5 year old boy activities: Fun learning activities for 5-6-year-olds

Senior preschool age (5–6 years) is a time of intensive physical, mental and personal development of a child.

The leading activity of 5–6-year-old children is play, in which all mental processes and aspects of the child’s personality develop. In the game, the child comprehends the possibilities of substituting one object for another: for example, a cube becomes “soap”, a chair becomes a “car”, a stick becomes a “sword”, etc. Game substitution is the beginning of a long path leading to the use of mathematical symbols, notes, etc. Educational games for children at this age contribute to the rapid development of figurative thinking, speech, and imagination. In the role-playing game, older preschoolers develop the ability to analyze their actions, to see the situation from the perspective of another person.

At senior preschool age, relatively stable personality traits begin to appear. At this age, a positive self-image is formed and, as a rule, an overestimated self-esteem: “I am good”, “Everyone loves me”, etc. Children are aware not only of the qualities that characterize them today, but also of the potential “I”, while most children are guided by a positive image of themselves in the future: “I will get only fives”, “I will be smart”, etc. Such a positive attitude is a favorable condition for the further development of the child’s personality.

At this age, cognitive activity is actively developing: the child seeks to find out how objects are arranged, what they are intended for, seeks to establish causal relationships between the phenomena of reality. The older preschooler is already able to accept the learning task: he understands that he is performing some action in order to learn how to do it correctly. By the age of 6–7, the child is already able to use the learned method of action in new conditions, compare his result with the model, and see the discrepancies. Behavioral motivation develops. The ability to evaluate one’s own performance is noticeably increased. At the age of 5.5–7 years, voluntary memorization appears: the child begins to consciously repeatedly repeat what needs to be remembered. Attention becomes more stable. The child is able to more concentrated, without being distracted, to perform this or that work, even if it is not very pleasant, but necessary. Perception becomes more and more focused, observation develops. In the imagination, a child of this age is able to move away from the learned standards and create a combined image of fantasy. At the age of 5-7 years, children experience an important turning point in the development of the brain: the speed and strength of the formation of conditioned nerve connections in the cerebral cortex increases, the inhibitory function of the cerebral cortex develops – as a result, it becomes possible to control their behavior.

Speech continues to develop in children aged 5–6: the vocabulary is enriched, the grammatical structure of speech, intonation and figurative expressiveness are improved, coherent speech is actively developing. An important feature of speech in children of this age is its egocentricity. While playing, doing drawing, modeling, designing, the child often talks to himself, without addressing anyone, talks about his actions, as if commenting on them. Egocentric speech is a kind of means of thinking. The child often does not yet know how to think to himself, so he thinks out loud. Egocentric speech helps the child to be aware of his actions and plan activities.

The leading type of thinking in older preschoolers is visual-figurative thinking. However, in difficult cases, they return to a genetically earlier level of thinking – visual-effective, because sometimes they cannot solve the problem outside of practical actions with objects.

An essential indicator of a child’s development is the mastery of various knowledge, the presence of detailed ideas about the environment. Knowledge during preschool childhood deepens and expands, their generalization takes place.

Thus, at the older preschool age, children can understand the general connections and patterns underlying scientific knowledge, and not just the assimilation of specific ideas about the environment. However, children reach a sufficiently high level of cognitive activity if parents and teachers create special conditions for this.

The Razumeikin website can provide significant assistance in this. The resource of the site allows you to develop higher mental functions: thinking, attention, speech, memory of a child of 5-6 years old. To master counting and reading in an age-friendly form, to form cognitive motivation, to broaden one’s horizons. All this creates the basis for the successful education of the child in school.

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Online classes on the Razumeikin website:

• develop attention, memory, thinking, speech – namely, this is the basis for successful schooling;

• help to learn letters and numbers, learn to read, count, solve examples and problems, get acquainted with the basics of the world around;

• provide quality preparation of the child for school;

• allow primary school students to master and consolidate the most important and complex topics of the school curriculum;

• broaden the horizons of children and in an accessible form introduce them to the basics of various sciences (biology, geography, physics, chemistry).

The Secret of Preschooler Motivation, or the “Green Pen Principle”

Teaching a child to believe in himself and have a positive attitude towards learning is no less important than introducing him to the alphabet and numbers. Why you need to play with a preschooler, what the “green pen principle” is, and how the “Mom Robot” will help arouse interest in learning, said Yulia Grigoryeva, teacher and project manager for elementary education at the Foxford online school, and Victoria Shimanskaya, Doctor of Psychology.

Yulia Grigoryeva, teacher and primary education project manager, Foxford online school

Viktoriya Shimanskaya, Doctor of Psychology, founder of the online academy of modern parents SKILLFOLIO kids

The main activity of a 5-6 year old child is a game. During it, children get to know themselves, show initiative, develop imagination and willpower. Therefore, any learning should be turned into a game – then the child will remember and understand new topics.

6 Ways to Motivate Your Preschooler

Choose the right motivator to keep your kids happy with tasks. Receptions will be even more effective if they are alternated.

Proximity motivation. The brain of a 5-6 year old child works in such a way that only “here and now” matters. Therefore, a preschooler will not do what he is not interested in. Explain to the child what will benefit him right now, and not in the future.

Financial incentive. Reward your child for success in playing and learning with small souvenirs – stickers or badges. At the same time, material incentives are tied to the result, and not to the process, so do not abuse this method. Children quickly get used to gifts and begin to wait for them.

Emotional motive. For preschoolers, a positive assessment of others is important, so rejoice at the success of the baby.

Self-affirmation and imitation of adults. In the game, the child is self-aware and strives for recognition – let him try on the roles of a teacher, doctor or parent.

Moral motive. At the age of 5-6 years, children are faced with the question: “What is good and what is bad.” They like to be useful, to help others. It is useful to use such motivation to develop practical skills: help mom wipe the dust or count apples for a pie.

Conditional-cognitive motive. Use your child’s curiosity to motivate you. For example, intrigue him with a story about a hero he will meet while reading a new fairy tale.

Activities to help prepare your child for learning

Playing together, giving proper praise, and applying school knowledge to everyday life are simple ways to get your child interested in learning.

Rehearsing school behavior. In advance, a few weeks before September 1st, start playing scenes from school life with your child: collecting a backpack, meeting classmates, a regular lesson. Give your child the opportunity to be either a student or a teacher. So the child will try new processes for himself in a familiar environment.

We develop interhemispheric connections. To write, count and read well, you need the coordinated work of both hemispheres. Simple exercises will help stimulate the development of interhemispheric connections: for example, brush your teeth, assemble a mosaic and paint with your left hand (if the leading one is with your right).

We teach you to plan your actions. Try the “Mom-robot” exercise – it is great for developing speech. The task of the child is to teach the mother to do elementary things. For example, tell them step by step how to make a sandwich. Your task is to follow the commands literally. If a preschooler says that you need to take bread and put cheese on it, then you take a loaf of bread and put a package of cheese on it. So the kid will see the result of his planning and gradually learn to detail tasks.

Praise for everything that turns out. Pay attention to all the positive actions of the child: he washed the plate without reminders, went to bed on time, collected toys, offered his mother help. This approach is called the “green pen principle” – we seem to highlight everything that the child succeeds. At school, attention is directed to mistakes, and they underline them with a red pen, so it is better for parents to act differently.

We stir up interest in learning. Show your child how to apply knowledge in real life: let him pay at the store, ask him to write a letter to his grandmother or plant a plant. Go to a historical museum, theater or planetarium together – this way you will make your studies more fun and, perhaps, reveal the talents of a preschooler.

The main task of parents is to prepare the child for classes. You should not expect perseverance and long concentration from a preschooler until interhemispheric connections are fully formed.