The development of attention in children of primary school age is necessary for raising a baby and preparing him for middle and high school.
In the past few years, psychologists have noted an increase in absent-mindedness, coupled with hyperactivity in children of primary school age. If a child cannot force himself to concentrate on something, then he misses out on a lot of the basic material of the educational program, which he needs to master for further successful learning. In such cases, it is necessary to develop attention in younger students. Exercise will help you achieve significant success in this.
Involuntary attention
The principle of involuntary attention is inherent in every person from birth. So, among small objects, both a child and an adult will immediately find a large one, among green ones - red, among dark ones - light, etc. Marketing moves of many companies are based on this method.
In a small child (4-5 years old), the mechanism of involuntary attention is well developed so that he can easily memorize something bright, colorful. Therefore, tasks for preschoolers should be built according to the principle “colorful means noticeable.”
Arbitrary attention
With age, a person develops voluntary attention, he learns to remember and find what he needs, and not what catches the eye. The task of parents is to develop this mechanism in the baby. Almost from the most conscious age, the child hears such words as “look carefully”, “be attentive in class”, “listen carefully to the teacher and behave well”, etc.
Let the baby still not fully understand the meaning of the word "mindfulness", but from the words of the parent it becomes clear to him that his task is to remember something or just understand.
A distracted child sometimes not only does not understand, but does not want to understand, therefore, tasks for the development of attention are designed to arouse in the child an interest in what is happening around him. After all, if the baby is passionate, he will want to learn something in more detail, if he likes something, he will want to repeat it again and again (the same exercises and tests).
The development of attention in younger students works according to this principle, while tasks are built according to the method from simple to complex, so as not to frighten off the child's interest, but also not to let him relax.
Features of attention
Some children are sometimes very difficult to get to sit down and do something. This is obvious, because a child of preschool orof primary school age is quite active and tends to run and play.
Such problems in the development of attention are not isolated, therefore, psychologists and speech therapists first of all try to interest the baby in what is close to him: bright pictures, toys (in pediatrics' offices). When the interest of the crumbs is "captured", the adult will be able to teach him something. For example, show a picture and tell how exactly this or that object is drawn on it. “Clouds are drawn using pencil movements in a circle. Like this,”the adult shows the baby, and the enthusiastic child immediately takes up the pencils and begins to create. When working with a group of children, you can act on the principle of "who is better." The child who first completes any task without errors is encouraged.
Any kid needs to keep in mind the instructions for certain actions, this is how skills are formed in any person. Therefore, during work, it is quite normal if the child pronounces all his further movements aloud.
Attention development problems
It is quite common to encounter dilemmas associated with a child's inability to develop attention, because of which the child has difficulty in school and in playing with other children.
There are several levels of these problems:
- Small volume. The child cannot concentrate on two objects at the same time and keep them in mind.
- Vertical attention and poor concentration. The baby is psychologically unable to concentrate on anything for a long time, as far asattractive as it may be. In such cases, simple games for 5-10 minutes daily are needed.
- The problem of selectivity. The kid is not able to force himself to concentrate on the object that is necessary to solve the problem, there is no abstract thinking, the child tries to remember everything that is given to him, and as a result does not remember anything.
- Distribution of attention. The baby cannot switch from one activity to another. He needs time to start doing math assignments after the Russian language, otherwise he will make a lot of mistakes, although he understood the material perfectly.
- The second type of distribution. The second problem of this kind is the child's inability to do several things at once. Of course, it's good if he is focused on work, but this mechanism is necessary for a fulfilling life.
- Arbitrary attention. The child cannot switch on demand from one activity to another.
Once the problem is clearly defined for adults, it becomes easier for them to figure out how to solve it. First you need to understand exactly what exactly the child cannot do yet: concentrate or distribute it.
Pen trial - character correction
Speech therapists give simple tests to determine if a child is able to concentrate on certain objects. In other words, they seek to check whether the baby has the skill of selective attention. The first task that is offered to children is to cross out certain symbols from the list. For example, from the columns of circles, squares and triangles, cross outtriangles. Doing the task frequently can help your toddler deal with distributability issues.
This training is recommended to be carried out several times daily, but do not overwork the baby. The minimum threshold is five times a week. The child is given one minute to complete the task. When in a minute he manages to cope with most of the task, you can complicate the latter in the following aspects:
- Diversify the shapes. First add new black images, then (if possible) change the color scheme so that the baby is not looking for squares, for example, but green small squares. But you should not get too carried away with this, there should not be many colors, and they should not be made bright.
- Increase the amount of work. If the child quickly copes with this task, then you can simply increase the number of lines and columns by reducing the size of each image. So the baby will have to strain his attention even more.
- Strike out differently. You can invite the child to find squares and circles in the proposed columns, but underline the circles and cross out the squares. A similar task for the development of attention is widely practiced by speech therapists.
Correct text
The development of voluntary attention goes hand in hand with a decrease in the number of errors in writing. So, a sufficiently developed child should easily cope with school dictations in the Russian language. And so that the baby quickly gets used to letters and numbers, and not icons, as in the previous exercise, he is offered to read the text, obviouslycontaining errors. The task of the little schoolboy is to correct these mistakes.
Example text: “My grandmother grew a lot of cucumbers in her garden. Grandma watered them well. In winter, we will have cherry jam. Mom bought a lot of cherries for us. I am a good student in kshol, I have excellent scores. My friend plays football and Masha reads books. In winter, mimosas bloomed outside our window. A warm wind shakes the rowan branches letm…”
An adult will instantly notice problems in these sentences, even just by skimming through without delving into the essence. However, an absent-minded child can easily skip most of these blots or refer after checking that he did not understand the word. Attention tasks are designed to teach the child to notice mistakes, and not read past the lines.
Regularly taking these tests stimulates the development of attention. 6 years old - this does not mean that you can continue to run around the yard, everything needs to be taught to the baby in a timely manner.
As a rule, at first children are given short texts, over time, sentences increase in volume and contain more grammatical and logical errors. The simplest logical error that children 6-8 years old should understand is the flowering of something outside in winter.
Verification is carried out according to the following criteria:
- Not fixed 1-2 bugs - high level of attention.
- Not fixed 3-4 bugs - satisfactory (medium) level.
- More than 5 bugs not fixed - low level.
Depending on the level of speech therapistsa plan of work with the child is drawn up.
Hugo Münstenberg test
In our time, it is necessary to stimulate the development of attention in younger students. The exercises, proposed in the 20th century by the German psychologist Hugo Munstenberg, will perfectly help children not only become more attentive, but also remember vocabulary words.
The essence of the exercise is the continuous spelling of words, possibly mixed with any letters. Moreover, the words are obviously misspelled, which the baby needs to correct. For example: "IRTGARATRNRGYABLANYASCHLGNTYUPKATRNO" (this line contains the words "gara", "yablanya" and "yupka"). The line can be made arbitrarily long, but five to seven words are enough, otherwise the child may get tired and start acting up.
The second version of the same test for the formation of the development of attention consists in the continuous writing of a whole phrase without extraneous letters. As a rule, teachers and speech therapists take proverbs, sayings, ditties to develop the horizons of children. For example: “like goose water” (like water off a goose) or “quietly flowing” (devils are found in a still water), etc. By presenting this test exercise as a game, you can easily teach a child the peculiarities of the Russian language, folk proverbs and sayings, expand his vocabulary.
Math to help
There is also a so-called math exercise designed for children in grades 1 and 2. The meaning of the exercise is as follows: the teacher offers several numbers and various actions with them, the children must scroll through these actions in their minds and remember the numbers received. Certainly,the complexity of the tasks depends on the level of training and program material. But it's better to look at examples:
- For the 1st grade or preparatory (senior) group: there are two numbers - 5 and 8, subtract the first from the second, then add 2. Write. Answer: 5.
- For the 2nd grade: there are two numbers - 12 and 35. Add the second digit of the second number to the first digit of the first number, then add 4 more, subtract 1. Write. Answer: 9.
- For 3rd grade: there are two numbers - 26 and 58. Add the second digit of the second number and the second digit of the first number. Multiply the result by 2, then divide by 4. Write. Answer: 7.
Math games for the development of memory and attention not only help absent-minded children, but are interesting and exciting. With the help of such games, even the most restless child can be made to rest and sit still.
And here's another example, called "digital table". Adults compile a square table of numbers scattered in different corners from 1 to 20, for example. The task of the child is to “collect” the numbers in the table in order.
As soon as he finds the next number, he points his finger at it and calls it.
1 |
5 |
10 |
3 |
13 |
15 |
17 |
8 |
19 |
7 |
20 |
12 |
4 |
11 |
2 |
16 |
9 |
18 |
14 |
6 |
Children of primary school age tend to love these activities. Based on this game, you can come up with several arbitrary ones:
- Find and name in order all the numbers from 1 to 10.
- Find and name in order all the numbers from 10 to 1.
- Connect all the numbers in order from 1 to 20 with lines.
You can take larger tables: from 1 to 30, from 1 to 100. It all depends on the age and perseverance of the child. Tables with numbers from 1 to 100 are best given to children from 8-9 years old. As a rule, 6-7-year-old kids do not have sufficient perseverance for such values. But if the child himself is interested in the lesson, then why not?
Ring method
The ring method was proposed by Landolt at the end of the 19th century, and was immediately recognized as stimulating the speed of writing and the development of attention. 7 years old is the maximum age when this game can be used. It was most widely used in kindergartens in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
The meaning of the game is that the teacher draws up a table filled with two types of rings (circles). The first set of rings has a cut at the top, and the second, for example, on the left. The child is invited to cross out as many rings as possible with different lines within 5 minutes. The first view is a horizontal line, the second is diagonal.
You candiversify the types of rings: with a cut on the left, below, below on the right (diagonal), etc. However, consider the development of the child, because he will need to remember what and how to cross out. During the training, every minute the teacher says “line”, and the child puts a horizontal line in the place where these words caught him. After 5 minutes, the teacher says “stop”, the kid puts two horizontal stripes in the place where he stopped his work.
A child's attention level is calculated using the following formula: S=0.5N – 2.8n: 60, where:
- S - attention level.
- N - the number of correctly crossed out characters (rings).
- n - number of errors.
If the S indicator is more than 1.25, then the child has a high level of attention, 1.00-1.25 - medium high, 0.75-1.00 - medium, 0.5-0.75 - low satisfactory. Less than 0.5 - very low.
This mindfulness test in a short time can determine the level of development of any child of preschool (mostly) and primary school age.
Beetle in the clearing
Children's game suitable for both schoolchildren and preschoolers. The teacher offers the children a small field, lined with cells (dimensions 5 X 5 cells). In one corner there is a "bug" that needs to overcome this field.
The adult tells the children the path of the bug on the “map”, for example, one cell up, two to the right, four down, etc. The kids cannot write down or mark where the bug is, but after several actions, the teacher says “stop". The bug "stops" and the children or childshould tell where he stayed. The field might look like the picture below.
Attention development tasks like this will help any child become less distracted and prepare for adulthood. In addition, you can conduct classes with an unlimited number of children. The main thing is to have time to check everyone's answers and not get confused yourself.
Words and colors
This exercise is used for children of primary school age with a developed reading skill. Preferred age is 7-9 years old.
Perhaps, many are already familiar with this activity, it can be used in the form of a game or as a test of attentiveness. The point is simple. The teacher offers the child a list of colors: red, blue, green, yellow, purple, etc., but their names are written in a different color. For example, the word "yellow" is written in red, "blue" in green, etc. The student's task is to look at the word and say what color it is. What the exercise might look like is shown in the picture below.
If out of ten color words 9 were correctly named, then the child has a high level of attention. If 6-8 - average. If 5 or less - low. In cases with a low level, the exercise should be carried out daily, grouping it with a game and other tasks so that the child does not get bored and capricious. This task best forms the development of attention in younger students, exercises of this kind are not only interesting, but also develop reading skills.
Associations
Btrainings on the development of attention in younger students exercises on the topic "associations" are included as additional ones. However, they perfectly help the child develop such a skill as abstract thinking and learn how to draw.
Before the start of the game, adults make a list of objects or objects according to the principle “from simple to complex”, in general there should be no more than 10 phrases. For example: a house, a bush, a chicken, a joyful child, a man writing, a mother is cooking, a teacher at the blackboard, a ball in the sky. The task of the kid is to first listen to the entire list, then within 20 seconds quickly figuratively sketch the objects so that later he can reproduce the entire list from the pictures.
If in 20 seconds the kid does not have time to depict everything, then the adult dictates the list again. Maximum dictations: 3 times.
Memory
This is how many games for the development of memory and attention for young children are jokingly called. In the process, the child develops not only these skills, but also spatial thinking.
To play, you will need a few blank sheets of paper and ordinary buttons. The first opponent takes three buttons and puts them on his sheet of paper in a certain order, allows the second player (child) to remember the position of the buttons (maximum 20 seconds), then closes the set with a second sheet of paper. The task of the kid on his sheet is to lay out the buttons in the same order as that of his opponent (adult or child). Over time, depending on age or development, you can complicate the game: add more buttons, draw a sheet into cells andput buttons in them.
Search for letters
The development of memory, attention, thinking goes hand in hand with the expansion of the horizons of the child, which is not complete without the skill of reading and writing. So, the next game is aimed precisely at the formation of this skill.
The child is offered a sheet with randomly arranged letters. The kid needs, at the direction of adults, to collect words from these letters. For example, an adult says: “Show me how to write your name,” and a child, pronouncing, points to the letters of his name in a certain order.
Hunters
The level of attention development directly depends on the child's ability to self-control, if the baby learns to calm down on his own, without shouting and remarks from adults, then he will take another step towards the successful formation of selective attention. This game is suitable for kindergarten children.
The caregiver or parent tells the child (perhaps a group of children) that they are hunters and need to listen to every sound in the "forest" so as not to miss good prey. For a while, the children should sit in complete silence (up to 5 minutes). Then tell the adult what they heard. Perhaps it will be the creaking of a door or floorboards, the noise of cars outside the window.
You can also connect other adults to the game who will create any sounds. For example, the ringing of a bell or the rustling of leaves if there is no wind. Here, children need not only to hear any sounds, but also to remember them in order to tell them later. This is how attention, memory, and motor skills of the child develop.
Thus, the features of the development of attention of each child are individual, however, the methods invented by teachers and speech therapists ultimately allow all children to grow up and live a happy, fulfilling life, without problems with the attention mechanism.
