Scientists have long determined that at the stage of growing up, there is always a certain type of activity that most contributes to the development of a child’s personality. If up to a year emotional contact with mother is important, then up to 3 years - manipulations with objects. The kid parses and breaks the toys, trying to get to the point. From 3 to 6, the time comes for game activity. Through it, a little man learns the world around him. Our article will answer the question of what you can play with a child of 4 years.
Age features
The level of development is a purely individual matter. But there are some limits to the norm that parents try to orient themselves to. Games are different: mobile, intellectual, role-playing, etc. The latter are the lot of older children (5-6 years old). Watching adults, they recreate pictures of real life: "daughters - mothers", "doctor - patient", "preparation for the ball." You need to know the age features in order to understand what to play with the child.
4 years is a period of development of feelings. Children are still situational, do not know how to cope with emotions on their own, but they already have new experiences: sadness, resentment, disappointment, shame. They capture the mood of others. All this is due to the predominance of the development of the right hemisphere.
4 years is a time of phenomenal cognitive activity and thousands of "why." During this period, games that develop memory, as well as thinking and speech, are very important. The vocabulary of kids reaches 1.5 thousand words. Educational games can not only improve cognitive mental processes, but also reveal the baby's abilities at an early stage.
4 years - the time of formation of self-care skills, moral qualities and high physical activity. On the agenda is the need to develop fine motor skills, without which it is impossible to move on to a full-fledged educational process.
Home environment: what to play with the child (4 years)
At home, it is quite possible to organize a sports corner, where it is easy to hang on the horizontal bar, leave the ball in a basketball basket, play volleyball with a balloon. The need for movement (up to 5 thousand actions per day), which at this age is required even if it is not possible to walk in the fresh air, must be satisfied.
You can turn outdoor games into developing ones. For example, repeat the "walk" of various animals - geese, a bear, a bunny, a dog. A game like "edible - inedible" is also suitable. The child is invited to catch the ball only if the facilitator calls an object that can be eaten. Inedible things, such as “closet”, “ball”, “chair”, the baby should throw away. If he does everything right, then he moves forward one step closer to the control line. It’s great if there’s a prize on it. Although children at 4 years old are more amused by the game process than rewards.
To develop finger motility, kids need to draw more, sculpt from plasticine, collect puzzles and paint. A child is able to master checkers, children's dominoes and other board games - with a cube and chips.
If there is no auxiliary material under your hands, you can make a pattern of sticks, buttons, beads, lay out a specific object from them. For example, a well. What other games can I play with my child?
"Mysterious sounds"
The game is good in that all households can take part in it, but at the same time it is in the zone of the actual development of a four-year-old baby. For her, preliminary preparation is required, which brings the family together. So, dad or an older child must pre-record various sounds on a smartphone or other device - the noise of a working refrigerator, washing machine, vacuum cleaner, the voices of famous people, the meowing of a cat, etc.
If somewhere in the country due to bad weather the household is forced to stay in the house, there may be a problem, what to play with the child. 4 years is a good age to expand your understanding of sounds. It is enough to include the records made in advance and try to guess their source. Adults can be offered more complex tasks (altered voices, the imposition of several sounds, etc.), and the simplest ones are enough for the baby.
"Guess the Tale"
During illness, it is difficult to provide an opportunity to play a child a game. 4 years, meanwhile, is the age when it is impossible and simple to lie idle. Then the option called "Guess the Tale." As a source, parents need to take the plot of the work, with which the baby is already familiar. It can be Cinderella, The Scarlet Flower, Zayushkin’s hut. The main condition is not to use proper names and character names, replacing old concepts with more modern ones. For example, the heroine is sent not to a ball, but to a disco, she is not driven by a carriage, but by a car. The story can be interrupted when the child guesses the story. Then immediately you can start the next one.
"Let's cross the swamp"
This option is good in that the game can be organized both on the street and at home. It is suitable if there is a problem somewhere on vacation, what to play with the child. 4 years is the age when parents have to connect all their imagination to organize the leisure of the baby.
"Swamp" can be beaten with any improvised material - you need to make green bumps from cardboard, paper or old newspapers. And as a prize, it’s easy to cut out or use ready-made letters that add up to the “well done” characterization. For each victory, the kid will receive one at a time and get to know her, in the end you get a word that his parents will read with pleasure.
Game conditions: the territory of the swamp is determined - the distance that a child or group of children will cover. In its course, "bumps" are laid out, which it is desirable to fix with tape on the floor of the room or on the street to minimize the risk of falling. The task is explained to the children: “Around a quagmire, in which you can get stuck and not get out of the swamp. Exit is possible only by bumps. If the leg enters the quagmire during the jump, the player is credited with a loss and he will lose his distance.”
"Show emotion"
As equipment, you will need illustrations or special pictures with a set of emotions. Periodically, they can be discussed with the baby, saying what a person experiences when having fun, rejoices, sadness, upset, scared, etc.
You can get pictures at the moment when the question arises of what to play with the child. 4 years, as we have already said, is the age when it is necessary to work out with the baby the whole range of possible experiences. What is the game? Pictures are stacked upside down. The child takes out one of them. For example, there is a person in fear. He must demonstrate this condition without resorting to words. And the parent - guess the emotion. Depending on how well the child coped with the task, you should switch places.
Logic game
For children 4 years old, you can use feasible intellectual tasks that will cause undoubted interest. Here are three options:
- "Looking for a bunch." The child is offered two pictures representing objects. It is necessary to find intermediate words that connect, at first glance, incompatible objects. For example, "man", "tree". Ligament words may include: a "window" through which the forest is visible; "shovel" with which landing occurs; "picture" painted by the artist.
- "Rein". On a magnetic board, you can fix a number of points, numbered in order. The task is to pull the reins from each of them to the next, that is, draw a line. But in such a way as not to intersect with existing ones.
- "Determined by touch." A number of objects are shown to the child: small and large, smooth and rough, round and square, soft and hard. Then they are put in a basket, and the child is blindfolded. He has to guess every item by touch.
What to play with the girl
Most games are suitable for both boys and girls. But it should be remembered that it is at the stage of formation of consciousness that gender identity develops. Therefore, it is very important to select classes that are more characteristic of representatives of a certain gender. Boys are more likely to spend free time with cars, military equipment, soldiers, for example.
What games can I use for children? 4 years for a girl - that means she likes to dress up, use baby cosmetics, imitate mom, dance. She can be invited to play "dancing." They develop hearing, ingenuity, imagination, contribute to physical activity. Sounds specially selected nice music. The task is to dance, using only one part of the body. The host, including the track, reports the task: "arm", "head", "shoulders", "priest". In the game, girls will begin to master the understanding of "right - left" if you use the commands: "left leg", "right shoulder".
4 years is a wonderful age for games with children, which will be especially productive when adults are involved.