Fantasizing and inventing something incredible is common to the vast majority of children. Kids refuse to sleep in a dark room for fear of monsters, and schoolchildren talk about dogs eating homework notebooks. Such fruits of wild imagination only amuse some parents, while infuriating others. This is not surprising, because many adults have long forgotten how to imagine and fantasize. Let's try to find out how useful fantasy is and how to develop imagination.
Child psychologists say that imagining and fantasizing is simply necessary for a child to develop normally. In the first years of life, the child calls on fantasy to help in all situations that he cannot explain on his own. As life experiences accumulate, dreams and fantasies become more connected to reality. Adults devote very little time and attention to dreams. And indeed, why the world of illusions, if in reality there are enough worries? In fact, a good fantasy not only won’t hurt anyone, but can also help in many areas of life. Imagination is an abstract concept that expresses the ability to fantasize and imagine something that does not exist in reality. The word “imagine” can be considered synonymous with such popular definitions as “creativity” and “creative thinking”.
Before we talk about how to develop imagination, let's try to understand why it is needed. It would seem that thinking creatively and constantly coming up with something new is useful only for musicians, artists and writers. This is a big misconception; in fact, imagination is useful to every person. People with good imagination are never bored. They come up with interesting pastime options for the whole company and instantly find something to do alone. People with developed creative thinking are not afraid to learn new activities. They prepare food without looking at recipes, easily come up with their own design projects for renovations, and very quickly choose clothes for any occasion. Typically, such employees are valued at work, because they are the first to come up with interesting ideas and are happy to work on non-standard projects. And if you give your imagination complete freedom, you can even try to open your own business.
It is a mistake to consider fantasy as an innate skill. Rather, it is one of the psychological techniques that anyone can master with desire and regular training. And yet, you can really notice that some people have a more developed imagination, while others have a less developed one. Try to sensibly assess how easily and quickly you come up with a plan of action in an unusual situation? Those who spend a long time thinking about gifts for their loved ones should think about developing their own imagination. If you don't like to read and only a few books make an impression, the problem may also be an underdeveloped imagination. It is believed that imagination is most useful for children. And this is true, because the sooner a person begins to engage in some kind of creativity and think creatively, the greater success he will achieve.
You can develop imagination and fantasy at any age. The easiest way is to invite children to imagine. Perfectly stimulates the imagination of any kind of creativity. During classes with your child, invite him to do something unusual, to invent as much as possible on his own. Any role-playing games are a high-quality figment of the imagination. When a child transforms into a fairy-tale hero, he truly believes in his new role.
This game will also be useful for adults. Play with your child, imagining yourself as some kind of animal or fictional character. You can try this exercise alone. Imagine yourself in a different place or as a person of the opposite sex. The main thing is to discard embarrassment and prejudices. Play your chosen role as if you were a professional actor.
How to develop imagination in adults and children? It’s quite simple - to fantasize whenever possible. You can think through your tomorrow morning in the evening, imagining it in all its colors. Use meditation techniques - close your eyes and imagine whole new worlds. How to develop imagination in an 8-9 year old child with simple exercises? Introduce your son or daughter to new forms of art. When discussing a particular work, ask what could be changed about it. From time to time, ask your child to try to write a story, take the time to look for constellations together and discuss what clouds look like. The right toys also stimulate imagination: all and some puzzles.
Very often in the adult world, daydreaming is considered a negative character trait. They say about people who love to plunge into the world of dreams: “It’s like he’s floating in the clouds.” But if you turn to fantasies from time to time, you will only gain useful skills. How to develop imagination without losing touch with reality? Use your imagination to solve everyday problems. Visualize yourself doing something. It is especially useful to think through several options for action at once in cases where the situation is completely out of your control. Try to break the usual course of events every day. Learn to act impulsively. Of course, this is not a call to quit work or household chores. Try walking along an unusual route, going to a new store, or walking for an extra half hour.
It’s hard to believe, but sometimes people suffer from a lack of imagination. A simple example: a person knows how to draw or sculpt well, but does not know what exactly to depict. It is important to understand that any type of visual art is born in the thoughts of the creator. This means that there is no separate technique on how to develop imagination for drawing; you should just fantasize more. In order to create a drawing, you can take as a basis a character or landscape that you have already seen or invented before. Next, you just have to think through the details, and remember: there are no restrictions. You can also draw directly in the world of dreams. using this technique? Close your eyes and imagine a white sheet of paper, then mentally draw a picture on it. Try to really see this whole process and see all the details and proportions. By doing this exercise regularly, you will learn to draw real masterpieces. After which all you have to do is transfer them onto paper as well as your imagination creates them.
Still don't know how to develop imagination in adults? Exercises that you can do in between will help you with this. Remember any story - let it be the plot of a film or book. Imagine an alternative ending, or better yet, several. If you like reality shows or watch with interest the turbulent personal lives of your neighbors, you can also fantasize about what will happen to the characters in the future. Turn on the TV without sound, looking at the picture, come up with dialogues and monologues for the characters. While talking on the phone, mark a few dots on paper. Try to connect them with a continuous line to get some kind of complete drawing.
Parent meeting
“Imagination and its role in a child’s life.”
Tasks:
1. Emphasize the importance of imagination in the general and aesthetic development of a child.
2.Help parents develop creativity in their children.
Meeting form: Educational lesson in a home school for the intellectual development of a child.
Issues for discussion:
The importance of imagination in human intellectual activity.
Imagination and creativity.
The role of imagination in the development of a child’s aesthetic culture. Meeting of parents with a music teacher, music school teachers, an art teacher and specialists working in the field of other arts.
Parent workshop.
Preparatory work for the parent meeting:
1. Class hour with students “The world around me.”
One of the class tasks is for students to analyze an ink blot on a piece of whatman paper. Students are invited to see the outlines of some kind of drawing in the blot.
2. An exhibition of children’s handicrafts called “Unusual in the Ordinary.”
For crafts, children are offered various materials: driftwood, plasticine, wire, wire, tree leaves, bird feathers, etc. They must make a craft from the collected material and give it a name with an explanation.
3. Exhibition of children’s projects called “Changes”.
The children are offered various familiar objects of everyday life. They need to be shown how they can be used for other purposes. Such items for analysis can be: an umbrella, a hat, a road sign, a bag, a heating pad, a belt, glasses, knitting needles, a brick, a sunbeam, a tram, etc. Each child must not only present his project, but also defend it, proving the usefulness of using this item in new conditions.
Questioning of children and parents.
Questioning children.
Do you like it:
Watch the clouds;
Paint;
Do creative projects;
Invent during lessons according to the teacher’s instructions;
Making extraordinary things out of ordinary things;
Write poems and stories;
Design;
Fantasize and come up with something interesting;
Observe natural phenomena;
Imagine yourself in the past and future.
Parent survey.
Your child:
· dreamer;
· inventor of various games and amusements;
· writer of incredible stories;
· creator and inventor of incredible things;
· experimenter and inventor.
What do you do if you think that your child is going beyond all limits in his fantasies?
How do you develop your child's powers of observation and imagination?
Do you consider these intellectual skills important in educational activities?
Progress of the meeting.
Nature has endowed every person with the ability to understand the world in which he was born: to feel and perceive the world around him - people, nature, culture, various objects and phenomena; remember, think, figure out; speak and understand other people's speech; Be careful.
All these abilities develop, improve, and acquire an individual coloring not on their own, but in the active cognitive activity of the child.
Child development occurs only in activity. Only through one’s own efforts can one assimilate the experience and knowledge accumulated by humanity.
The mental processes through which a person understands the world, himself and other people are called cognitive processes or cognitive abilities. These abilities include: sensation, perception, attention, memory, thinking and imagination.
Today we will talk about imagination.
Psychologists believe creativity is a criterion of human development. If a person does not know how to be a creator, it will be difficult for him in future professional activities, it will be difficult to interact with people.
The basis of creativity is imagination. Without imagination there is no mental activity.
Imagination is the process of creating new images and ideas by transforming previous experiences. It develops gradually, relying on speech, perception, memory, and thinking operations.
It is no secret that the imagination is built from elements taken from reality, and is directly dependent on the richness and diversity of acquired experience.
Therefore, one of the main ways to develop children's imagination is to expand the child's experience and conceptual thinking, including necessarily the emotional sphere.
If an adult whom the child trusts supports cognitive interest child, then it manifests itself in the need for new experiences, in the desire to actively try, transform, and invent.
At school, the child receives this opportunity, but it only awakens the child’s interest, and in the family this interest must be purposefully developed.
It is natural for a child to explore the world; he wants to try and touch everything. But this is not always possible and then imagination comes to the rescue. With its help, the child finds himself in such situations and tries activities that may not be available in real life. This stimulates his interest in activities, including educational ones.
Results of a survey of children.
They don’t like to do creative projects – ( majority)
They don’t like to invent things in class on the instructions of the teacher - ( majority)
They don’t like to design – ( minority)
Not all children like to watch clouds and natural phenomena. Everyone loves to draw, write, fantasize, do unusual things.
Parent survey results
To the question “How do you develop your child’s observation and ability to imagine” there were interesting answers:
We travel to other cities, relax on lakes, try to ask about everything in detail, tell what and where there might be interesting and exciting things, observe the surroundings through games, reading, conversations, developing visual memory, etc.
(Parents receive a printout with exercises to develop their children's imagination).
Games and exercises to develop creative imagination
1. Unfinished figures. The task of completing the drawing of unfinished figures is one of the most popular in the study and development of imagination and creative abilities. Children are given a sheet with images of simple geometric figures and lines of various shapes: straight, broken, arrow-shaped, zigzags, etc. They are asked to complete each figure or line so that meaningful images are obtained. You can finish drawing from the outside, inside the contour of the figure, you can rotate the sheet in any direction.
2. Game "Magic Blots". Before the game starts, several blots are made: a little ink or ink is poured into the middle of a sheet of paper and the sheet is folded in half. Then the sheet unfolds and the game can begin. The players take turns saying which image objects they see in the blot or in its individual parts. The one who names the most items wins.
3. Game "Fantastic hypotheses". It was invented by the world famous storyteller J. Rodari. In this game, the child must come up with different answers to the question: “What would happen if...?” For a question, you can take the first subject and predicate you come across. Let the subject be “city” and the predicate “fly”. “What would happen if the city started to fly?”
To play the game you need to prepare 10 cards: 5 with nouns and 5 with verbs. For example, on five cards there is a table, a telephone, a traffic light, a spoon, an iron; and on the rest - to fly, invent, draw, dream, make friends. The cards are stacked in two piles. One contains nouns, the other contains verbs. Before each new round of the game, the cards are shuffled.
The player must, without looking, pull out one card from each pile and connect the resulting words with the question: “What would happen if...?”
You can come up with many tasks of this type: for example, during an excursion, a walk: “Imagine that we are lost,” “Imagine that we are on reconnaissance,” “We are on a desert island,” “We have discovered an unknown planet.”
4). “Come up with a continuation of the fairy tale.” The exercise can be done with a group of children. The adult begins to tell a new fairy tale unfamiliar to the children. It is desirable that the hero of this fairy tale be a child of the same age as the listeners. At a critical moment in the hero’s life, at the moment when something happened to him or he must make a decision, the story is interrupted and children are asked to come up with as many options as possible for what they would think or do in the hero’s place.
5).Writing fairy tales and stories. The child is asked to come up with a fairy tale or story with some given hero - a living creature (for example, a ballerina, a commander, a little fox crawling out of a hole) or an object (for example, a window, a computer or an old suitcase).
6). Writing a story using individual words. For example:
a) wind, sun, path, snow, streams, birds;
b) girl, tree, bird;
c) key, hat, boat, watchman, office, road, rain.
7). Game "What does it look like?" Several people can play this game. One is the driver. He leaves the room, and the others think of some real person, character or object. The driver must guess what exactly was intended by asking questions like: “What flower does this look like?”, “What kind of weather does this look like?”, “What brand of car does this look like?” and so on.
8). Game "Nonsense" also consists of teaching children to understand and interpret absurdities and invent them independently.
9). Game "Unusual Use". Children are asked to imagine as many uses as possible for a known object (for example, a large plastic water bottle or rope).
10). Exercise "Musical Instruments". Look at the things lying on the desk or in the briefcase and decide which of them can be used as musical instruments and play them.
eleven). Exercise "Crafts". Make crafts using the same object in different functions (for example, a walnut shell as a boat, a hat, a turtle shell, etc.)
12). Game "Drawing in several hands." All participants are asked to come up with an object and not talk about what they have invented. Then, on a piece of paper, the first member of the group depicts a separate element of the intended image. The second, necessarily starting from the existing element, continues the drawing, using the work of a friend to embody his plan. The third does the same, and so on. The end result most often represents something abstract, since none of the forms is complete, but all smoothly flow into each other.
13). A group of games using drawings. Tasks: guessing an object by its parts (“Guess what kind of animal?”), by contour (“Whose shadow is this?”), searching for signs of similarity and difference, finding “hidden” objects in a maze of lines.
The exercises are read and explained.
Questions and suggestions from parents.
We live in a time of rapidly developing technologies that require special concentration, flexibility of thinking and quick adaptation from us and our children. Such a world needs non-standard solutions and creative approaches to solving various problems. Therefore, it is important to develop imagination in children and adults.
We are not born with the ability to create object images in our minds. This ability comes to us at an early age, and fairy tales and poems, drawing and modeling, dancing and music contribute to this. The first ways of thinking in children appear at the age of two years, and by the age of three, with the development of speech, the imagination becomes richer.
But until the age of five, they cannot fantasize and not act on it - each of their fantasies is embodied in a game or story. And only in older preschool age do children begin to create objects of thought in their minds.
It is very important to support the development of imagination in preschoolers, to help them fantasize, for example, in the process of reading fairy tales and playing. They provide the necessary basis for the formation of imagination, teach them to make decisions and bear responsibility for them.
Here, control over games and imaginary plots is necessary, since it is difficult for children to separate the imaginary from the real. And the main task of parents is to distinguish between fantasy and childish pranks and stupidity, which carries negativity and harm, and be prepared for the manifestation of childish aggressiveness. You should also help create positive objects of imagination that will help set the child up for positive things, and also help solve this or that problem.
A child cannot develop objective thinking at the proper level on his own, and parents must help in this process.
But it happens that a child has enough knowledge and a lot of bright impressions in life, but he does not want to fantasize and dream . Here you need to help - to gently push him towards this:
Children in preschool age can be helped to develop their imagination with the following exercises:
If it seems to you that it is more difficult for younger schoolchildren to develop their imagination, then this is a mistaken opinion.
They have more knowledge and life experience, and therefore more material for fantasies and imaginations, but it may be more difficult to find an approach, the right game or exercise to develop this skill. As an option, ask to imagine and describe some plot from a book you read, suggest making some changes to the development of events in your favorite fairy tale or cartoon. Remember that drawing, modeling, origami and various handmade crafts, as well as various vivid impressions that you want to tell everyone, are excellent tools for developing the imagination of schoolchildren and preschoolers.
Here are several options for games and exercises that stimulate the development of imagination in children of senior preschool age:
Several exercises that stimulate imagination in children:
Constantly inventing new games and activities for the child, parents also fantasize and imagine, thereby developing these qualities in themselves. And often, without noticing it, they begin to generate creative ideas for simple solutions. This manifests itself in answers to unexpected questions from children, in a new arrangement of furniture, and even in preparing ordinary dishes in a new way.
By playing seemingly simple games to develop imagination with a child, we also begin to imagine and fantasize, helping to create an exciting story.
But you can begin to develop in this direction long before children appear. There are a lot of exercises that are designed specifically for adults and are aimed at revealing and developing flexibility of thinking. Of course, some of them may seem ridiculous or difficult at first, but you shouldn’t be afraid of difficulties. Without such mental training, it is difficult for us to perceive changes and move forward; we begin to think in stereotyped ways.
A good imagination is one of the best tools in the world for achieving success! The most successful people, as a rule, are creative individuals and imagination plays an important role in their lives. By imagining something, a person learns to do it faster. Do you also want to develop your imagination? Then just skip to step one!
Part 1
Developing our imaginationDream. Daydreaming is a process that helps to build various logical connections and remember information without taking a lot of time. Daydreaming is far from a meaningless activity. In fact, it promotes a state of high concentration and engagement. While you are dreaming, a completely brilliant idea may suddenly come to your mind!
Look for new experiences. Be open, don't be afraid to try new things. A new experience can bring a lot of emotions and become food for thought and fantasy. For example, while attending a cooking class, you already begin to dream about how you will spend your vacation visiting different cafes and eating different delicacies. New experiences always open up new possibilities and develop imagination.
Watch people. In a cafe, subway, or on a park bench, watch people passing by. Make up stories and stories about these people, think about what could happen to them in life, use your imagination, empathize with them or be sincerely happy. Perhaps, by observing people, you will suddenly find the answer to a question that has long interested you.
Make art. It doesn't matter what type of art you decide to pursue. The main thing is that you should try to express yourself in it. Don't follow templates and stereotypes, do what you like best. For example, if you are drawing, then draw the sun not yellow, as we are used to seeing it in pictures, but green. Use your imagination to make your drawings unique.
Spend as little time as possible on the media. Movies, TV shows, the Internet, computer games - all this is very fun and interesting, but don’t get carried away, otherwise your creative potential will begin to noticeably decrease.
Part 2
Use your imaginationLook for creative solutions! Once you have become a habit of using your imagination, it will be easy for you to come up with creative ways out of any situation. This means that a good imagination will help you go beyond limits and come up with new ways to solve any problem.
Don't be afraid of failure and failure. Sometimes your imagination cannot help you, sometimes you simply cannot use it due to fatigue or inability. But there are a couple of tricks that will help spark your imagination so that you can use it at any time.
Visualize! Use your imagination to imagine different situations that might happen in your life. For example, you might imagine yourself winning a competition and receiving a reward when you are just training to compete in the competition.
Target: determine the level of development of nonverbal imagination.
Material: for each child 10 sheets of paper (half the size of a printed sheet), on each of which a small (about 1 x 2 cm) figure of an indeterminate shape is drawn. The bottom of an equivalent set of such figures has been developed (see Fig. 1 and 2). During one examination, children are offered one set (any), consisting of 10 figures, and a simple pencil.
2. Game: “Different Pictures” –
Target: develop imagination and perception.
Material: pictures depicting objects or scenes, and the same pictures, but cut into several parts.
Methodology: children are asked to look at the whole picture, and then, from memory, assemble the picture from the parts. (Figure 3)
3. Exercise: “Guess who I am?”
Target: develop imagination.
Progress of the exercise: an adult uses gestures, facial expressions, and sounds to depict a well-known object: a samovar or a teapot.
Methodology: children are asked to guess the depicted object and tell how they guessed it.
4. Game "Transformations"
Target: develop the child’s ingenuity, that is, imagination combined with creative thinking. Expand the child’s understanding of the world around him.
Material: any simple object (chair, scarf, pencil, etc.).
Methodology: Children are given any simple object. And the first child is offered, with the help of facial expressions, pantomimes, and imitation of movements, to “transform” him (in the imagination) into any other object. For example, a glass in a vase of flowers. After it becomes clear what the item being used will turn into, another child takes it and “transforms” it into something else. The game continues until everyone has “transformed” the item.
Target: Development of imagination
Look carefully, what does each figure look like? (Figure 4). Name several options, and then you can complete it the way you imagine it.
6.Exercise: “Magic Forest”
Celb: Development of imagination
Complete the lines and shapes to create a magical forest with its inhabitants. (Figure 5)
7.Exercise: “Gifts for friends”
Target: Development of imagination
Think about how you can turn these figures into gifts for your friends. Try to finish drawing. (Figure 6)
8.Exercise: “Blot”
Target: Development of imagination
Look carefully at each blot and think about what it looks like. Try to finish drawing. (Figure 7)
9.Exercise: “Painting”
Target: Development of imagination
Draw these circles so that they make a picture. You can combine several circles into one picture. (Fig. 8)
10.Exercise: “Connect the dots”
Target: development of imagination
See how you can make a drawing by connecting the dots. Try to draw something yourself by connecting the dots. (Figure 9)
Application (imagination)
Picture 1
Figure 2
Figure 3