Development of spatial thinking in preschool children

The ability to mentally represent images and manipulate objects in the imagination is scientifically called visual-imaginative thinking. It is the responsibility of the right hemisphere of the brain.

What is spatial thinking? This is part of the visual imaginative thinking, with which all learning is connected. For example, when a child learns to read, he also learns to operate with images. It is even more important to be able to operate with objects in the imagination in order to develop mathematical skills.

Learning to read is a very complex process and a child’s brain matures to it gradually. However, we can begin to develop preschooler spatial thinking as the main visual imagery component from 2-3 years. And it, in turn, will help a child master many school skills, including the difficult skill of reading. Children with poorly developed spatial thinking often have difficulty learning. Development of spatial thinking is most intense at preschool age, so it’s best to form it in game form.

Spatial orientation in a child
Most often, already at the age of 3 a child easily orientates in space, correlates sizes, and discriminates between far and near, left and right.

After the age of 4, he/she starts to consciously manipulate objects and their position in space. To think of a structure in terms of size and then make it. Memorize a path and tell how he walked. To reflect on the game and do what you have in mind – a child is now capable of such actions, and this is a new stage of development of visual imaginative thinking.

From the age of 4 to 7, a child masters space at a brisk pace and by school is able to do a lot – from making simple drawings and sketches of the objects around him or her to making a construction project.

Developing spatial thinking in between
It is not necessary to plan separate sessions on spatial thinking. Tasks that develop this skill are found at every turn. Sometimes you just need to get your child involved.

For example, ordinary trips, travel, participation in the passage of quests and routes, games on treasure hunting do not do without work with a map and orientation on the ground. Draw the child’s attention to “where we are” and “how we can get to the place.

Show your child maps: neighborhood, city, country, and world. They are fun to look at with children of all ages. Introduce the concepts: continent – country – city. Surprisingly, it is not so easy for children even up to 6-7 years old to grasp the difference.

On a car trip with a younger child, turn on the voice prompts in the navigator, let him see how you navigate. And an older child can become your navigator and tell you the route to the point. It is very useful! Go on city quests with kids with a map. Even just wandering around the city with a map, predetermining the route, is useful for children of all ages and adults.

Developing Spatial Thinking in a Child
Use spatial words in conversation with your child more often: high, sharp, forward, outside, across, etc. Above, below, right, left, behind, etc. Explain their meaning and use them in games.
Teach your baby to use gestures to indicate the movement of objects and use them without verbal explanation. This is how a young child learns to recognize a visual image.

Develop spatial thinking in preschoolers by playing matching games. Look for objects according to shape and color around you, and then make the task more difficult – for example, play “who can name the biggest thing that smells”.

Let you have a lot of constructors at home. Even for girls. After all, they are happy to build a house for dolls and a castle for the princess. And to offer a boy to build a garage for a car – a classic of the genre! And let the designers will be different – big and small, like Lego or “Soviet iron”. And out of painted wooden bars of different shapes can be built the most amazing and intricate buildings and structures.

Collect puzzles, origami. Choose suitable for age, from the simplest to the rubik-dice. There are also many computer games that are useful for developing spatial thinking – let’s call it Tetris and Monument valley.

For older children make drawings. This is very exciting! For example, you make a plan of your apartment and indicate where you hid the object you are looking for, and your child searches according to the plan.

Teach your child to make simple drawings and “read” them. For this purpose, the construction set should have different colored shapes: cylinders, arches, cubes, bars of different sizes, prisms, cones. Note to your child that the front, top and side views of different shapes on the plane are different, so there are different projections on paper.

And most importantly, of course play board games. They just develop the skill of visual-imaginative through visual-actual, and simply put “conceived – twisted in your mind the possible combinations – made.