Scientists have more than five hundred different methods that can be used in raising children, so we needed ways to organize them into a specific system that indicates where, in what area and for what purpose these methods can be used by a teacher.
In the process of transferring knowledge to preschool children, the most common classification of educational methods is used, consisting of three groups:
1. Verbal methods - when education is based on verbal forms: conversation, story, explanation, explanation, instruction. These methods are used in the education of preschool children briefly, clearly. The word carries an emotional component. So, the prohibition of action should be colored by the emotion of fear for the child, have the categorization of the ban and should not be used often so as not to become mundane.
2. Practical methods are games, exercises, trainings, with the help of which the studied material is consolidated. Children of senior preschool age become capable of competitive activity, which in education is of great importance, because The goal of upbringing is achieved by the child independently, with minimal adult support.
3. Visual methods. When a behavioral pattern is demonstrated to an adult or through illustration, film, analysis of another child’s behavior. The lesson uses paintings, audio recordings, presentations, cartoons, illustrations for works. The peculiarity of visual work with preschoolers is the avoidance of showing incorrect behavior, because children tend to repeat everything after the adult, not consciously evaluating the correctness or incorrectness of the act.
This classification of methods of education in kindergartens is used with the priority of the use of visual methods, because they are the most common in working with younger preschoolers due to the fact that their thinking is visual and effective, and they learn the requirements of the world around them only on the basis of showing and verbal confirmation. The older the children become, the more often the teacher applies practical methods, training the skill in children or a positive habit.
Another classification of educational methods that is used has a division according to the components of the structure of a person’s personality , because for the formation of socially significant behavior, groups of methods should affect all personality structures:
1. Methods of developing consciousness - this is the basis of the worldview of the child, his intellectual base, knowledge of the norms and rules of behavior in society. The richer and more varied this area, the more opportunities a child has to make a selection of options for socially correct behavior. This group includes all verbal and visual methods from the previous classification.
2. Methods for the formation of socially positive behavior of preschoolers are the use of knowledge not only in games and in classes, but also their application in practice, repeated repetition in different situations. Initially, this is done under the guidance of an adult, and then the children train the skill on their own.
3. Methods of stimulation (or the formation of feelings) - this is the impetus for a more rapid assimilation of the action by influencing the feelings of the child. Therefore, praise, censure, approval are used, situations of success are created. Children even react to a slight disapproval of a person significant to them: mom or dad, beloved teacher or grandmother. The forms of educational work are very diverse, because methods of stimulation are used in combination with methods of developing consciousness and shaping behavior. The emotional reaction of parents to the actions of the child is an effective method of education.
This classification of educational methods is most often used in kindergartens; it best contributes to the education of preschool children. The emotional sphere of preschoolers is still unstable, labile, characterized by changes in the mood of children, so it is often recommended to use the positive feelings of preschoolers, as having experienced the pleasure of the action once, the baby will want to repeat it again.