Comprehension activities for 1st graders

First Grade Reading Comprehension Activities

First grade is an exciting time of discovery for early readers. They’re spending less time decoding and word solving and more time comprehending and making sense of the texts they’re reading. Early readers are building reading identities and reading for meaning and joy. Explicitly teaching reading comprehension strategies like making predictions, asking questions, retelling, and inferring helps young readers build the skills they need. These first grade reading comprehension activities are a good place to start.

1. String up a retelling rope

Learning how to retell a story helps young learners as readers and thinkers. It helps them organize their thoughts as they read and recognize when their thinking changes. Using these symbols representing different elements of a story, students can string up a cute retelling rope while gaining valuable comprehension skills.

Learn more: First Grade W.O.W.

2. Visualize the story with illustrations

Visualizing is an important skill for understanding what you’re reading. This blog includes two fun visualizing activities. In the first, students are given a title and are asked to draw an illustration that matches that title. In the second, students are given clues about an object and are asked to draw the object the clues are hinting at.

Learn more: You Clever Monkey

3. Make predictions with a graphic organizer

Making predictions is a just-right reading strategy for emerging readers. During a read-aloud, find a few good stopping points to ask students what they think will happen next.

Learn more: Brown Bag Teacher

4. Make a “beginning, middle, and end” flip chart

One tried-and-true way to teach summarizing to early readers is instructing them to identify the beginning, middle, and end of a story. This easy-to-make flip chart is just an 8 x 11 piece of plain paper folded vertically then divided into thirds. On the front half, students will draw a picture of what happens in the three sections of the story. Underneath each flap is a short written description.

Learn more: Bishop’s Blackboard

5. Ask questions with story sticks

Good readers ask questions before, during, and after they read. These cute story sticks make a game of first grade reading comprehension. Perfect to use with small reading groups or with partners.

Learn more: The Happy Teacher

6. Master the five-finger retell

One strategy you can teach students is the five finger retell. Each finger stands for a different part of the story. Assigning a different finger for each part gives students a kinesthetic connection and makes it easier for them to remember.

Learn more: Mrs. Wheeler’s First Grade Tidbits

7. Summarize using simple signal words

Sometimes with early readers, simpler is better. Start with these basic questions—who?, what?, when?, where?, how?, and why?—to help kids go deeper into their understanding.

Learn more: This Reading Mama

8.

Practice with story maps

There are tons of fun tools to help students build reading comprehension, and story maps are one of them. Here are 15 free downloadable story maps to help your first graders practice going beyond just the words when they read.

Learn more: Education.com

9. Figure out problem and solution with a graphic organizer

Every fiction story has, among other elements, a problem and solution. This lesson helps students understand that a story’s problem and solution fit together like pieces of a puzzle.

Learn more: My Primary Paradise

10. Retell the story using LEGO bricks

Put two things that first graders love together: reading and building. Read a story together, then allow students to use blocks to build a scene from the story. As they build, they can describe details from the story.

Learn more: The Educators’ Spin On It

11. Retell using story cubes

Retelling is a helpful comprehension skill for readers. These six cubes encourage readers to retell the story in different ways. They are prefect for reading partners and to use with small groups.

Learn more: Every educaid

12. Play the Oh Snap! word game

Sight words (aka high-frequency words) are words readers encounter most frequently in texts. Early readers benefit from knowing a large bank of sight words, which encourages fluent reading. This fun sight word game is a great way to improve reading skills and build reading fluency.

Learn more: School Time Snippets

13. Use scooping phrases

The goal of reading fluency is better comprehension. To read with fluency or expression, readers must comprehend the story events. Teach early readers to use “Scooping Phrases” to scoop up words to form phrases within sentences. This effective strategy also works well with struggling readers.

Learn more: This Reading Mama

14. Introduce wordless picture books

As readers encounter more-difficult texts, character traits become less explicit. To determine what the character is like, the reader has to do more inferential work. Using wordless picture books is a great way to introduce early readers to making inferences.

Learn more: Ashleigh’s Education Journey

15. Inference using thought bubbles

Foundational inference activities give first graders an opportunity to practice their inferring skills. As they move into texts, first graders can infer what a character is thinking in the story and then add a thought bubble to explain it.

Learn more: The Teacher Next Door

If you like these first grade reading comprehension activities, check out our fun, printable first grade writing prompts.

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Comprehension: Activities for Your First Grader

Overview

First graders are quickly developing impressive skills as active readers! Here are some of the things your first grader can do:

Independently read and retell familiar stories.
Notice when a text doesn't make sense, and begins to use strategies such as rereading, predicting, and questioning to understand it.
Read and understand fiction and nonfiction and know the difference between made-up stories and facts.
Predict what will happen next in stories.
Think about and share prior knowledge before reading a nonfiction book.
Discusses how, why, and what-if questions in sharing nonfiction texts.
Answer simple written comprehension questions.

Here are some basic things you can do to boost your child's comprehension skills:

Try to read at home together every day

Just 15 minutes each day makes a big difference! Although your first grader may be reading independently, reading aloud allows you to introduce your child to more sophisticated vocabulary and stories, including chapter books. It's also one of the best ways to help children learn about the world and make connections between their own lives and what's in the book — and that helps children see the world with empathy. And last but not least, it's a wonderful time to snuggle up with your child and share the experience of reading and discovery together.

Keep it fun

Remember that reading together should spark curiosity, joy, and a desire to explore and learn. Conversations about books should be enjoyable, and not a set of quizzes and questions. As you try some of the activities listed below, remember to keep it light and lively for your child.

Storytelling and audiobooks count, too

Sharing family stories out loud and listening to audiobooks are wonderful ways to expose your child to language, how stories are built, and knowledge about the world.

Bring in the nonfiction

There are so many great nonfiction and informational books for very young kids (such as the popular DK Eyewitness series and National Geographic series). Try to include some of these during your next trip to the public library. Children love learning about the real world and are proud to share what they know!

Explore your world together

Even a walk around the neighborhood or a trip to the grocery store can be a rich learning experience for young children. On a walk, your child may watch what's going on at a construction site, and then be able to connect it to stories about building and the big machines that make it happen — bulldozers, cranes, cement mixers, and more. These personal connections help children connect what they read with what they know — a powerful way to build comprehension skills!

Signs of good reading comprehension in first graders

Try these comprehension activities at home

"I predict ..."

When you sit down for a read aloud, look at the book's cover together. Ask, "What do you think this book might be about? Why? Can you make some predictions?" Guide your child through the pages, discuss the pictures, and brainstorm what might happen in the story. Talk about any personal experiences your child may have that relate to the story.

Five-finger retell

After reading a story together, have your child tell you five things about the story, using her fingers to talk about each one:

Characters: who was in the story?
Setting: where did the story take place?
Events: what happened in the story?
End: how did the story end?
Favorite character or part of the story

Active reading

Model active reading when you read with your child. Talk about what's happening as you're reading. Stop and discuss any interesting or tricky vocabulary words. Help your child make pictures of the story in his mind. Ask your child, "What just happened here? How do you think that character feels? Have you ever felt like that? What do you think will happen next?" Not only will this develop your child’s comprehension, but critical thinking skills as well.

Mind movies

When you come to a descriptive passage in a book, have your child close her eyes and create a mental movie of the scene. Encourage her to use all five senses. Read the passage over together, looking for details that bring the scene to life. Ask questions like, “How do you know it was a hot day? Which words help you understand that the child was lonely?”

Tell me about it

After a read aloud, one of the best and easiest ways to check for understanding is to ask your child to summarize what the book was about in their own words. You can ask a question or two to help your child clarify her thinking or to add more detail.

Can your child tell you what happened in the story?

This video is from Home Reading Helper, a resource for parents to elevate children’s reading at home provided by Read Charlotte. Find more video, parent activities, printables, and other resources at Home Reading Helper.

Think alouds

Connect the book to your child's own life experience. For example, A River Dream: "This book reminds me of the time my father took me fishing. Do you remember the time we went fishing?"

Connect the book to other books they have read. For example, Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters: "This story reminds me of Cinderella. Both stories are about sisters. Do you know any other stories about nice and mean sisters? Let's keep reading to find out other ways the stories are similar."

Connect the book to big ideas/lessons. For example, Stellaluna: "This story helps me understand that we are all the same in many ways, but it's our differences that make us special."

Wordless

Wordless picture books provide your child with practice using clues to create meaning. There are no wrong stories with wordless picture books, only variations based on what the "reader" sees and puts together. Rosie's Walk, Good Dog, Carl, and Beaver Is Lost are all interesting and fun wordless picture books to explore. Find more wordless books on BookFinder.

Map this book!

Draw a map of the book's setting, and be sure to include the places where the main action happens!

Beginning-middle-end

This is a great way to see if your child understands the main parts of a story. After reading a book together, give your child three sheets of paper, with "beginning" on one sheet, "middle" on the second sheet, and "end" on the third sheet. Ask your child to think about the three parts of the story, and then draw what happened on each on the sheets. Arrange the sheets in order, left to right. What happens if you re-arrange the sheets? Does the story still make sense?

Words, words, words

Be sure to include books with rich vocabulary in your read alouds and call attention to interesting words and phrases from the story. This may include repeated phrases or idioms (such as "get cold feet" or "I'm all ears"). Offer a kid-friendly definition and connect the new word or phrase to something your child already knows. Talk about how the author used language or words to make the text interesting, informative, funny, or sad.

Illustrated timelines

After reading a story, have your child create an illustrated timeline of events from the story. Tape together five sheets of paper along the 8-1/2-inch side to create one very wide sheet that is 55 inches X 8-1/2 inches. To help plan the timeline, your child can add numbers that mark important points of the story. Then it's time to fill in the sequence of events with words and pictures. Once the timeline is complete, ask your child to re-tell the story — acting it out is okay, too! Variation: Create the timeline using Post-Its on a wall or outside using sidewalk chalk.

Talk show

Set up a talk show set with two chairs facing each other. If you like, make two microphones out of paper tubes or other craft supplies. You are the host and your child is a character from the book. Ask questions about the character, such as who you are, why you are important to the story, what happened to you in the story, what is the craziest interaction you had with another character, etc. Then switch roles!

Book trailer

Using a cell phone camera or other recording device, make a short video of your child talking about about why he recommends this book. Encourage your child to show the book cover and some of the inside pages when talking about a certain character or action sequence. Share the book trailer with family and friends!

Picture the character (Part 1)

Try this activity from the Florida Center for Reading Research (FCRR). The FCRR "At Home" series was developed especially for families! Watch the video and then download the activity: Picture the Character. See all FCRR comprehension activities here.

Picture the character (Part 2)

Does your first grader read to learn about things?

More comprehension resources

Development of children's cognitive activity

The world that surrounds a child from birth is complex and multifaceted. To live in such a world, a small person needs to learn to understand the qualities and properties of objects, their purpose, various phenomena. The kid needs knowledge, with the help of which he will get acquainted with the phenomena of life, accessible to his understanding, he will realize what labor is. Every day a preschooler learns something new. Pay attention to how much information a child receives and processes in early childhood. The kid, often by trial and error, tries to find out, understand, remember everything. How to effectively develop the cognitive sphere of the child - read in our article. nine0003

1 Cognitive activity of preschoolers
2 Formation of thinking in children
3 Thinking Guidelines
4 Development of the speech of young children
5 Development of speech comprehension
6 Generalization function
7 Development of perception
- 7.1 Watch the video on the development of speech and perception in babies
8 Forms of development of cognitive activity
9 Terminals

Cognitive activity of preschoolers

The child is a natural explorer of the world in which he lives. The kid discovers the world with the help of sensations, feelings, experiences, actions: he learns.

“That's interesting. According to Lev Vygotsky, an outstanding scientist in the field of developmental psychology, the individual creative activity of a child will be productive if the child has seen, heard, read, participated in different events more than other children. nine0057

Improving the cognitive activity of preschoolers is one of the most important tasks in pedagogy. After all, if we want to educate an intellectually developed personality, then we need to create conditions for its self-development.

It is necessary to develop cognitive activity in children to activate their curiosity, inquisitiveness and increase interest in everything.

Cognitive activity is aimed at:

acquisition of new knowledge, their assimilation

mastering the necessary skills and abilities

the emergence of the skill to reproduce and apply the acquired knowledge.

It is quite possible to form the makings of a researcher in a younger preschooler. Children of this age have a high interest in everything that happens around them. Every day on their way there are new objects that the children compare, recognize the names, strive to remember them. Keeping children interested in everything new can stimulate their cognitive activity all the time. Daily “rituals” can become the basis for improving the desire of kids for knowledge: getting up, washing, dressing, eating, walking, playing. An adult, being a guide to the world of objects and phenomena, tells the child about the purpose of objects and phenomena: from the field of nature, activity, things. So the baby receives the necessary knowledge about everything from an early age and, showing curiosity, develops itself. The cognitive activity of the child involves the development of his thinking, perception, speech and understanding of it, the formation of the ability to generalize, and other areas. nine0003

Formation of thinking in children

Thinking is not only thinking out loud with the help of words, but any mental process that is aimed at solving a person's tasks.

A newborn does not have thinking. In order to learn to think, you need to acquire some sensory and practical experience, which is fixed with the help of memory. By the age of one, babies have elementary thinking. The main condition for the development of thinking is the education and training of children in this direction. nine0003
The developed thinking of the child is expressed in:

mastery of objective actions

speech development

ability to solve problems (simple, and then complex)

ability to understand adults and children

sequential presentation of thoughts

variety and consistency of forms of ways of thinking.

Basic types of thinking:

logical - with the help of logical connections

pictorial (or simply pictorial ) - by visualization

creative - an intuitive way to solve previously unknown problems

visual action - through practical trials.

Thinking tips

Get creative. Drawing, modeling, games with the constructor have a positive effect on the development of the child's imaginative thinking. And figurative thinking is the basis for the logical type of thinking. nine0008
Teach your child to reason. Build logical chains with your child - this way he will see how objects, phenomena and actions are interconnected.

Do math. Arithmetic tasks perfectly develops the ability to think logically.

Enrich your child's vocabulary. Both everyday vocabulary and scientific (educational) concepts will help the child improve the thought process.

Speech development of young children
Speech and mental abilities of a child are interconnected. Therefore, wanting to intensify the cognitive activity of the child, to engage in his development of speech.

What should parents do?

Sing. A child who has recently been born perceives vowel sounds better, which are pronounced melodically, in a singsong voice. That is why the mother should sing to the newborn: quietly, but clearly. It is believed that replacing mother's singing with phonograms in infancy is not as useful as mother's songs. Mom's "performances" contribute to the development of speech, because the baby hears his native speech, its melody. In addition to singing, talk to your baby more often. nine0008
Respond to crying. A baby's cry is not only a message of discomfort or hunger, it is also a call for communication. Dressing the baby, bathing him, walking with him - in all situations, tell him what you are doing.

Articulate. Your facial expressions and articulation will help your baby understand how to pronounce sounds and words correctly. So he will quickly master the speech.

Exercises that develop the speech of children of primary preschool age.

Imitation of sounds. We buzz, rumble, howl, hum and in every possible way imitate the sounds of animals, mechanisms and phenomena.

We train lips and tongue. Teach your child to lick a spoon and remove drops from it with the tip of the tongue, lick lips, stick out tongue, clatter like a horse, smack, spit.

We train speech breathing. Let the baby blow bubbles, blow on pinwheels and blow off light objects (pieces of cotton, paper or cloth, paper boats). Inhalation should be done through the mouth and exhalation through the nose. nine0008
Learning to focus on sound. For example, blindfold the child and ring the bell. Open your eyes and ask where they called (you do not need to remove the hand with the bell). The kid will show, and subsequently will reach for the bell with his eyes closed.

Recognizable by ear. Introduce your baby how individual objects sound: a drum, a spoon, a bell, a sheet of paper, a pipe, a rattle. Say the names of objects and demonstrate their sound. Ask your child to imitate these sounds. Next, close your child's eyes and offer to guess which object this or that sound belongs to. nine0008

When developing a child's speech using different methods, follow the rules:

speak slowly, clearly, using short phrases

daily read to the baby and describe the illustrations

develop your baby's speech in a playful way

do not lisp, as the speech of adults is a guide to follow.

Development of speech understanding
All parents want their child to start speaking faster. This happens individually for each child, but it is generally accepted that a baby at the age of about a year should already speak about a dozen words, at a year and a half - at least 30, start speaking in sentences - by the age of 2. nine0003
An important condition for the beginning of a baby's speech is its understanding. What can contribute to this?

Conversations with a child from the first days of life.

Reading and looking at children's books, especially those with poetry.

Finger games. Stimulation of the fingertips sends an impulse to the areas of the brain responsible for speech development. Therefore, you need to massage the fingers of a six-month-old baby, as well as play special games with him, and offer children 1.5-3 years old to sculpt from plasticine. nine0008
The joy of adults. Rejoice when the baby says new words. It does not matter if they are not yet accurately pronounced. Support the child, do not interrupt him, invite him to a dialogue.

It happens that the baby understands everything, but does not speak until 2-3 years old. Such children should be dealt with using special exercises. For example, using ready-made aids for the development of speech for kids. 10-15 minutes daily will be enough to start the process of speech development of the crumbs. nine0003

“Council. It is important that the process of studying with a child is emotionally charged. The child should like everything that he does. In view of this, keep an eye on the mood of the baby.

Generalization function
The generalization function consists in the ability to compare objects, actions, phenomena, and also to find a common feature for them. This quality is the most important condition for mastering elementary concepts, and hence for successful learning. nine0003
A young child learns to interact with the world of objects. He comprehends the essence of large everyday objects, watches how adults use them, plays with identical toys, assimilating the actions he sees, learns to use different objects independently.

First you need to teach the child to recognize objects that are familiar to him, to distinguish them from each other, to find similarities. For example, a mother can show her baby toys that have the same name, but have a different appearance: for example, a doll is large or small, a ball is soft or hard, etc.

Parents should encourage their children to make sounds and words about what they see or do. Sometimes the baby has formed separate skills (eating with a spoon, drying himself with a towel), but he cannot identify and name the objects that he uses. To do this, the child needs to ask questions and associate activities with the objects that the baby uses.

Development of perception
Perception is the leading mental process in the development of the cognitive activity of a young child. nine0049 Perception is a system of human reflection of the manifestations of the surrounding world through their influence on the senses. Consciousness and behavior of children determines perception. Memory, thinking and attention are entirely connected with perception: the child recognizes the objects that he perceives, establishes connections between them, perceives those objects that fall into the area of his attention. The experiences of the baby are also dependent on the perception of actions and phenomena.

"In order to correctly navigate in the environment, it is important to learn how to correctly perceive both individual objects and in a complex." nine0057

The simplest forms of perception are formed in infancy: the baby develops conditioned reflexes as a reaction to stimuli. A child of primary preschool age highlights attractive and bright objects, something unusual, moving, to which he emotionally responds.

The formation of perception is a difficult process that requires special attention, which is aimed at making the baby easier to navigate in the world, able to distinguish the subtlest aspects of the surrounding reality, and adapt faster. nine0003
With the help of games and exercises, you can direct the formation of perception in the right direction:

“To the touch”. Place a few simple objects in a small opaque bag: buttons, cubes, candy, a pencil, etc. Invite the child to guess by touch what these objects are.

Repeat. Build a tower out of cubes. Ask your child to repeat the construction exactly. This exercise can be done in the form of drawing: draw a pattern, ask to copy the same. nine0008
"Pick up the same item." Prepare several different designs for a table lamp (or other object. Have the child find two identical designs.

Watch a video about the development of speech and perception in babies

Forms of development of cognitive activity
The main condition for maintaining the cognitive interest of children is a pedagogically competent selection of elements for the comprehensive development of the child.

Among the forms aimed at maintaining the cognitive interest of children, we can distinguish: form the direction of children's cognition.
Observing objects and examining them - enrich the inner world of the child, improve mental activity, speech, attention, memory, perception, and also teach to generalize and draw conclusions correctly. nine0008
Dialogue and conversation - contribute to the expansion, refinement and systematization of children's ideas about the surrounding reality.

Excursions - provide an opportunity for children to get acquainted with the richness and diversity of the world, learn to find connections, expand cognitive interests.

Classes with constructors - stimulate the cognitive beginning in the child.

Experimentation and experiments - teach children to transform the reality around them, to be aware of processes, to create something new; in the process of such activities, analytical skills are developed. nine0008
Collecting - aimed at supporting the individual cognitive interests of children.

Competitions, quizzes and other entertainment is a great way to use your knowledge, show ingenuity and resourcefulness, and success will support the cognitive interest of the child.

Each of these forms has its purpose. When choosing any form, it is necessary to take into account the age of the pupil, his individual characteristics and the pace of development. The use of these forms will allow you to build the cognitive activity of the child harmoniously. nine0003

Conclusions
Engaging in the improvement of cognitive activity from an early age, you will lay a good foundation for the development of a person who thinks independently, is able to come up with new ideas and effectively implement them in life.

Cognitive activity of preschool children: Development and Features

Content

1 How cognitive activity is manifested in preschool age

2 Methods and techniques of cognition

2. 1 Experimentation

2.2 Search activities

2.3 Game actions and technologies

3 Stages of development of cognitively research activities of preschool children

4 Stimulation of the need for preschool children

cognitive activities of preschool children are aimed at posting everything that remains still. unknown to them. Much of what surrounds people in childhood seems incomprehensible and mysterious. Children with high cognitive activity do not wait for adults to explain everything to them in detail. They are taking steps to make their own discoveries and expand their understanding of the world. nine0003
How cognitive activity is manifested in preschool age

The child's body, by its very nature, strives for activity and action. Already in the early years, an orienting reflex is manifested, which consists in the desire to find out “What is it?”. A need is formed to understand and “appropriate knowledge” (as psychological science formulates).

In the future, the cognitive attitude to the world around develops. The preschooler is interested in causal relationships. Numerous questions arise about the patterns of natural phenomena, about surrounding objects, about technical devices, about people's relationships. nine0003
The main mechanism for the development of cognitive activity of preschoolers is perception. This process becomes meaningful, intellectual. Perception turns into a cognitive activity with specific goals and methods for obtaining results.

A preschooler wants to understand how a mechanical toy works. He is interested in how a sprout appears from a seed. The child seeks to independently check how many oranges are required for one glass of juice. To get answers to such questions, children act. nine0003
Cognitive research activity develops intellectual feelings. The child experiences joy from the fact that it was possible to understand the question so puzzling him, surprise at learning a new one, amazement at an unexpected discovery, excitement in an effort to solve a problem.

Methods and techniques of cognition

The craving for cognition organizes the child. Cognitive interest, the need to learn something requires setting a goal and subordinating your actions to it. You need to show organization, perseverance, independence and initiative. The development of cognitive processes acquires the most important quality - arbitrariness. nine0003

Activities aimed at discovering and gaining knowledge are associated with the arbitrariness of mental processes.

Cognitive communication with adults gives a preschooler a lot. Inquisitive kids pour in questions. This is the easiest way to expand your awareness. In communication with an adult, cognitive tasks are solved, but this method of obtaining ready-made knowledge does not give the awareness that the child needs. Therefore, preschoolers are looking for other ways to get information. nine0003
Experimentation

This form of cognitive activity is aimed at obtaining characteristics and qualities of an object or phenomenon that are inaccessible to direct perception. The idea to literally “get” knowledge belongs to the child himself. He independently, without the participation of an adult, sets himself a task and finds the means to solve it.

Children's experimentation is extremely flexible. The preschooler tests the most incredible assumptions and uses unusual ways in his experience. nine0003
Can a shoe float, is it possible to eat soup with a fork, as mother's lipstick draws - such questions do not tolerate dry answers. Children prefer to get answers to such questions on their own with the help of an experiment.

Trials are inevitable in experimentation. It didn't work out that way, you need to check otherwise. A preschooler in this respect acts much more correctly than an adult. He is not afraid to make mistakes, but repeats his experiment, drawing conclusions and changing the conditions. “The shoe has sunk, the leaf is floating. How about the slippers?" nine0003
When conducting independent experiments, children learn to make assumptions and original judgments, analyze the relationship between cause and effect, and develop logical thinking.

Search and research activity

When a question becomes a means of independent cognition, the research activity of preschoolers is activated. Six-year-old children, reading and considering various children's encyclopedias or observing various phenomena of life, formulate search questions. And they are actively involved in the search for answers. If a child attends a kindergarten, his opportunities expand, since the independent activity of children in a preschool educational institution is encouraged. nine0003
Exploratory research activity is well structured and consists of several steps:

hypothesis formulation;

choice of means of obtaining a response;

actual action;

correlation of the result with a hypothetical assumption;

final output.

For example, puzzled by the question of whether dinosaurs could exist at the present time, a preschooler begins to find out at what time they lived on our planet, what they ate, why they disappeared. He puts forward his hypotheses regarding existence in modern conditions, looking for arguments for and against. nine0003
Game activities and technologies

Since a preschooler spends most of his time in the game, cognitive activity permeates game plots and actions. The game acts as a visual model of relations in society and gives a lot of information to the child.

On the one hand, the preschooler acquires important knowledge by performing various roles. But on the other hand, games are often created as an illustration of the cognitive process.

Children are interested in weighing with weights, they include this element in their story. They mastered the action of a compass - they draw circles for a new game. nine0003
At present, many knowledge systems intended for preschoolers are presented in the form of play technologies. Such a presentation is understandable and familiar to the child, and has established itself as an effective educational and cognitive activity of preschoolers.

Stages of development of cognitive research activity of preschool children

Let's try to identify the stages of how cognitive research activity is formed in preschool children. Obviously, the propensity to survey and experiment for the sake of acquiring knowledge does not appear overnight, but develops gradually. nine0003

The first attempts at purposeful research activity appear in 3-year-old children. By this age, the child already manages to hold the goal, and not just manipulate objects. For example, do not pour sand with a scoop into a bucket for the sake of the action itself, but fill it to the top and pour it somewhere else. If for some reason the actions are unsuccessful, then the baby does not abandon his idea and persistently repeats.

The next stage is connected with the formation of the ability to examine objects more carefully. Attentive examination, highlighting the constituent details, attention to shape and size make it possible for a 3-4 year old child to notice something new, to discover unexpectedly important properties and connections. For example, a preschooler used to see a ladybug only in a picture, but on a walk he noticed an insect on the grass. The kid examines the bright insect with interest, watches how it moves along the leaf ... But then the ladybug opens its wings and takes off, which incredibly surprises the young researcher. There was a real discovery for the baby, and new knowledge was firmly entrenched in his mind. nine0008
At 4-5 years of age, cognitive activity is not limited to simple actions, observation and questions, but is supplemented by experimentation, which is preceded by a simple analysis. The main motive is to gain new knowledge, and for this you need to consciously set a goal, complete a cognitive task, and even correlate the result with intentions. The information obtained in an independent experiment is only supposedly true. The child feels this, so he tries to find confirmation in the answers of the adult. nine0008
The highest level is represented by actual cognitive research activity at the senior preschool age. The main characteristics of this stage: the child masters a specific and precise statement of the question that requires clarification, and also formulates hypotheses, what kind of answer is possible. He is able to offer new ideas to solve the problem.

Stimulation of the need for cognition in preschoolers

All types of activities at preschool age need sensitive support from parents and educators. Especially the involvement of an adult will fill the content and direct the cognitive activity of children in a safe direction. The organization of the cognitive activity of preschoolers also consists in arousing interest in new knowledge. nine0003
Questions are born in a child when there is a contradiction between what he already knows and the appearance of some particular facts. Tell the kid admiringly looking at the butterfly that this beautiful insect was formed from a caterpillar, and this question will be raised by the child for several years. As long as the complex natural metamorphosis does not fit in the children's minds.
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