, a quarter of the children named toys (cars, transformers, Barbie dolls) that they simply manipulated instead of playing. The game's consistency with rules and correlation with the image of an ideal adult disappears.

Unfortunately, group games, the “air” of children’s life for older generations, have completely disappeared. Where are the Cossack robbers, boyars, blind man's buff, lapta and other children's joys? All of them, together with counting rhymes, chants, songs and other forms of children's folklore - the greatest wealth of our culture - have been preserved in the children's subculture for centuries, passed on from mouth to mouth.

Many psychologists have tried to answer main question: Why does a child need a game? Numerous scientific concepts of the game have appeared, including psychological ones. However, the very essence, the “secret” of the game was never revealed.

A modern child lives in a world that, at first glance, is much brighter and more diverse than his peers two hundred, one hundred or even thirty years ago. Let's look around: bright covers of books, magazines and textbooks at school, colored billboards on the street, and at home - felt-tip pens and pencils, colorful clothes and, of course, a variety of toys, sometimes the most unimaginable colors and shapes. I'm not even talking about the TV screen, the computer monitor - with their riot of colors, unnatural angles and graphic solutions. We all and our children live in a world filled to capacity with various and... short-lived objects: disposable tableware, underwear, clothes, etc. And toys are bought, as one father of five (!) children said, in suitcases, and after a month they are thrown away in suitcases. Colors, shapes change, pictures, objects, faces flash. And the child’s psyche cannot cope - the perception of color and sound, smell and touch, the idea of ​​good and bad, good and evil are deformed.

Sensory aggression in the child’s environment disrupts the stability and sustainability of the world, i.e. deprives a little person of confidence that the world is strong, reliable, and therefore safe. The predictability of the world is called into question, necessary for the child for adequate socialization, for managing one’s own behavior.

Appearance new toy sometimes not only reflects the existing level of technical equipment, but to a certain extent can contribute to the birth of a new technology. Thus, at the end of the 19th century, the idea of ​​the world was expressed in the widespread distribution of optical toys (binoculars, telescopes, microscopes, etc.), which is believed to have prepared the invention of cinema in a certain way.

A serial toy that, unfortunately, most often deals with modern child, is essentially an anti-toy: it contains the idea of ​​possession, rather than joyful comprehension of the world; it creates a tendency to crowd out educational play and genuine creativity. Mass production profanes individual emotional relationships with a toy as with “another self.” The external attractiveness of a toy-product becomes more important than its playful use, hence new forms and materials that are not typical of a traditional toy. Today, children's toys, as part of modern mass culture, contribute to the child's construction of a very gloomy and joyless picture of the world, as evidenced by children's drawings.

A serial toy in its spirit is opposed to a creative (developmental) toy, one that promotes the development of a child’s creative potential and his personal, moral and spiritual growth, which does not require a unique way of handling it, but, on the contrary, provokes a variety of behavior strategies. These are all so-called archetypal toys - constructive, indefinite, multifunctional: a ball, a hoop, a stick, etc. In essence, a creative toy has its roots in folk toys.

As compensation for the “underplay” in their own childhood, adults develop a manner of evaluating any thing - regardless of its use - as fun, inauthenticity, a toy.

Adults and play. Before our eyes, gaming is becoming not just temporary entertainment, but a way of life for millions of adults. One scientist was asked: “What will you do if the world ends?” He replied: “Play.” Yes, yes, don’t cry, don’t save yourself, don’t save, don’t pray, but play?! This testifies to the great importance of play in the life of a modern person. Maybe too big when it comes to an adult.

Modern adults enthusiastically play children's games. A few years ago, the American film “Big” was shown about the fantastic story of a boy who turned into an adult who made a dizzying career in the production of... toys, since no one knew the children's consumer market better than him. Sometimes it seems to me that this story is not so fantastic, and the transformed adults irresponsibly create their pranks in different areas of life, as if switching places with children.

The toy is useful and harmful. Unfortunately, the toy that sells well is the one that appeals to adults. But often it is least suitable for children. The only thing about many current toys that is childish is that they are small. What should a toy be for a child? A source of joy, a motive for play. It must create conditions for development, leaving the opportunity for independent creativity. In contrast, modern toys, most often made according to Western models, leave no room for “plot conjecture.” A child surrounded by plastic Barbies, cyborgs, and transformers represents a person charged with the energies of Western society. If a child is surrounded by representatives from childhood evil spirits, then the ability for faith, compassion, empathy, mercy will atrophy in him, perhaps forever. As an adult, he will be programmed to serve those whose plastic likenesses he gave the first moments of play in his life, with whose help he learned about the world.
A toy can create monsters in the soul of a little person. Unfortunately, not only psychologists, but also child psychiatrists and doctors have to deal with this more and more often. They have more and more work. Here's one example.

The grandmother of her six-year-old granddaughter came to see a psychologist: the girl does not sleep well, jumps up at night, often cries, and is afraid to enter a dark room. It turned out that the ultra-modern mother bought her daughter a black monster with horns and a tail, quite, as it is now fashionable to say, a “cool” monster. At first the girl was happy and played with him. But then all these neurotic manifestations began, and the girl herself complained to her grandmother that “the devil was looking at her,” and became more and more restless. The wise grandmother and her granddaughter took the toy and, while walking in the park, built something like a fire, burned the monster, and buried the remains under a tree. The girl calmed down, her neurotic manifestations disappeared. However, the story did not end, since the mother, having learned about what had happened, accused the grandmother of obscurantism and removed her from raising her daughter. No arguments had any effect on mom, it’s obvious family conflict, the grandmother in tears turned to a psychologist for help. How can you clearly explain to an unbelieving modern mother what spiritual danger (temptation) she is exposing her only child to?

A useful toy sets itself a noble educational task - to teach goodness and beauty, wisdom and joy.
Our children almost never play with domestically produced toys. Psychologists unanimously say that a generation is growing up raised on toys that have nothing in common with Russian reality. Toys from foreign manufacturers occupy the best shelves in stores. They introduce the child to the culture of another people, “reprogramming” the Russian soul in their own way. At the beginning of the 20th century, a popular theme for the toy was the image of a victorious Russian warrior. Today on store shelves it is difficult to find toys that stimulate the development of military-patriotic consciousness. Perhaps it is worth remembering the story of the Russian warrior, Prince Svyatoslav, who, at the age of two, did not let go of a wooden toy sword. Maybe that’s why some psychologists and educators sponsored by American “centers” children's education", demand a ban on the sale of any "militaristic" toys in Russia, claiming that these toys stimulate violence and aggression...

Nowadays there are a large number of soft toys on sale that have come off TV screens and “promoted” by children’s television series: Pokemon, monsters, etc. These characters, invented by cunning English, Japanese, and American psychologists, bring huge income to developers.

Ninja Turtles, transforming robots, Batman, Spider-Man - these toys contribute to the accumulation of aggressive fantasies of the child, often realized in life in relation to weaker ones - animals or small children. Seven year old boy - amateur similar toys- caught chickens and tortured them in front of four-five-year-old children, despite their tears and requests. Before that, he had watched tapes with children's horror films many times, and his favorite toy was a spider.

There is a well-known psychological technique - “non-existent animal”: an adult or child is asked to draw an animal that does not exist in the world, give it a name (name) and tell where it lives, what it likes to do, what it eats, etc. Based on the nature of the drawing and the story, an expert can determine the level of a person’s abilities, the nature of relationships with the outside world, traits such as openness or anxiety, responsiveness or aggressiveness, etc. So here it is. Pokemon was apparently invented by a person familiar with this technique, but himself extremely aggressive and anxious. Judge for yourself. Translated, “poke-mon” means pocket monster. Such a creature cannot have exact analogues in living nature; it is not similar to any of the known living creatures. For example, an ordinary bunny is not a Pokemon, but a bright yellow bunny that can shock like an electric stingray is already called the Pokemon Pikachu. Maximum absurdity, unnaturalness, deceit and aggressiveness - this is what is inherent in all Pokemon.

A Pokemon cartoon shown in Japan several years ago caused various mental and physical disorders in more than 600 children; many were hospitalized with symptoms of epileptic seizures (falling sickness). The cartoon was withdrawn from the show, it was remade and... sold to Russia. Our children love Pokemon and wear them on their clothes, eat them as sweets, read about them in books and, most importantly, demand their parents to buy such toys. And they are happy, without thinking about the consequences of their child entering into communication with a “sharply negative information field,” as scientists say.

The showing of the animated series “Pokemon” on Channel One has been discontinued, but the consumption of products based on it continues. Almost half of the boys and girls around the world are crazy about Pokemon, and global sales of Pokemon products - playing cards, video games, coloring books, sweets, etc. - are estimated at $6 billion. Cases of theft of these “jewels” from briefcases and fights over them are not uncommon, which is why a “ban on Pokemon” has been introduced in a number of Moscow schools.

TO monster categories You can include all kinds of transforming toys: man-machine, man-monster, man-robot. What feelings do these toys foster in a baby? Thus, through an ugly toy, a child’s need for magic and fairy tales is cynically exploited! Adults seem to have forgotten that a toy, as we said at the beginning, is not just fun. She implants in the child’s soul the initial concepts of good and evil. And it is dangerous if this happens in a game with a negative toy hero, and this danger is directly proportional to the aggressiveness of the character.

What's wrong with monsters - they're just toys?

Any action played out by a child can reproduce itself in reality. If a child in a game is able to behave humanely, mercifully, and caringly, then he has a certain model of how this should be done. And vice versa, if a child in a game is forced to be aggressive, rude, cruel, this will certainly reproduce itself someday in a given situation. The toy programs the child's behavior. And it is important to understand how the toy works and what kind of program it contains. Since there is good and evil, ideal and anti-ideal, a toy, as we can see, can be an anti-toy.

After all, you wouldn’t put a radioactive apple, a loaded gun or a drug into the hands of a boy or girl.. Monster toys are equivalent to them. A demonic toy is a transmitter of spiritual destruction: obsession (mental illness), neuroses, suicidal tendencies (suicides), etc.

The traditional folk toy contains the simple-minded love of an adult for a child and recognition of his right to a special play space. A modern industrial toy often forms and fixes in a person (and above all in a child) such personal qualities as relaxation of the will, indifference of feelings, lack of inquisitiveness of mind, and consumerism.

In a toy store. We, adults, invent and then purchase toys for children, based on our needs, our own - sometimes unconscious - preferences.

Here is the main children's store in the country - "Children's World". There is a sea of ​​toys. It turns out that toys are a very profitable business, and the “game industry” is expanding every year: electronic and computer ones are being added to soft and mechanical toys. And adults are seriously passionate about creating them, as if they were doing them for themselves. With a sinking heart, recently, like many years ago, I went through the halls of Children's World to buy toys.

Remembering that a toy is a cultural tool with the help of which a child comprehends a huge and complex world, becomes familiar with the latest achievements of mankind and the traditions of his own people, I was anticipating the pleasure of shopping in advance - how many things people must have come up with last years! At the same time, it is also known that every toy, even the most simple one, symbolizes one or another aspect of human relationships; it almost always contains a certain educational meaning. With this measure I went to the departments.

Here is one of my favorites - the department board games: good old blocks with fairy tales, mosaics, construction sets for kids, and all this at prices affordable for families even with a very modest income. These toys have proven their entertainment and educational value to many generations of children, developing intelligence, quick wits, teaching patience, and training fine motor skills. And here is the spirit of the times - board and printed games: “Pirates”, “Master of the Universe”, “Conqueror”, etc., focusing on the manifestation of individualism, pride and vanity against the backdrop of false romance with heroes from the fantasy world - aliens, fossil monsters, monsters; “12 Chairs” and other games about business, money, markets, real estate, banks, etc., in which the passion for profit is encouraged, deception and fraud are cultivated. There is also a game “Beauty Contest” - a guide for girls on how to prepare to participate in such a competition, i.e. how to better show off your body, about outfits, cosmetics, fighting with rival contenders. Are moms really buying these games? According to the sellers, very willingly.

The advantage of board games is that they provide joint activities, which means they give the child the opportunity to have positive interactions with peers. I don't think this applies to the board games I've seen. Well, I'll go to the dolls.

It turns out that dolls can be not only for girls, but also for boys. Instead of miniature soldiers, there is a large Batman (the man-bat from the American cartoon) in different guises, sometimes paired with his bestial enemy, apparently to organize and implement fights for the child. On the open display case are American professional supermen (a climber, a pilot and... a killer with a set of various weapons - from a knife and a pistol to a laser). Recently, a young father appeared on one of the television programs and was planning to guide his son into the highly paid profession of a killer (?). This toy is probably a visual aid for people like him. The toy sells well, although it is quite expensive.

What can you say about a soft toy? Its most important purpose is to give the baby tenderness. This feature is used by psychotherapists and pediatricians. As practice shows, a fluffy bear, a cute elephant or a shaggy dog ​​can “cure” a child from fears and even bedwetting. A soft toy embodies some very deep needs of a small creature, and not only a human one. American psychological researchers, the Harlow couple, while studying baby monkeys, discovered the following: if the monkey is given the opportunity to choose between two “surrogate mothers”, one of which is made of wire, but with a bottle of milk, and the other of faux fur, but without a bottle, then the frightened and hungry cub chooses... the second one, soft and cozy, giving him a much-needed sense of security. It's no wonder that our little children love furry animals so much.

What is sold in " Children's world"in the soft toy department? In front of me are creatures of unknown species and breeds, of unimaginably garish coloring; I don’t want to pick up or stroke any of them. True, there are also German Shepherds, stunning in their naturalism - better than living ones, but for some reason you don’t want to pet them either. And the prices are steep. Here in the center of the hall there is a huge black monkey of a ferocious appearance sitting on a palm tree - if it gets into a child’s bedroom, then night fears and neurosis are guaranteed for him!

And finally, a whole stand of black Mephistopheles (!) with the inscription “Devil” (by the way, one of the cheapest toys). What considerations did adults make when designing, manufacturing and selling this toy? And do they have children of their own? Some mother, standing at the stand in confusion, asked: “Don’t you have any angels?” “No, we don’t sell angels,” the saleswoman snapped.

The conclusion suggests itself: the central children's store presents, in the overwhelming majority, gaming products that do not meet the basic psychological and pedagogical requirements of the moral formation, intellectual development and spiritual health of the child.

Of course, they may object to me: were there really no good toys and games in the entire store? What about Lego constructors? Are electronic toys the dream of every boy?

Yes, there is a whole large department dedicated to the Lego designer. It is advertised on television: these are bright, colorful, environmentally friendly toys, as they say, which involve the construction of various plots and pictures. But which ones? “Western”, “Search for Pharaoh’s Treasure”, “World Disasters”, “Space Aliens”, “Spider-Man”, “Ghosts”, “Harry Potter”, “Pokemon”, “Star Wars” - these are perhaps the main topics .

Many parents do not share my cautious attitude towards Lego. “The construction set develops thinking and trains fine motor skills,” the young dad persistently convinced me. “My daughter learned to distinguish colors thanks to Lego,” my mother persuaded. It's like that! And yet... These bright plastic toys ultimately orient the child towards foreign cultural models: foreign landscapes, unfamiliar, non-native characters, foreign attributes. With an abundance of domestic game examples and designs, it would be very good to learn about the American Indians or the treasures of the Egyptian pharaohs. But children sometimes do not see anything that reveals the beauty of their native land, teaches them to honor the good heroes of Russian fairy tales...

Why is the Barbie doll an anti-toy?

An almost fifty-year-old male journalist (not some reformist youth!) wrote an indignant protest article to the central newspaper - a response to the condemnation by the public and the Ministry of Education of the Barbie doll as a corrupting and unaesthetic toy. Exciting public opinion and preparing him to accept “new values” and “ healthy image life,” he asks: “What, exactly, is bad about sexuality? Sexuality originates in childhood... You can't be afraid of Barbie. Sooner or later, a child will learn about human nature, and if this happens at home, while playing Barbie, when his parents are nearby, this is only good.”

Let me, child psychologist, mother and grandmother, do not agree. First, of course, there is nothing wrong with healthy sexuality, especially if it is based on love. Secondly, gender in the child’s mind has primarily social and psychological characteristics. Thirdly, the formation of “healthy sexuality” in children under 16 years of age is called molestation, including intellectual, it is criminal and punishable by law. Parents reap the benefits of a liberal approach to sexuality education very early.

Modern Barbies, having different names, are very similar to each other. Upon request, Barbie’s face can be similar to the face of the girl herself, thus the toy acquires the power of a second “I”. Why is this? When playing Barbie, a child comes as if “everything is ready” (everything is too predetermined) - this is a quasi-toy, as defined by psychologist A.N. Leontyev. The child finds himself in the shackles of stereotypes and the imposition of a certain lifestyle and worldview. It is known that Barbie's proportions cause girls to be persistently dissatisfied with their figure - an inferiority complex that leads to neurosis.

Four years is the age when a child masters his body in harmonious movement. Toys should provide an opportunity for dynamics and dance (music boxes, balls, balls, ribbons on sticks, etc.). The instinct of motherhood is strong in girls of this age; it finds its embodiment in playing with a doll. Therefore, at this age it is better not to buy Barbie. After all, Barbie is a pseudo-ideal model of a woman, a sex symbol of a consumer society, a monstrous spiritual substitution of the Mother archetype. You can dress her, undress her, buy new things for her. Barbie conveys a lifestyle - endless outfits, entertainment, changing partners. In relation to this doll, the girl will feel more like a maid, a servant, or at best a friend, and not a mother or nanny. This is not a small defenseless creature that you want to nurse, feed, put to bed, treat, i.e. to feel at least a step higher, more mature. A doll at this age should focus the child’s attention not on “beauty,” but primarily on feelings of care.

Barbie’s “beauty” is invented and imposed on children by adults; in a child’s understanding, the idea of ​​beauty in general often does not coincide with the aesthetic views of adults.

Let's summarize some results

Modern games and toys, in their overwhelming majority, are anti-toys; they do not orient children toward positive cultural values ​​and spiritual models, but instill a desire for evil, violence, hatred, promiscuity, and acquisitiveness.

The general conclusions of the review of modern games and toys indicate obvious transformations in our children’s worldview. Significant shifts have appeared in it towards, firstly, the mercantilization of children's consciousness, expressed in an exaggerated attitude towards money, a desire in the future to engage only in business, and the acquisition of financial independence at any cost. Secondly, Westernization as an orientation towards Western values, behind which is the cult of strength, expansion, aggression, combined with the romanticization of criminal life, etc. Thirdly, in the children's picture of the world there is a growing tendency towards thanatization - motives of death, the death of all life on earth , destruction of nature, environmental disaster, etc. It is this trend that has largely provoked the increase in child suicides - not without the help of the media, as well as such specific forms as toys: transformers, killer dolls, board games like “Death of Civilization”, “War of the Worlds” and similar ones.

Another one characteristic of our time - a tendency towards the sexualization of children's consciousness (the active formation of a cynical attitude towards the intimate side of the lives of adults, premature preoccupation with issues of sex), one of the reasons for which is dolls with genitals.

An anti-toy is a specific means of information that promotes anti-values. It poses a danger to the life and health of children and can harm normal physical, mental, moral and spiritual development.

An anti-toy is not just a bad toy, i.e. poorly made, crudely colored, with sharp edges or small details. Often anti-toys are branded products of foreign or domestic production that are externally impeccably made from environmentally friendly materials. But what mental processes and personal-semantic relationships are manifested in the interaction of a child with an anti-toy?

Russian children have archetypal models of perception of reality inherited from their ancestors. The modern appearance of a human doll, the landscapes of board games, the color and shape of construction sets, etc., as a rule, do not correspond to these models, and sometimes directly contradict them. By playing with toys of foreign origin, the child, as it were, receives the first experience of cultural colonization, facing the need for rejection, alienation and subordination to a foreign toy pantheon. Thus, in the life of a child, according to scientists, the first sociocultural trauma occurs, due to which a complex of cultural and national inferiority is then formed. Foreign toys can contribute to the destruction of the connection between generations, even in infancy, designing a fault line between “fathers” and “children”.

Modern anti-toys, most often made according to Western models, leave no room for “plot speculation.” A child surrounded by plastic Barbies, cyborgs, and transformers represents a person charged with the energies of Western society.

A toy with genitals, supposedly for adequate sex-role socialization of a child, can arouse premature sexual interest, and in combination with the efforts of the media and, most importantly, adult “suggestions”, it contributes to the sexualization of children’s consciousness and is essentially intellectual corruption.

A set of alien toys was presented at the New York International Exhibition. The advertising brochure says: “New toys allow kids who love thrills to use toy scissors to rip open the belly of the little green messenger of extraterrestrial civilizations and, one by one, pull out his insides: spleen, stomach, liver, etc.” Why not a guide for Jack the Ripper?! And this fills the child’s consciousness!

The toy, as we can see, seriously affects the child’s psyche and the development of the baby’s personality. After all, for him she is alive and real. Being carried away by playing with a toy, a child most often identifies himself with it, its “habits”, appearance, and its hidden essence. And it’s dangerous if this happens in a game with a negative toy hero, this danger is directly proportional to the character’s negativity.

Smart and kind toy

But it is not all that bad. We have good and “smart”, or rather, wise toys. Most of them are not sold in regular children's stores. They are made by hand at home or in small factories that exist on the edge of profitability - small editions, semi-manual production method. But you can avoid factory soullessness with a common template.

In stores you can find characters from our favorite television program from childhood “ Good night, kids!”: Filya, Stepashka, Khryusha and Karkusha. What do they teach the kids during their evening meetings with them? Goodness, justice. They teach not to deceive or betray and much more. And all this is told in a form that children can understand. These now rare positive characters radiate kindness and love to each of the viewers, and they also respond with love. Therefore, the presence of at least one of your favorite characters in the nursery will bring another piece of warmth and tenderness and will remind you of the topics that they touched on. Of course, the “creative potential” of these dolls is small, but it significantly exceeds the negative charge of anti-toys that is saturated in modern stores.

For older children, you can now buy kits for building ships, planes, and boats. For girls they sell beautiful kits for embroidery and sewing dresses for their favorite dolls, and for boys - carpentry and plumbing tools. They teach children independence, hard work, and caring for others. For example, a teenager might (hopefully!) be very pleased to make some furniture for his sister’s doll with his own hands. And any toy made with your own hands is the best for a child and the most expensive gift for his (her) friend.

There are also toys that you don’t need to buy. It’s enough to walk around the park and pick up acorns, sticks, cones, pebbles, check your mother’s supplies of pieces of fabric and ribbons, collect all sorts of trifles and make a toy from all this scrap material. There is a huge field for imagination here.

There are very few works on toys in the scientific literature. And those that affect the pedagogical and psychological aspects of toys are even smaller. But, as we have already seen, lately the market has been filled with “harmful”, dangerous, ugly toys. A lot of vulgar, useless, boring and immoral toys appeared on it. Their influence on children is clearly negative. Parents are increasingly asking the question: what should they buy for their child? Why do children themselves prefer toys that we think are terrible?

Psychologists and teachers are once again beginning to revise modern toys and “clean up” the polluted “toy market.”

By observing a child's play in order to identify children's attitude towards toys, one can simultaneously become familiar with the child's assessment of a particular toy. It would be especially important to obtain data to clarify such a difficult psychological question about the real influence of a toy: according to the ideas of children in comparison with the opinions of adults. This may be the key to a scientific toy selection program. There is no doubt that this program is needed. After all, a child spends most of his life playing.

“I’ve already shot everyone.” The monster is tired.

- Okay, here take a man, try to pull him all out internal organs without waking you up.

Strange and creepy dialogue, don't you think? Who can talk like that and about what? Just dad and son, surrounded by modern toys.

Anti-toy: “Uncle is sleeping, and we will take out his internal organs with tweezers. Just be careful, otherwise it will wake up and start vibrating.” Unknown by whom more like a child After such a game he will become a doctor or a maniac...

Modern children's stores are filled with creepy toys, and parents, along with caring relatives, without thinking about the consequences, buy them for their beloved sons, grandchildren, nephews...

But a bad toy is more than an ugly, non-functional object - it is anti-toy, forming distorted values ​​in the child’s soul.

Anti-toy

In a number of Western countries, the issue of raising children is taken quite seriously (about the same as in our country). Soviet time), there are people there who understand that a child is a future member of a given society. For example, in America they publish the New York Times magazine with free applications for children and students. These apps are given to young people with the knowledge that as they become self-sufficient, they will remain true to the ideals set forth by the New York Times. In one way or another, a person gets used to a certain “format” from childhood, and in the future it is difficult for him to do without it. There is nothing wrong with the magazine. At least there are publications for children and teenagers. Now let's try to replace the magazine with a creepy robot with a huge flamethrower and a terrifying expression on his face. What “format” will then be formed? What will a child not be able to do without in the future?

Look at the classic Barbie doll. And think about where the “legs” of the “format” that have imposed on its teeth “grow” from? Yes, this is probably a fashion instilled in childhood, everything fits chronologically: many of those who played “Barbie” in childhood, having grown up, began to copy the “Barbie” style themselves. Today girls are delighted with the Bratz doll. What values ​​will it form? What about a mechanical, say, hare singing a lullaby in an unnatural voice?..

An anti-toy is identified in two ways: either it is very realistic, as a result of which it does not carry a creative principle; or, conversely, it is as abstract as possible, which leads to a loss of sense of reality. She may also just look scary and repulsive.

Today, society is dominated by a consumerist attitude to life. We consume knowledge to make a career, we consume clothes to show our status. Toy manufacturers are guided by the same logic: for example, for a girl to learn to be beautiful, she should “consume” a plastic head (this is not a metaphor - such “truncated” dolls really exist), on which she will master the art of makeup. Yes, you can’t swaddle such a doll, you can’t sing a lullaby to it... And the girl will perceive herself as the stump of a person.

Buying and choosing a toy in many families is the direct responsibility of the father, who is always at work and spoils the child with gifts on holidays. And often dads are sure that the more sophisticated the toy, the better it is. But this is not at all true; such a gift will not allow imagination to develop. For a child, a modern toy - detailed, technologically advanced, crammed with electronics as much as possible - is not a game, but merely the consumption of a technically complex toy. That is, the child does not develop imagination, but masters and uses what the toy can do. The anti-toy contains the idea of ​​possession, rather than the joyful creative process and knowledge of the world. Mass-produced toys destroy individuality: Misha, Kolya, Sveta... everyone plays in the sandbox with “Spider-Man” - the child has no individual relationship with the toy.

TasksAndpears

A toy, being a cultural phenomenon, embeds in the child’s mind the concept of beauty. It is logical that this should be a natural, correct, and not a perverted idea. The toy also has an aesthetic function; for a child, some toys certain periods embody the image of perfection. Also, the toy embeds in the soul the initial concepts of good and evil, gives bright, memorable images, and the formation of moral ideas of the individual and its development as a whole depends on what they are. As Kant wrote: “The beautiful is the symbol of moral goodness.”

The toy helps fight many childhood fears or whims: it’s more pleasant to fall asleep with a teddy bear, and fight the darkness with a wooden sword.

The toy should form moral concepts. This is easy if a child has an animal that he cares for in his own way, but if it is a pistol from which he must shoot the animal, then morality will be formed in completely different ways.

If we talk about the individual tasks of specific toys, this could be acquaintance with professions, peoples, countries, acquaintance with certain skills (hammering nails, for example) and much more. Each toy, each toy set should be carefully inspected before purchase.

CentergamessAndgameshki

We talked about how to choose the right toy, what it should be, with the founder and head of the Center for Games and Toys, Professor Elena Olegovna Smirnova. The Center studies toys, how they help or hinder a child’s development, they put the “recommended by psychologists” sign on tested toys, and the Center has its own museum with good and bad toys.

— You are engaged in diagnostics of modern toys and even put your quality mark, tell us how your work process is organized. Do manufacturers come to you or do you go to toy stores looking for research items?

- Always different. In the beginning, when we first opened, about five years ago, we basically had to do a lot of shopping. Now manufacturers are starting to apply themselves. And although we strive to ensure that manufacturers consult with us at the time of developing a toy, this, unfortunately, is not happening now.

— So, if you write an unflattering review about a toy, the manufacturer is unlikely to remove it from the production line?

- Yes, this doesn’t happen. This is too costly for them. But we have the opportunity to stick our own quality mark, which is a guarantee for parents that this toy will not harm the child.

— By what criteria do you evaluate a toy?

— First, the toy goes through a kind of ethical filter. We check her for the absence of aggressiveness, ugliness, anti-human and inhumane factors. Then we look at what developmental potential the toy has: does it develop the child physically, intellectually, or spiritually. It is also important how easy it is to play with. Lastly, we check its operational capabilities - what material is it made of, is it comfortable to hold, play with, is there small parts and much more. In general, this should be enough for parents when choosing toys.

Nice toy. Wood is the best material for toys. The cars are minimalistic, but at the same time they look aesthetically pleasing.

- What can you say about toys such as Shrek? He doesn’t look very nice, but many children associate him with a positive hero? It’s the same with “Smeshariki” - don’t they look particularly aesthetically pleasing?

— It’s difficult to talk without seeing the toy. I don't know what material, what facial expression. As for the “Smeshariki”, there are indeed some nice ones and some not so nice ones. We are now starting to work with them. But Shrek... I don’t know, I think he doesn’t look very nice.

— AHowohshould the toy have a facial expression?

- You know, the first toys that appeared somewhere in the seventeenth century were without faces. People believed that a doll with a face could take energy from a person. Today we allow toys with a face, but it must be neutral, without any bright emotions. Especially you should not allow the toy to have an angry or dissatisfied expression on its face.

— And if a child persistently demands an anti-toy, what should parents do?

- In general, children are often attracted to ugliness, but this is bad, and parents should try to protect them from this, instill good taste, form an attachment to charming toys, and let them understand through toys what human warmth is. If a child demands a bad toy, like the neighbor's boy, then you can buy him a good toy and explain why it is wonderful. Tell a story about it, that is, immediately include the child in a play situation.

- What about bad heroes? A child cannot use only positive images in play, can he?

- Yes, we need a negative hero. And the same requirements are imposed on him. It just needs to be clear that he is bad: as a rule, this is created by his clothes, but not by his angry grimace.

— Can pistols, machine guns and other generally aggressive weapons become good toys?

- Yes, maybe, if it’s a mock pistol and not a realistic model. It should not make any sounds and should not glow. If it's just a weapon marker, then why not? Boys feel manly with guns. They used to make good toy sabers, they were plastic, different colors and not sharp at all, boys even slept with such sabers. Today's children's weapons often look too threatening.

- And what kasatsyadolls, TOkakimiOneitherdolwivesbe?

- Open, dear, they, again, should not speak or make any sounds at all. The less their face is drawn and the less it expresses emotions, the more the child will be able to give it. But, of course, it must be durable.

— There is a stereotypical opinion that boys play with cars and girls with dolls, do you agree with this?

- No, I absolutely disagree. Boys also need dolls, but these should either be boy dolls, or those in which the gender is not identified - put on a dress and become a girl, pants - a boy. Unfortunately, there is a big shortage of such dolls on the market. A doll is needed to learn how to build relationships with peers; a doll can become a friend to a boy, or with its help he can see himself better. In the end, he also has to carry someone in the car.

— We are now talking about the fact that in the modern toy market the quality leaves much to be desired, but, nevertheless, you have good exhibits on display in the museum. Where can parents look for toys?

— Today, large factories rarely produce anything good; it has mainly become the prerogative of small factories that make very good things. For example, we really like the products of the Vesna plant. You can look for good toys at various exhibitions and fairs - this is perhaps the surest way.

— Try creating toys with your child: they don’t have to be highly artistic. In many children's studios today, preschoolers sculpt with clay, make appliqués, etc., where they can also create toys. Try to take your child to such studios, or make up for it at home.

— A designer toy in a store, as a rule, is quite expensive and is rather decorative. But a designer toy can be purchased not only in a store. For example, at the “Masters Fair” you can, if you look for it, of course, find excellent and inexpensive designer toys exhibited by the authors themselves.

— You can also search for toys using other online stores. There are many of them and they are not difficult to find. The good thing about them is that you can choose a toy by manufacturer, by age, and sometimes by material. So you can always find a good toy quite quickly from a huge catalog.

In the game, the child comprehends the world of human relations and the structure of the world in general. A person deprived of play in childhood is inevitably mentally disabled

Very often you can hear: “My child does not play. He is not interested in toys. He is much more willing to fuss around next to me in the kitchen, and the most various toys They’re lying idle in the nursery!” Is this situation normal and what is its reason? Do I need to do something, or will the baby outgrow it and start playing more and better?

Nowadays, the situation with children's games and toys is not at all as simple and problem-free as it seems at first glance.

What kinds of toys are there?

Toys can be educational and story-based, plastic and wooden, for boys and girls, Chinese and non-Chinese. When choosing a toy for a small child, firstly, you need to remember that the material from which it is made should be as environmentally friendly as possible. In addition, the toy must be made of impact-resistant, non-toxic, permanently colored materials - in the expectation that a small child will gnaw on it, bite it, drop it, and different ways use for other purposes. Many Chinese toys are simply not intended for active use by their child. They only look like toys, but they break within the first week. The child does not have time to play enough with the toy or become attached to it.

So, the toy must be of high quality and strong.

Toys, like book illustrations, and the environment in the nursery largely shape the child’s aesthetic world and tastes. Choose toys of the aesthetic direction that is closest to you, parents. Choose toys that you think are beautiful.

Let's start with quantity

As a rule, anyone modern child, almost regardless of the family’s income level, there are many more toys than he needs and is useful to have. There are several reasons for this “overstocking”.

Cherished wishes of dad and mom

Firstly, and this applies mainly to first-born children, when a baby appears in the family, both parents, and especially the parent whose gender matches the gender of the child born, begin to buy those toys that they could not buy for themselves when they were small children and very these wanted toys. The peak of this kind of purchases occurs in the period from one to three years.

And this parental desire cannot be condemned in any way; one can only be aware of it and try to control it. Mothers enthusiastically buy doll sets and cribs, strollers, as well as the dolls themselves in commercial quantities. Dads buy railways impressive sizes, all kinds of cars, gas stations and even, to the horror of mothers, weapons.

Present

Everyone together - as well as guests and grandparents - bring Stuffed Toys. It is simply considered bad manners to come to a house where there is a child and not bring him a toy, usually a soft one, as a gift.

It happens that at the turn of the second year of life, a child’s toy possessions increase many times over in a matter of weeks. But he doesn't play.

Parents sometimes even get angry: “He has such toys, each of which, if I had had them as a child, would have simply squealed with happiness, but he has no emotions.” Unfortunately, this is exactly the case when the number of toys and the quality of the game are inversely proportional.

That is, what more toys, the worse the game.

Remember the famous episode from “The Little Flower of Seven Flowers.” The girl Zhenya says: “I want all the toys in the world to be mine.” And then she herself doesn’t know what to do with them, because playing with such an unimaginable amount of everything doesn’t even occur to her. Unfortunately, many children today find themselves in a very similar situation.

The pursuit of "early development"

A significant part of a modern child’s toy possessions consists of educational and educational toys. There are a lot of them now, and parents can buy literally everything without looking closely at the age restrictions on the box with a game or toy. Of course, a child should have educational and developmental toys. The whole question is in quantity, quality and method of application.

A child can adequately use educational toys only when there is an interested adult nearby who will kindly show the child what exactly can be done with this toy. If educational games and toys lie “in heaps” in boxes with other toys, scattered and mixed, then such educational toys are of almost no use. And your child is unlikely to use it for its intended purpose.

Incredible variety

It is still difficult for our post-Soviet people to get used to the huge supply of virtually any product item. And, not being able to choose, we buy everything. We often think that more is better. In reality, in matters of education, everything often turns out to be different. And one of the main issues is a sense of proportion.

As a rule, children who are “gifted” with toys play little with them. The number of toys is proportional to the quality of the game. Rather, it is inversely proportional. It often happens that the more toys, the worse child plays, the more he scatters them. So a large number of toys is good only if the play space is properly organized.

So, the art of choosing toys. Let's start with quantity. Everything is simple here: there should be as many toys freely available as a child, with the organizing help of an adult, can relatively easily remove.

Let me remind you once again about the features of attention development small child: By the end of the first year of life, the child is at the “field stage” of attention development. This means that if a baby starts playing with one toy and at the same time another one catches his eye, he is more likely to leave the first one, get distracted and start playing with the second toy, and so on until he has gone through all the toys.

If your baby is playing with something, in no case should you try to give him new objects in order to diversify the game. In this age, we really value concentration. A child who has been playing should be left alone and quietly rejoice that his abilities for purposeful action are developing.

If a child is sitting in a pile of toys, then the most likely thing is that he will simply scatter them.

“Communication stamp” on the toy

There is such a classic experiment in developmental psychology: a mother is asked, from all the available toys, to choose the one that her child likes to play with least, and for two weeks every day, play with this toy for several minutes with the child. The results of this behavior exceed all expectations - the toy goes from being the least favorite to the most preferred.

Child and then another for a long time chooses this toy even when playing independently. The fact is that for the child this, this particular toy, became saturated with the presence of the mother. Taking it in his hands, he remembers all the previous days of playing together, remembers what and how his mother did with this toy.

This toy, as psychologists say, now bears the “stamp of communication.”

So, if you want your child to play with his toys, you must play with them for many hours, “revive” them with your presence. They say that a “played” and a “non-played” toy can be easily distinguished. For a child to play, it is necessary for the mother to play with him. Otherwise, the child will only play with his mother’s favorite toys - saucepans and Cell phones. Children more often use those items that their mother uses.

So, modern children do not play because they have too many toys, and, therefore, they are not valuable. Children do not play because there is no transmission of gaming culture between generations - since children in cities now rarely communicate with each other freely and do not learn games from each other. This missing link in the transmission of gaming culture needs to be filled by adults, and adults also do not play with children. In addition, most of the toys offered are “wrong”.

Let's talk about the “right” and “wrong” toys

The “wrong” toy is made of the wrong (unnatural) material, painted in unnatural colors that do not exist in nature. The “wrong” toy is too similar to the real thing (for example, a small toy iron is just like a large iron). This excessive similarity does not leave room for the development of the child’s imagination: the toy is already too similar to the model, there is no need to think of anything.

The “wrong” toys often use the button principle. The baby presses a button, and from this one simple movement the lights light up, the wheels begin to spin, everything comes into motion. That is, the effort expended absolutely does not correspond to the result obtained. And it does not allow the formation of cause-and-effect relationships, which means that intelligence develops in a completely different way than when playing with a simple toy. Where “pushed - it rolled” or “hit - flew off”.

The craving for early easy impressions, for the fact that almost everything around is entertainment, is deposited very deeply. It is clear that we live in a civilization of buttons - but the more the child in preschool childhood will see things whose operating principles are more obvious and accessible to him, the better his logical thinking will be developed.

Children have a great interest in manual labor - both male and female. They look very carefully at what is done with their hands. And if dad nails a nail or drills a wall, then for the baby it’s just a celebration of learning about adult life. But unfortunately, if examples of female manual labor can be seen (for example, in the kitchen), then in many families it is all male manual labor comes down to working on a computer keyboard. And this is natural - this is the stage of development of civilization. And yet, I would highly recommend that fathers of little boys at least occasionally do with them what has been a man’s part of housework for centuries. This will be a much more educational activity for them than many educational games.

The right toy is multifunctional. That is, it can be used in many different ways in many different games.

A classic example of a multifunctional toy is a ball. You can throw it and roll it, it can become a doll watermelon or a fairy-tale bun. How smaller child, the more among his toys there should be multifunctional ones.

The right toy is made from environmentally friendly material (fabric, wood, metal, leather). Of course, it’s unlikely that you can do without plastic toys completely, but you can strive to keep their percentage as low as possible.

Creation of play space and its organization

Small packaging principle

One of the simple and affordable ways to make a toy new or almost new for a child is to put it away. If you divide all the child’s toy property into 3 or 4 approximately equal parts, remove ¾ and change the toy “exposition” once a week - child own toys will look almost like new.

It’s good for a child if small animals are kept separate, cars are kept separate, and construction sets are not mixed together. This makes it easier for the baby to learn to play and create chaos around him.

Where do the toys live?

Children love to have toys arranged in a variety of boxes, beautiful boxes and baskets. This makes it easier for kids to understand that each toy has its own house. Ideally, there is a play area in the children's room and all the toys live there.

For older children, the main object that organizes the space of the play area can be a toy house.

If your baby has already begun to crawl or walk, toys simply thrown into a box or basket will not work. Psychologists and teachers believe that the optimal location of toys is at the child’s eye level on shallow open shelves. That is, a rack tightly screwed to the wall is best suited for toys. Such a rack should not be confused with a toy storage system, which must be located in a place inaccessible to children. It’s good if the toys in the storage system are distributed by type and stored in closed, opaque boxes.

Remember that until about three years of age, a child plays much better if mom and dad keep the play shelves in order. The fact is that children at this age are not able to create what experts call “good structure” for toys. Simply put, the baby plays enthusiastically while he can destroy order and break the structures created by his parents. And as soon as everything is destroyed, interest in toys and games, as a rule, disappears.

The first toys for story play

Good toys for a one-year-old, two-year-old, or three-year-old child should “tell” the child the plot of the game and suggest the right ways to treat himself. Around the age of one and a half years, the baby develops the ability to depict actions in play that are similar to those he sees every day. For example, how they feed, put to bed, dance. This is how the first director's play appears. The emergence of such a game is an important milestone in mental development child. Psychologists focus on the emergence of this game as an indicator of the general well-being of the child’s development. And it is very important that adults understand the value of this type of play.

After all, by playing with toys and constructing the first stories, the baby learns the experience of adults. It is through playing that a child learns to better understand what is happening around him and makes the actions of adults his own. Therefore, parents should sit on the carpet in the nursery and show the baby how the dog does “top-top” and “am-am”, understanding at the same time that what does not develop the child like this? cooperative game with mom or dad. In addition, the game is the golden fund of your communication with your baby.

Let's list the first toys for the story game:

Baby doll (needed for both girls and boys; it is when playing with a doll that a child masters human emotions);

Puppetry, i.e. dishes, bottles and pacifiers, clothes and blankets;

Big cars and small cars;

Railway;

Game house;

Pieces of fabric for dressing up, draping, transforming and various other items for dressing up;

Unstructured play material (pebbles, chestnuts, pine cones or plastic balls), e.g. objects that can be sprinkled and assigned any game value. Chestnuts can be doll potatoes, money, and bombs. There is a lot of scope for developing your baby's imagination;

Story-based play sets with animals and people.

The first educational toys

Educational toys should also be in the nursery, but their place and role are very special. So, under no circumstances should these toys be located below, in the “pile.” They should have a place on high shelves, but such that the baby can see them and show them with his finger or name them if he wants to play with them.

Educational toys are good as an addition to an adult who is ready to play with them. It is when playing with educational toys that the “zone of proximal development” is created, i.e. those actions that the baby can do together with his mother, but he cannot yet cope with them alone.

If we talk about the proportional relationship different types games, then for a child who is from one to four years old, story games there should be no less than developing ones.

What educational toys should a child have?

Large mosaic with a diameter of 20 mm;

Box of forms;

Montessori frames and inserts;

Puzzles consisting of 2, 4, 8 pieces;

Large plastic cubes;

A construction set of the “Duplo” type, preferably with plot additions;

Children's musical instruments;\

Development boards

It is necessary to show adequate ways of communication, to express his feelings for the child.

Getting to know the world around you. Toys for little ones

The main games for children under three years of age occur without the use of toys.

Games with numbers. Water and sand

Playing with sand and water gives a child as much joy as swimming in the warm sea gives an adult. Therefore, try to at least give your baby plenty of time to play with them in the warm season. But in many countries, an indoor sandbox is an indispensable attribute of kindergartens and children's rooms.

I will name toys that your child will surely like:

Cups of different sizes and colors for pouring;

Molds with various kinds of holes;

Medium size plastic bottle;

Water mill for bathroom;

Fishing game: large fish and fishing rod;

The ships and fish are simple and fun.

Spilling games

Urban children chronically lack sensory experiences, especially sensations associated with touch. This issue is especially acute in the autumn-winter period, when it is impossible to play in the sand, and the snow is often such that you cannot play in it. Yes, snow is not suitable for games to develop the sense of touch - it is cold, and few children like it. Therefore, parents should make an effort to use the resources that are always at hand to create a developmental environment for playing with numbers and training the sense of touch.

Sleeping games are exciting and children really like them. Such games can temporarily take even the most frisky fidget away from their usual pranks. The simplest thing you can do at home is to pour in unshelled walnuts, chestnuts or peanuts. To do this, you will need one large container (approximately 1-2 liters) and two smaller ones (250-500 ml). You need to show your baby how to take nuts one at a time and put them in cups, and then show him how to pour them in handfuls. But the most interesting thing is to pour the cereal.

You can pour:

Buttons, beads;

Coins;

Large grains (beans, peas, beans);

Vegetables (pre-washed well);

Small toys or parts of small construction toys.

Development of touch

An excellent opportunity to develop your baby’s sense of touch is the game “Magic Bag”. The principle of the game is simple: you need to put 3-4 not too large objects that are well known to the child into a fabric bag.

It is very important, starting from 10-11 months, to try to diversify the child’s vocabulary by adding words related to the sense of touch (“soft - cannot be crushed”). To distinguish between these concepts, you need to play with your baby with objects made from materials with different tactile qualities. For example, a pebble and a piece foam sponge. The sponge will easily squeeze in the palm, but the hardness of the pebble will give the opposite sensation. You also need to teach your baby to touch people, animals, and objects in different ways. For example, you need to teach “touch tenderly,” “touch with one finger,” “stroking,” as well as clap your palm, knock hard, press hard. These exercises will help your child learn to control the strength of his hands when in contact with someone or something.

Exercises with plasticine or salt dough, clay. In the autumn-winter time, it is useful for the child to have such activities, lasting 7-10 minutes, every day.

Minimum set for developing the sense of touch:

Plasticine of different softness (plasticine in buckets, plasticine in blocks);

Toys made from different materials, different types of fabrics;

Toys with various fillings (for example, cereals, balls);

You should NOT prevent your baby from getting to know by touch everything that is potentially not dangerous, especially food.

Creating a normal play environment: the best toys for children from one to two years old

It is appropriate here, in my opinion, to provide a list of the best toys with brief explanations about each. After all, it often happens that with a huge variety of toys, a child lacks some that are very important for development.

Let's list them:

Balls of different sizes and different fillings;

A four-wheel scooter or a car that you can sit on;

Sets of small story toys; sounding toys.

Creating “yes-environments” and non-play objects as toys

If you want your child to play well and freely, you should say the word “no” as little as possible in the nursery. This does not mean that the child does not need restrictions, it’s just that playing time is far from best time to introduce restrictions.

Play is a space for a child’s free creativity, and a sharp “no” from mom or dad can tear this play space apart, the delicate fabric of play will be interrupted, and the child will not be able to continue playing further with the same inspiration. The restrictions that exist in the nursery and regarding toys should be simple, understandable, constant and minimal. Decide in advance what exactly the child cannot do with toys. And it’s best to put away items that cause a flood of prohibitions or great anxiety in adults. If a prohibition is repeated frequently, the child either learns to ignore it or develops excessive stubbornness through daily resistance.

About cleaning up toys. Self-Reliance Skills

There is a wonderful proverb: “If you love to ride, love to carry a sled.” She says, as you understand, that you need to be responsible for the consequences of your actions. For a child who is about to turn two years old, such things begin to be accessible if parents consider it necessary and correct to spend time and effort on cleaning up toys together or the child’s participation in clearing the table.

According to most psychologists, it is beneficial for a child’s development to have minimal household responsibilities. It is by doing chores around the house every day that a child develops the ability to be responsible for himself, to concentrate, to try, and to finish what he has started.

By saving a child from the “trouble” of collecting toys, you will not help him, but in some way will hinder him from understanding the world and himself in this world. Naturally, for most adults it is much easier and calmer to put away toys themselves. But if the habit of participating in cleaning the nursery arises early, before the age of three, then it will be much more difficult to form after that, since the child will begin to resist more actively. Try to find time, energy and imagination to involve your child in cleaning up toys every night.

The plots may be different, but the core is the same: the mandatory participation of the mother and her ability to creatively organize the process. When arranging a nursery, remember that for a child, the things that surround him are his whole world. And you’re not hanging shelves and arranging cabinets at all - you’re creating a universe in which your baby will grow and learn everything.