What do architects, fashion designers and pilots have in common? At first glance, nothing. Perhaps, except for the fact that these professions can be tried on by any child, playing in preschool age. However, there is one more thing – they require a developed spatial thinking. In this article we will talk about how and at what age to develop this skill in a child.
An inconspicuous, but such an important skill for learning.
The ability to mentally represent images and manipulate objects in the imagination in a scientific way is called visual thinking. The right hemisphere of the brain is responsible for it.
Spatial thinking is a part of visually imaginative thinking. The whole study is connected with the latter. For example, when a child learns to read, he also learns to operate with images. Even more important is the ability to operate with objects in the imagination to develop mathematical skills.
Reading is a very complex process and the child’s brain matures to it gradually. However, we can begin to develop a child’s spatial thinking as the main visual component at the age of 2-3. And it, in turn, will help the child to master many school skills, including a complex reading skill. By the way, it is proved that in school it is easier for children with well-developed spatial concepts not only mathematics, but also writing and drawing.
Orientation in space at the child
Most often, as early as 3 years old the child is free to orientate himself in space, correlates the size, distinguishes between distant and close, left-right.
After 4 years, he begins to consciously manipulate in the imagination of objects and their position in space. Think of building by size, and then make it. Remember the road and tell how it went. Reflect on the game and do what he or she planned – now a child is capable of such actions, and this is a new stage in the development of visual thinking.
From 4 to 7 years old the child is mastering the space at a rapid pace and can do a lot to the school – from making simple drawings and drawings of the surrounding objects to the embodiment in the designer of the conceived construction.
We develop spatial thinking in between cases.
It is not necessary to plan separate sessions on spatial thinking. The tasks that develop this skill are found at every step. Sometimes you just need to involve the child.
For example, the usual trips, travels, participation in quests and routes, games to search for treasures do not do without working with the map and orientation on the ground. Pay attention of the child to “where we are” and “how we get to the place.
Show your child the maps: district, city, country and world. It is interesting to view them together with children of any age. Introduce the concepts: continent – country – city. Surprisingly, even up to 6-7 years old children are not so easy to catch the difference.
When travelling in a car with a younger child, turn on the voice prompts in the navigator, let him watch how you orientate. And an older child may well become your navigator and tell you the route to the point. This is very useful! With children, go to the city quests with a map. And just wander with a map of the city, setting the route in advance, useful for children of all ages and adults.
Classes that help develop a spatial component of the child’s thinking.
- When talking to your child, more often use spatial words: high, sharp, forward, outside, across, etc. Above, below, to the right, to the left, behind, and so on. Explain their meaning and use them in games.
- Teach your child to use gestures to indicate the movement of objects and apply them without verbal explanation. So the little child will learn to recognize a visual image.
- Play with younger preschoolers in coincidence. Look for objects by shape and color around you, and then make it more difficult – for example, play “who will name the most that smells.
- Let you have a lot of designers 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 typewriter is a classic of the genre!
- Collect puzzles, origami. Choose the right age, from the simplest, to the cube-rubik. There are also many computer games that are useful for the development of spatial thinking – call Tetris, Monument valley.
- For older children, make drawings. This is very exciting! For example, you make a plan of the apartment and indicate where to hide the desired item, and the child is looking for the plan.
- Teach the child to make the simplest drawings and “read” them. To do this, the designer should be multi-colored figures: cylinders, arches, dice, bars of different sizes, prisms, cones. Pay attention to the child that the front, top and side view of different figures in the plane is different, so there are different projections on the paper.
- And the main thing is of course play board games. They just develop the skill of visually shaped through a visually effective, but simply put “conceived – spun in your mind possible combinations – made.