The children begin to ask their parents quite early why they go to work every morning and what they do there. Toddlers reproduce the mysterious world of adults in their games, repairing cars with toy tools or injecting teddy bears. This interest must be used in order to tell the child about the profession. For children, acquaintance with various branches of labor activity should take place in a playful way, because otherwise they simply will not be able to perceive information.
Why does the kid know about professions?
Introducing a young child to the work of a driver or a geologist, one should not try to influence his future self-determination. It is much more important to bring him to the discovery: everything that we see around is the result of someone else's work. Kids often do not have an idea of ​​how many people worked so that they had toys, clothes, delicious food for breakfast. Carousels, cartoons, ice cream, favorite books were invented and made by someone. The task of parents and teachers is to show the child the importance of work and its benefits to others.
Talking about professions for preschool children, we simultaneously expand their horizons. A doctor, for example, needs to know the structure of the human body. Playing biologists, children study plants, grow seedlings. Having turned into builders, you can see all the stages of building a house: from creating an architectural project to redecorating it.
Simple rules
There are parents who prepare for their children detailed lectures on professions. However, the kids are not interested in special terms, historical facts and long stories. Description of professions for children can be based on the following scheme:
- The name of the specialty, the benefits brought, the actions performed (in a generalized form, without details).
- Acquaintance of the child with the character's place of work, tools used, work clothes. At this stage, it is recommended to use visibility (pictures, presentations, cartoons, excursions).
- Emotional living profession. Children will love to listen to poems or stories that describe interesting cases from the life of geologists, firefighters, pilots, archaeologists. They like to be included in the plot game, preparing a real dinner in the guise of a cook or making a hairstyle for dolls.
- Description of the end result. For the dentist, he will have a cured tooth, for a seamstress - a new dress, for a farmer - grown vegetables and baked milk.
Professions around us
Today, 2.5 thousand specialties are in demand in Russia. Of course, the child has nothing to remember them all. The most understandable for children are those professions that we see in everyday life. These are sellers, educators, drivers, janitors, conductors, hairdressers, cooks, doctors. Usually they introduce kids to them.
Parents can draw the attention of the child to the work of people during shopping, clinics, cinemas, cafes, post offices and other organizations. At home, play what you saw with toys, turning into waiters or circus performers. To interest children, use the attributes: a set of doctors, home-made road signs, dollware, etc.
It is also advisable to tell children about the professions of parents and grandparents. Photos taken at the workplace, certificates, vivid memories will come to the rescue. Explain to your child what benefits your work brings to other people. Well, if there is an opportunity to go on an excursion to my mother’s office or at least see in a video how my dad works at the machine. Do not forget about family friends, neighbors with whom you communicate closely. It is important for a child to see a real person behind the profession being studied, and not an abstract character in the picture.
Real supermen
Modern children enthusiastically play Spider-Man and other invented characters who heroically protect the world. However, much more courageous are real people who do not have wonderful devices. However, they rush into the fire, rise into space, catch criminals and save those who are in trouble.
Films and books about military professions for children are much more useful than color comics. The games of the boys often turn into a senseless rush with shootings borrowed from the militants. The task of the parents is to teach them to build full-fledged stories, to introduce them to examples of just struggle (military exploits, actions of rescuers, stories of brave travelers).
Let the main characters of the games not be vampires or mutants, but firemen, sailors, scouts, pilots. Together with the child, save the comrades captured, put out the fires, fight the storm, go on a dangerous flight to other galaxies. And at the same time meet brave professionals who protect the world from evil in real life.
How is this done?
Children are very curious, and this must be used. Invite your child to conduct a joint investigation to find out how your favorite doll, new pajamas, yummy candy, or table set were born. Of course, you should not go deep into the process. The information that is printed in children's encyclopedias is quite enough for the kid. But this is enough to understand how much human effort was required to create ordinary objects.
When telling your child about professions, emphasize that the final product is the work of many specialists. For example, for clothes to appear, you must first grow flax or cotton, harvest, use special machines to process it, dividing the stems into separate fibers. Of these, threads are twisted at a spinning mill. A weaver’s weave is woven from threads. The seamstress will sew clothes that the driver will take to the shops. The seller will help visitors choose the most beautiful outfit. Taking care of things, we show respect to all people who worked for their appearance.
Useful books
Wonderful poets wrote poetry about professions for children. For example, V. Mayakovsky "Who to be?" and J. Rodari "What do crafts smell like?" The poems of A. Barto, B. Zakhoder, V. Mikhalkov, S. Chertkov are devoted to individual working specialties. This material must be used when working with children.
Modern publishers publish colorful encyclopedias dedicated to adult work. So, the publishing house "Thomas" published a series of books "Who to be?", The publishing house "Arkaim / Ural LTD" of the series "Why? Why? Why?" and "When I Become Adult." Color illustrations attract the attention of children and allow a deeper understanding of the specifics of the profession.
Educational tasks
When learning about various specialties, turn on your imagination. Kids love puzzles and role-playing games. At the same time, training takes place unnoticed. For example, playing in a store, you have to pay money for purchases and calculate change. The builder must build houses according to the scheme, strictly observing it. The future captain is well versed in geographical maps. A journalist can take beautiful photos and interviews.
The doctor’s profession is very attractive for children; they treat dolls with pleasure and give vitamins to mom. But a real specialist should be well-erudite and know the internal structure of a person by heart. In the game, such information is easily acquired. Kids are ready to make a diagnosis several times, looking for the correct name of the diseased organ on the diagram of the human body. However, they begin to understand the importance of vocational education.
We play and remember
It is not enough to tell the child about professions. The knowledge gained must be consolidated. Here puzzles come to the rescue, didactic games in the form of cards, posters or lotto, coloring. You can use the following game quests:
- Identify the profession of the tools used.
- Connect the specialist and his place of work (teacher - school, cook - canteen, driver - bus).
- Gestures show the profession, so that other players guess it.
- The adult calls the action, and the child of the specialist who performs it (the doctor heals, the mechanic repairs, the painter paints).
Speaking about professions to children, do not show your negative attitude to some specialties. Also, you should not divide the work into low paid and high paid. Your task is to give out general information and foster respect for the work of others, and not to advertise a prestigious profession for your child. He is still too small to make such an important choice.