Age features of the imagination of a junior schoolchild and a teenager. Psychological features of the development of the imagination of younger students Imagination in younger students

In a child, the imagination is formed in the game and at first is inseparable from the perception of objects and the performance of game actions with them. In children of 6-7 years of age, the imagination can already rely on such objects that are not at all similar to the ones being replaced. Vygotsky L.S. Imagination and creativity in childhood.

Most children do not like very naturalistic toys, preferring symbolic, home-made, imaginative toys. Parents who so love to give their children huge bears and dolls often unwittingly hinder their development. They deprive them of the joy of independent discoveries in games. Children tend to like small, unimpressive toys - they are easier to adapt to different games. Large or “just like real” dolls and animals do little to stimulate the imagination. Children develop more intensively and get much more pleasure if the same stick plays the role of a gun, the role of a horse, and many other functions in various games. Thus, in L. Kassil’s book “Konduit and Shvambrania” a vivid description of the attitude of children to toys is given: “Turned lacquered figures represented unlimited possibilities of using them for the most diverse and tempting games ... Both queens were especially comfortable: the blonde and the brunette. Each queen could work for a Christmas tree, a cab driver, a Chinese pagoda, a flower pot on a stand, and a bishop.”

Gradually, the need for an external support (even in a symbolic figure) disappears and internalization occurs - a transition to a game action with an object that does not really exist, to a game transformation of an object, to giving it a new meaning and representing actions with it in the mind, without real action. This is the origin of imagination as a special mental process. Vygotsky L.S. Imagination and creativity in childhood.

In children of primary school age, the imagination has its own characteristics. The younger school age is characterized by the activation of the first recreating imagination, and then the creative one. The main line in its development lies in the subordination of the imagination to conscious intentions, i.e. it becomes arbitrary.

Here it should be noted that for a long time in psychology there was an assumption according to which the imagination is inherent in the child "initially" and is more productive in childhood, and with age it obeys the intellect and fades away. However, L.S. Vygotsky shows the untenability of such positions. All images of the imagination, no matter how bizarre they may seem, are based on ideas and impressions received in real life. And so the experience of a child is poorer than that of an adult. And one can hardly say that the child's imagination is richer. It's just that sometimes, not having enough experience, the child explains in his own way what he encounters in life, and these explanations often seem unexpected and original. Vygotsky L.S. Imagination and creativity in childhood.

The younger school age is qualified as the most favorable, sensitive for the development of creative imagination, fantasy. Games, conversations of children reflect the power of their imagination, one might even say, a riot of fantasy. In their stories and conversations, reality and fantasy are often mixed, and the images of the imagination can, by virtue of the law of the emotional reality of the imagination, be experienced by children as quite real.

A feature of the imagination of younger students, manifested in educational activities, is initially based on perception (primary image), and not on representation (secondary image). For example, a teacher offers a task to children in a lesson that requires them to imagine a situation. It can be such a task: “A barge was sailing along the Volga and carried in holds ... kg of watermelons. There was pitching, and ... kg of watermelons burst. How many watermelons are left? Of course, such tasks start the process of imagination, but they need special tools (real objects, graphic images, layouts, diagrams), otherwise the child finds it difficult to advance in arbitrary actions of the imagination. In order to understand what happened in the watermelon holds, it is useful to give a sectional drawing of a barge.

According to L.F. Berzfai, a productive imagination must have the following features in order for the child to painlessly enter the school learning environment:

with the help of imagination, he must be able to reproduce the principles of the structure and development of things;

have the ability to see the whole before its parts, i.e. the ability to create a holistic image of any object;

the productive imagination of a child is characterized by “above situationality”, i.e. a tendency to constantly go beyond these conditions, to set new goals (which is the basis of the future ability and desire to learn, i.e. the basis of learning motivation);

mental experimentation with a thing and the ability to include an object in new contexts, and, consequently, the ability to find a method or principle of action.

The creativity of the child is determined by two factors: Subbotina L.Yu. Children's fantasies: Development of children's imagination.

subjective (development of anatomical and physiological features);

objective (the impact of the phenomena of the surrounding life).

The most vivid and free manifestation of the imagination of younger students can be observed in the game, in drawing, writing stories and fairy tales. In children's creativity, the manifestations of the imagination are diverse: some recreate reality, others create new fantastic images and situations. When writing stories, children can borrow plots known to them, stanzas of poems, graphic images, sometimes without noticing it at all. However, they often deliberately combine well-known plots, create new images, exaggerating certain aspects and qualities of their characters.

The tireless work of the imagination is an effective way for a child to learn and assimilate the world around him, an opportunity to go beyond personal practical experience, the most important psychological prerequisite for the development of a creative approach to the world.

The first images of the child's imagination are associated with the processes of perception and his play activity. A one and a half year old child is still not interested in listening to stories (fairy tales) of adults, since he still lacks the experience that generates perception processes. At the same time, one can observe how, in the imagination of a playing child, a suitcase, for example, turns into a train, a silent, indifferent to everything that happens, a doll into a crying little man offended by someone, a pillow into an affectionate friend. During the period of speech formation, the child uses his imagination even more actively in his games, because his life observations are sharply expanded. However, all this happens as if by itself, unintentionally.

Arbitrary forms of imagination "grow up" from 3 to 5 years. Imagination images can appear either as a reaction to an external stimulus (for example, at the request of others), or initiated by the child himself, while imaginary situations are often purposeful, with an ultimate goal and a pre-thought-out scenario.

The school period is characterized by the rapid development of the imagination, due to the intensive process of acquiring versatile knowledge and using it in practice.

Individual features of the imagination are clearly manifested in the process of creativity. In this sphere of human activity, imagination about significance is placed on a par with thinking. It is important that for the development of imagination it is necessary to create conditions for a person under which freedom of action, independence, initiative, and looseness are manifested.

It has been proven that imagination is closely connected with other mental processes (memory, thinking, attention, perception) that serve learning activities. Thus, not paying enough attention to the development of imagination, primary teachers reduce the quality of education.

In general, primary schoolchildren usually do not have any problems associated with the development of children's imagination, so almost all children who play a lot and in a variety of ways in preschool childhood have a well-developed and rich imagination. The main questions that in this area may still arise before the child and the teacher at the beginning of training relate to the connection between imagination and attention, the ability to regulate figurative representations through voluntary attention, as well as the assimilation of abstract concepts that can be imagined and presented to the child, as well as to an adult, hard enough.

Senior preschool and junior school age are qualified as the most favorable, sensitive for the development of creative imagination, fantasies. Games, conversations of children reflect the power of their imagination, one might even say, a riot of fantasy. In their stories and conversations, reality and fantasy are often mixed, and the images of the imagination can, by virtue of the law of the emotional reality of the imagination, be experienced by children as quite real. The experience is so strong that the child feels the need to talk about it. Such fantasies (they are also found in adolescents) are often perceived by others as lies. Parents and teachers often turn to psychological counseling, alarmed by such manifestations of fantasy in children, which they regard as deceit. In such cases, the psychologist usually recommends that you analyze whether the child is pursuing any benefit with his story. If not (and most often it happens that way), then we are dealing with fantasizing, inventing stories, and not with lies. This kind of storytelling is normal for kids. In these cases, it is useful for adults to join the children's game, to show that they like these stories, but precisely as manifestations of fantasy, a kind of game. Participating in such a game, sympathizing and empathizing with the child, an adult must clearly designate and show him the line between the game, fantasy and reality.

At primary school age, in addition, there is an active development of the recreative imagination.

In children of primary school age, several types of imagination are distinguished. It can be recreative (creating an image of an object according to its description) and creative (creating new images that require the selection of material in accordance with the plan).

The main trend that occurs in the development of children's imagination is the transition to an increasingly correct and complete reflection of reality, the transition from a simple arbitrary combination of ideas to a logically reasoned combination. If a child of 3-4 years old is satisfied with two sticks laid crosswise for the image of an airplane, then at 7-8 years old he already needs an external resemblance to an airplane ("so that there are wings and a propeller"). A schoolboy at the age of 11-12 often designs a model himself and demands from it an even more complete resemblance to a real aircraft ("so that it would be just like a real one and would fly").

The question of the realism of children's imagination is connected with the question of the relation of the images that arise in children to reality. The realism of the child's imagination is manifested in all forms of activity available to him: in play, in visual activity, when listening to fairy tales, etc. In play, for example, a child's demands for credibility in a play situation increase with age.

Observations show that the child strives to depict well-known events truthfully, as happens in life. In many cases, the change in reality is caused by ignorance, the inability to coherently, consistently portray the events of life. The realism of the younger schoolchild's imagination is especially evident in the selection of game attributes. For a younger preschooler in the game, everything can be everything. Older preschoolers are already selecting material for the game according to the principles of external similarity.

The younger student also makes a strict selection of material suitable for play. This selection is carried out according to the principle of maximum closeness, from the point of view of the child, of this material to real objects, according to the principle of the possibility of performing real actions with it.

The obligatory and main protagonist of the game for schoolchildren in grades 1-2 is a doll. With it, you can perform any necessary "real" actions. She can be fed, dressed, she can express her feelings. It is even better to use a live kitten for this purpose, since you can already really feed it, put it to bed, etc.

The corrections to the situation and images made during the game by children of primary school age give the game and the images themselves imaginary features, bringing them closer and closer to reality.

A.G. Ruzskaya notes that children of primary school age are not deprived of fantasizing, which is at odds with reality, which is even more typical for schoolchildren (cases of children's lies, etc.). “Fantasying of this kind still plays a significant role and occupies a certain place in the life of a younger student. But, nevertheless, it is no longer a simple continuation of the fantasizing of a preschooler who himself believes in his fantasy as in reality. A 9-10 year old student already understands "conventionality" of one's fantasizing, its inconsistency with reality.

Concrete knowledge and fascinating fantastic images built on their basis coexist peacefully in the mind of a junior schoolchild. With age, the role of fantasy, divorced from reality, weakens, and the realism of the child's imagination increases. However, the realism of a child's imagination, in particular the imagination of a younger schoolchild, must be distinguished from its other feature, close, but fundamentally different.

The realism of the imagination involves the creation of images that do not contradict reality, but are not necessarily a direct reproduction of everything perceived in life.

The imagination of a younger schoolchild is also characterized by another feature: the presence of elements of reproductive, simple reproduction. This feature of children's imagination is expressed in the fact that in their games, for example, they repeat the actions and situations that they observed in adults, play out stories that they experienced, which they saw in the cinema, reproducing the life of the school, family, etc. without changes. The theme of the game is the reproduction of impressions that took place in the lives of children; the storyline of the game is a reproduction of what was seen, experienced, and necessarily in the same sequence in which it took place in life.

However, with age, the elements of reproductive, simple reproduction in the imagination of a younger student become less and less, and more and more creative processing of ideas appears.

According to L.S. Vygotsky, a child of preschool and primary school age can imagine much less than an adult, but he trusts the products of his imagination more and controls them less, and therefore imagination in the everyday, "cultural sense of the word, i.e. something like what is real, imaginary, in a child, of course, more than in an adult.However, not only the material from which the imagination builds is poorer in a child than in an adult, but also the nature of the combinations that are added to this material, their quality and the variety is considerably inferior to the combinations of an adult.Of all the forms of connection with reality that we have listed above, the child's imagination, to the same extent as the adult's imagination, has only the first, namely, the reality of the elements from which it is built.

V.S. Mukhina notes that at primary school age, a child in his imagination can already create a variety of situations. Being formed in the game substitutions of some objects for others, the imagination passes into other types of activity.

In the process of educational activity of schoolchildren, which starts from living contemplation in the primary grades, the level of development of cognitive processes plays an important role, as psychologists note: attention, memory, perception, observation, imagination, memory, thinking. The development and improvement of the imagination will be more effective with purposeful work in this direction, which will entail the expansion of the cognitive abilities of children.

At primary school age, for the first time, there is a division of play and labor, that is, activities carried out for the sake of pleasure that the child will receive in the process of the activity itself and activities aimed at achieving an objectively significant and socially assessed result. This distinction between play and work, including educational work, is an important feature of school age.

The importance of imagination in primary school age is the highest and necessary human ability. However, it is this ability that needs special care in terms of development. And it develops especially intensively at the age of 5 to 15 years. And if this period of imagination is not specially developed, in the future there will be a rapid decrease in the activity of this function.

Along with a decrease in a person’s ability to fantasize, a person becomes impoverished, the possibilities of creative thinking decrease, interest in art, science, and so on goes out.

Younger students carry out most of their vigorous activity with the help of imagination. Their games are the fruit of the wild work of fantasy, they are enthusiastically engaged in creative activities. The psychological basis of the latter is also creative

imagination. When in the process of learning children are faced with the need to comprehend abstract material and they need analogies, support with a general lack of life experience, imagination also comes to the aid of the child. Thus, the significance of the function of imagination in mental development is great.

However, fantasy, like any form of mental reflection, must have a positive direction of development. It should contribute to a better knowledge of the surrounding world, self-disclosure and self-improvement of the individual, and not develop into passive daydreaming, replacing real life with dreams. To accomplish this task, it is necessary to help the child use his imagination in the direction of progressive self-development, to enhance the cognitive activity of schoolchildren, in particular the development of theoretical, abstract thinking, attention, speech and creativity in general. Children of primary school age are very fond of doing art. It allows the child to reveal his personality in the most complete free form. All artistic activity is based on active imagination, creative thinking. These features provide the child with a new, unusual view of the world.

Thus, one cannot but agree with the conclusions of psychologists and researchers that imagination is one of the most important mental processes and the level of its development, especially in children of primary school age, largely depends on the success of mastering the school curriculum.

Chapter summary: so, we examined the concept of imagination, the types and features of its development in primary school age. In this regard, the following conclusions can be drawn:

The definition of imagination and the identification of the specifics of its development is one of the most difficult problems in psychology.

Imagination is a special form of the human psyche, standing apart from other mental processes and at the same time occupying an intermediate position between perception, thinking and memory.

Imagination can be of four main types:

Active imagination - is characterized by the fact that, using it, a person, at his own request, by an effort of will, causes appropriate images in himself.

Passive imagination lies in the fact that its images arise spontaneously, in addition to the will and desire of a person. Passive imagination can be unintentional and intentional.

There is also a distinction between the reproducing, or reproductive, and the transforming, or productive imagination.

Diagnostics of children of primary school age showed that the level of imagination development can be divided into three levels: high, medium and low.

The first images of the child's imagination are associated with the processes of perception and his play activity. A one and a half year old child is still not interested in listening to stories (fairy tales) of adults, since he still lacks experience that generates perception processes. At the same time, one can observe how, in the imagination of a playing child, a suitcase, for example, turns into a train, a silent, indifferent to everything that happens, a doll into a crying little man offended by someone, a pillow into an affectionate friend. During the period of speech formation, the child uses his imagination even more actively in his games, because his life observations expand dramatically. However, all this happens as if by itself, unintentionally.

Arbitrary forms of imagination "grow up" from 3 to 5 years. Imagination images can appear either as a reaction to an external stimulus (for example, at the request of others), or initiated by the child himself, while imaginary situations are often purposeful, with an ultimate goal and a pre-thought-out scenario.

The school period is characterized by the rapid development of the imagination, due to the intensive process of acquiring versatile knowledge and using it in practice.

Individual features of the imagination are clearly manifested in the process of creativity. In this sphere of human activity, imagination about significance is placed on a par with thinking. It is important that for the development of imagination it is necessary to create conditions for a person under which freedom of action, independence, initiative, and looseness are manifested.

It has been proven that imagination is closely connected with other mental processes (memory, thinking, attention, perception) that serve learning activities. Thus, not paying enough attention to the development of imagination, primary teachers reduce the quality of education.

In general, primary schoolchildren usually do not have any problems associated with the development of children's imagination, so almost all children who play a lot and in a variety of ways in preschool childhood have a well-developed and rich imagination. The main questions that in this area may still arise before the child and the teacher at the beginning of training relate to the connection between imagination and attention, the ability to regulate figurative representations through voluntary attention, as well as the assimilation of abstract concepts that can be imagined and presented to the child, as well as to an adult, hard enough.

Senior preschool and junior school age are qualified as the most favorable, sensitive for the development of creative imagination, fantasies. Games, conversations of children reflect the power of their imagination, one might even say, a riot of fantasy. In their stories and conversations, reality and fantasy are often mixed, and the images of the imagination can, by virtue of the law of the emotional reality of the imagination, be experienced by children as quite real. The experience is so strong that the child feels the need to talk about it. Such fantasies (they are also found in adolescents) are often perceived by others as lies. Parents and teachers often turn to psychological counseling, alarmed by such manifestations of fantasy in children, which they regard as deceit. In such cases, the psychologist usually recommends that you analyze whether the child is pursuing any benefit with his story. If not (and most often it happens that way), then we are dealing with fantasizing, inventing stories, and not with lies. This kind of storytelling is normal for kids. In these cases, it is useful for adults to join the children's game, to show that they like these stories, but precisely as manifestations of fantasy, a kind of game. Participating in such a game, sympathizing and empathizing with the child, an adult must clearly designate and show him the line between the game, fantasy and reality.

At primary school age, in addition, there is an active development of the recreative imagination.

In children of primary school age, several types of imagination are distinguished. It can be recreative (creating an image of an object according to its description) and creative (creating new images that require the selection of material in accordance with the plan).

The main trend that occurs in the development of children's imagination is the transition to an increasingly correct and complete reflection of reality, the transition from a simple arbitrary combination of ideas to a logically reasoned combination. If a child of 3-4 years old is satisfied with two sticks laid crosswise for the image of an airplane, then at 7-8 years old he already needs an external resemblance to an airplane ("so that there are wings and a propeller"). A schoolboy at the age of 11-12 often designs a model himself and demands from it an even more complete resemblance to a real aircraft ("so that it would be just like a real one and would fly").

The question of the realism of children's imagination is connected with the question of the relation of the images that arise in children to reality. The realism of the child's imagination is manifested in all forms of activity available to him: in play, in visual activity, when listening to fairy tales, etc. In play, for example, a child's demands for credibility in a play situation increase with age.

Observations show that the child strives to depict well-known events truthfully, as happens in life. In many cases, the change in reality is caused by ignorance, the inability to coherently, consistently portray the events of life. The realism of the younger schoolchild's imagination is especially evident in the selection of game attributes. For a younger preschooler in the game, everything can be everything. Older preschoolers are already selecting material for the game according to the principles of external similarity.

The younger student also makes a strict selection of material suitable for play. This selection is carried out according to the principle of maximum closeness, from the point of view of the child, of this material to real objects, according to the principle of the possibility of performing real actions with it.

The obligatory and main protagonist of the game for schoolchildren in grades 1-2 is a doll. With it, you can perform any necessary "real" actions. She can be fed, dressed, she can express her feelings. It is even better to use a live kitten for this purpose, since you can already really feed it, put it to bed, etc.

The corrections to the situation and images made during the game by children of primary school age give the game and the images themselves imaginary features, bringing them closer and closer to reality.

A.G. Ruzskaya notes that children of primary school age are not deprived of fantasizing, which is at odds with reality, which is even more typical for schoolchildren (cases of children's lies, etc.). “Fantasying of this kind still plays a significant role and occupies a certain place in the life of a younger student. But, nevertheless, it is no longer a simple continuation of the fantasizing of a preschooler who himself believes in his fantasy as in reality. A 9-10 year old student already understands "conventionality" of one's fantasizing, its inconsistency with reality.

Concrete knowledge and fascinating fantastic images built on their basis coexist peacefully in the mind of a junior schoolchild. With age, the role of fantasy, divorced from reality, weakens, and the realism of the child's imagination increases. However, the realism of a child's imagination, in particular the imagination of a younger schoolchild, must be distinguished from its other feature, close, but fundamentally different.

The realism of the imagination involves the creation of images that do not contradict reality, but are not necessarily a direct reproduction of everything perceived in life.

The imagination of a younger schoolchild is also characterized by another feature: the presence of elements of reproductive, simple reproduction. This feature of children's imagination is expressed in the fact that in their games, for example, they repeat the actions and situations that they observed in adults, play out stories that they experienced, which they saw in the cinema, reproducing the life of the school, family, etc. without changes. The theme of the game is the reproduction of impressions that took place in the lives of children; the storyline of the game is a reproduction of what was seen, experienced, and necessarily in the same sequence in which it took place in life.

However, with age, the elements of reproductive, simple reproduction in the imagination of a younger student become less and less, and more and more creative processing of ideas appears.

According to L.S. Vygotsky, a child of preschool and primary school age can imagine much less than an adult, but he trusts the products of his imagination more and controls them less, and therefore imagination in the everyday, "cultural sense of the word, i.e. something like what is real, imaginary, in a child, of course, more than in an adult.However, not only the material from which the imagination builds is poorer in a child than in an adult, but also the nature of the combinations that are added to this material, their quality and the variety is considerably inferior to the combinations of an adult.Of all the forms of connection with reality that we have listed above, the child's imagination, to the same extent as the adult's imagination, has only the first, namely, the reality of the elements from which it is built.

V.S. Mukhina notes that at primary school age, a child in his imagination can already create a variety of situations. Being formed in the game substitutions of some objects for others, the imagination passes into other types of activity.

In the process of educational activity of schoolchildren, which starts from living contemplation in the primary grades, the level of development of cognitive processes plays an important role, as psychologists note: attention, memory, perception, observation, imagination, memory, thinking. The development and improvement of the imagination will be more effective with purposeful work in this direction, which will entail the expansion of the cognitive abilities of children.

At primary school age, for the first time, there is a division of play and labor, that is, activities carried out for the sake of pleasure that the child will receive in the process of the activity itself and activities aimed at achieving an objectively significant and socially assessed result. This distinction between play and work, including educational work, is an important feature of school age.

The importance of imagination in primary school age is the highest and necessary human ability. However, it is this ability that needs special care in terms of development. And it develops especially intensively at the age of 5 to 15 years. And if this period of imagination is not specially developed, in the future there will be a rapid decrease in the activity of this function.

Along with a decrease in a person’s ability to fantasize, a person becomes impoverished, the possibilities of creative thinking decrease, interest in art, science, and so on goes out.

Younger students carry out most of their vigorous activity with the help of imagination. Their games are the fruit of the wild work of fantasy, they are enthusiastically engaged in creative activities. The psychological basis of the latter is also creative

imagination. When in the process of learning children are faced with the need to comprehend abstract material and they need analogies, support with a general lack of life experience, imagination also comes to the aid of the child. Thus, the significance of the function of imagination in mental development is great.

However, fantasy, like any form of mental reflection, must have a positive direction of development. It should contribute to a better knowledge of the surrounding world, self-disclosure and self-improvement of the individual, and not develop into passive daydreaming, replacing real life with dreams. To accomplish this task, it is necessary to help the child use his imagination in the direction of progressive self-development, to enhance the cognitive activity of schoolchildren, in particular the development of theoretical, abstract thinking, attention, speech and creativity in general. Children of primary school age are very fond of doing art. It allows the child to reveal his personality in the most complete free form. All artistic activity is based on active imagination, creative thinking. These features provide the child with a new, unusual view of the world.

Thus, one cannot but agree with the conclusions of psychologists and researchers that imagination is one of the most important mental processes and the level of its development, especially in children of primary school age, largely depends on the success of mastering the school curriculum.

Chapter summary: so, we examined the concept of imagination, the types and features of its development in primary school age. In this regard, the following conclusions can be drawn:

The definition of imagination and the identification of the specifics of its development is one of the most difficult problems in psychology.

Imagination is a special form of the human psyche, standing apart from other mental processes and at the same time occupying an intermediate position between perception, thinking and memory.

Imagination can be of four main types:

Active imagination - is characterized by the fact that, using it, a person, at his own request, by an effort of will, causes appropriate images in himself.

Passive imagination lies in the fact that its images arise spontaneously, in addition to the will and desire of a person. Passive imagination can be unintentional and intentional.

There is also a distinction between the reproducing, or reproductive, and the transforming, or productive imagination.

Diagnostics of children of primary school age showed that the level of imagination development can be divided into three levels: high, medium and low.

Imagination plays an important role in the mental development of a younger student. It supplements the perception with elements of past experience, the child's own experiences, transforms the past and present through generalization, connection with emotions, feelings, sensations, ideas. Thanks to the imagination, planning and goal-setting are carried out, in which the future result of the activity of a younger student is created in the imagination, exists in his mind and directs his activity to obtain the desired result. Imagination provides anticipation, modeling and creation of an image of the future (positive or negative consequences of certain actions, the course of interaction, the content of the situation) by summarizing the elements of the child's past experience and establishing cause-and-effect relationships between its elements. If a younger student is deprived of the opportunity to really act or be in a certain situation, then by the power of his imagination he is transferred there and performs actions in his imagination, thereby replacing real reality with an imaginary one. In addition, imagination is an important basis for younger students' understanding of other people and interpersonal communication, contributing to the representation of emotions and states experienced by others at a given time. Thus, imagination occupies an important place in the structure of a child's mental activity, being included in its cognitive emotional-sensory and behavioral components; is an integral part of educational and other activities, social interaction and cognition of younger students: participates in the arbitrary regulation of cognitive processes and mental states of the child, affects the nature of the flow of emotional and volitional processes, provides targeted planning and programming of various activities.

At primary school age, a recreating (reproductive) imagination is developed, involving the creation of images according to a verbal description or a conditional image, and a creative (productive) imagination, which is distinguished by a significant processing of the source material and the creation of new images. The main direction in the development of imagination in primary school age is a gradual transition to an increasingly correct and complete reflection of reality based on accumulated knowledge, from a simple arbitrary combination of ideas to their logically reasoned combination.

A distinctive feature of the imagination of a younger student is also its reliance on specific objects, without which it is difficult for them to create images of the imagination. In the same way, when reading and telling, the younger student relies on an image, on a specific image. Without this, students find it difficult to imagine, to recreate the described situation. At the beginning of primary school age, the imagination relies on specific objects, but with age, the word begins to come first.

In the process of learning, with the general development of the ability to self-regulate and control one's mental activity, imagination also becomes an increasingly manageable and controlled process, and its images arise within the framework of educational tasks associated with a certain content of educational activity. Educational activity contributes to the intensive development of the recreating imagination. In the process of learning activities, younger students are given a lot of descriptive information, which requires them to constantly recreate images, without which it is impossible to comprehend the educational material and assimilate it, i.e., the recreating imagination of a younger student from the very beginning of training is included in purposeful learning activities. The basis for the imagination of a younger student is his ideas. Therefore, the development of the imagination largely depends on the system of thematic ideas formed in the child about various objects and phenomena of the surrounding world.

Practical example: To activate and develop reproductive imagination in literary reading classes, the game technique “Composing images of objects” is used, in which children are read a description of the appearance of a hero, object, and then they are asked to draw a hero or object according to the description.

The junior school age as a whole can be considered the most favorable, sensitive period for the development of creative imagination and fantasy. Games, productive activities, communication of younger students reflect the power of their imagination. In their stories, conversations, reality and imaginary images are often mixed up, and the unreal phenomena presented can, due to the law of the emotional reality of the imagination, be experienced by children as quite real. Their experience is so intense that younger students feel the need to talk about it. Such childhood fantasies are often perceived by others as manifestations of deceit and deceit. However, if these stories invented by the child do not pursue any benefit, then they are not lies, but fantasies that are at odds with reality. As the child grows older, such fantasizing ceases to be a simple continuation of the fantasizing of the preschooler, who himself believes in his fantasy as in reality. Younger students begin to realize the conventionality of their fantasizing, its inconsistency with reality.

In the mind of a junior schoolchild, real concrete knowledge and fascinating images of imagination built on their basis coexist. With age, the role of fantasy, divorced from reality, decreases, and the realism of the child's imagination increases, which is due to the expansion of horizons and general awareness of the surrounding reality and the development of critical thinking. The realism of the imagination is manifested in the creation of images that do not contradict reality, but are not necessarily an accurate reproduction of real events. The question of the realism of children's imagination is connected with the question of the relation of the images that arise in younger schoolchildren to reality. The realism of the child's imagination is manifested in all types of activities available to him: in games, in visual and constructive activities, when listening to fairy tales, etc. In play activities, for example, a child's demands for credibility in a play situation increase with age. The child strives to depict well-known events realistically, as happens in life, and a change in reality is often caused by ignorance, an inability to coherently and consistently depict real events. The realism of the imagination in primary school age is especially pronounced when choosing the attributes of play activities. Unlike preschoolers, younger students make a strict selection of play material on the basis of its maximum proximity to real objects. Amendments to the game situation, imaginary images, introduced in the process of play activity by children of primary school age, give the game imaginary features that are more and more consistent with reality.

The main directions for the development of the imagination of a younger student:

• Improving imaging planning;
• increasing the accuracy and certainty of images of the imagination;
• an increase in the variety and originality of products of the imagination;
• reduction of elements of reproductive reproduction of images;
• increase in realism and controllability of images of the imagination;
• strengthening the connection of imagination with thinking;
• the transition of the imagination from an activity that needs external support to an independent internal activity based on speech.

1. At first, the images of the imagination are vague, unclear, gradually they become more accurate and definite.

2. At first, only a few signs are reflected in the images of the imagination, and by the end of the primary school age there are many more, and significant ones.

3. The processing of images, accumulated knowledge and ideas in grade 1 is insignificant, but by grade 3, children accumulate much more knowledge and images of the imagination become more diverse, generalized and brighter.

4. At first, any image of the imagination requires reliance on a specific object or its image, model, and then reliance on the word gradually develops, which allows younger students to mentally create a new image.

At primary school age, in general, children can imagine much less than an adult, but they have more confidence in the images of their imagination and their weaker control. Therefore, it often seems that the imagination of children is more developed than that of adults. However, younger schoolchildren have much less knowledge and ideas, which make up the material from which images of the imagination are built, than an adult. The nature of the methods used by younger students to synthesize images of the imagination, their combinations, quality and variety are also significantly inferior to adults. The lack of developed self-control in fantasizing gives rise to the illusion of ease with which the child produces more and more new images of imagination. Children have only a greater brightness of images, they also have little control over them.

The imagination of a younger student is distinguished by the presence of elements of reproductive, simple reproduction. Initially, the imagination of younger schoolchildren is distinguished by a slight processing of existing ideas. In play or productive activities, children display what they see and experience almost in the order in which it took place in their personal experience. As they grow older, the number of elements of reproductive, simple reproduction in the imagination of a younger student becomes less and less. In the future, the creative processing of ideas and the development of creative imagination are intensified.

M.E. Vannik identified the main stages of creative imagination in children of primary school age:

• preparatory (incitement to create),
• incubation of the idea (sketch, sketch: this stage in children can be curtailed), implementation of the idea (creation of a specific work),
• presentation of the result (for example, an exhibition of works, this stage is of particular importance for children).

The following conditions contribute to the development of creative imagination: the inclusion of students in various activities, the use of non-traditional forms of conducting lessons, the creation of problem situations, excursions, the use of role-playing games, independent work, planning work on the implementation of products, the use of various materials, the use of various types of tasks, in including psychological tasks and exercises. Such aspects of educational and cognitive activity as content, organizational, subject should be activated.

Practical example: To activate and develop creative imagination in literary reading classes, the game techniques “Fairy tales with three ends” are used, in which students are invited to come up with several options for ending famous fairy tales, the “Composing fairy tales” technique, in which children need to come up with their own fairy tale with some famous fairytale hero.

According to O.V. Davydova, the creative imagination of younger schoolchildren is intensively developed due to a special set of psychological and pedagogical conditions for the development of students based on interdisciplinary connections, including: interactive learning through cooperation; organization of problem-creative activity; use of integrated content.

Conditions for the development of creative imagination of younger students on the basis of interdisciplinary connections

1. Interactive learning through collaboration

Methods and techniques: cooperation at the stage of motivation: conversation, didactic games, cooperation at the stage of organization: formulation of the problem by the teacher or students, options for solving problem-creative problems during brainstorming, visual methods, methodological drawing, cooperation at the control stage: encouragement, approval of novelty, extraordinary design, portfolio selection

Forms of study:

Means of education: reliance on meaningful and formal knowledge, interest based on the knowledge of mythology, the use of visibility not for copying, but for combining, creating a situation of success in fine art (visibility, methodical drawing, encouragement, approval), creative book (portfolio), individual and collective grade

2. Organization of problem-creative activity

Methods and techniques: didactic games, conversation, heuristic, problem and visual methods, the use of visualization (including methodical drawing) not for copying, but for combining, cooperation and diplomacy in solving problems, accessible creative tasks of open mind, brainstorming, personal or social significance of tasks ; creative atmosphere; the use of a variety of visual materials and techniques, the creation of situations of success, encouragement, approval of novelty, extraordinary design

Forms of study: collective-group and individual-collective classes, exhibitions, dialogue of cultures

Means of education: the use of contradictions between the knowledge of history, mythology and the application of this knowledge in new practical conditions, the discrepancy between knowledge and new requirements; the contradiction between theoretical and practical implementation: knowledge of the methods and ways of creative imagination; mastering the ways of creating an artistic image; mastering the techniques of visual activity with a variety of materials, self-realization in creativity, the implementation of control tasks

3. Use of integrated education content

Methods and techniques: block study of topics in quarters (7-10 lessons), reliance on interdisciplinary knowledge of history and fine arts, the inclusion of mythology, conversation, visual methods, brainstorming, didactic games, the use of a regional component, cooperation, solving practically significant creative problems, ZUN proficiency in fine arts with a variety of materials and technologies

Forms of study: collective-group and individual-collective classes, exhibitions, dialogue of cultures

Means of education: isolating the general basis of the content of the subject programs "Fine Arts" and "History", which can be traced in the mythological knowledge of the content of each of the listed subjects, the use of verbal, visual and audiovisual means (the latter were also used in the first two conditions)

The author believes that since in the conditions of a general education school the experience of younger schoolchildren expands due to the knowledge of subjects studied in parallel, the educational and cognitive activity aimed at developing creative imagination should be based on interdisciplinary connections that allow transforming the elements of reality using the experience of previous generations.

The intensive development of the creative imagination of younger students in the learning process takes place on the basis of the principle of creative awakening (creating a creative atmosphere in the classroom that encourages students to creative activity based on new, vivid, emotional impressions and ideas), the principle of dialogism (creative cooperation between the teacher and students), the principle creative self-expression (reflection of one's own impressions in the created images), based on the close relationship of "external" and "internal" psychological conditions. These include a favorable psychological climate in the classroom, trust between the teacher and students, the “openness” of the student to the experience of creative activity, the internal locus of evaluating activity, etc. Favorable conditions for unlocking the creative potential of teachers and students are created within the framework of innovative education. The level of recreative imagination that a child has reached by the end of primary school age can be assessed by such indicators as formal adequacy, emotionality, originality and integrity of the image reconstruction. To assess the level of development of the creative imagination of younger students, one can use such criteria as the quantitative productivity of activity, originality of imagination, flexibility in the use of ideas.

Features of the development of imagination in children of primary school age

Imagination is one of the forms of mental reflection of the world. A more traditional point of view is the definition of imagination as a process (V.G. Kazakova, L.L. Kondratieva, A.V. Petrovsky, M.G. Yaroshevsky, etc.). According to M.V. Gamezo and I.A. Domashenko, "imagination is a mental process that consists in the creation of new images (representations) by processing the material of perceptions and representations obtained in previous experience."

Russian authors also consider imagination as an ability (L.S. Vygotsky, V.T. Kudryavtsev) and as a special human activity (L.D. Stolyarenko, B.M. Teplov). Taking into account the complex functional structure of the imagination, L.S. Vygotsky considered the optimal application of the concept of a psychological system.

So, imagination is the process of transforming images in memory in order to create new ones that have never been perceived by a person before. The process of imagination is peculiar only to man and is a necessary condition for his labor activity. Imagination is always a certain departure from reality. But in any case, the source of imagination is objective reality. Imagination, orienting a person in the process of activity, allows you to present the result of labor before it begins.

With the help of imagination, a person reflects reality in unusual, often unexpected combinations and connections. Imagination changes reality and creates other images on this basis. Imagination is closely connected with thinking, therefore it is able to intensively change a person's life impressions, the knowledge and ideas he has received. In general, imagination is closely connected with all aspects of a person's mental activity: with his perception, thinking, memory, feelings.

Imagination plays a huge role in human life. Without imagination, creativity is impossible. Peculiar forms of automobiles, fantasies on the themes of "engineer Garin's ray" and display of images at a distance (modern television), E. Tsiolkovsky's dreams of interplanetary flights and much more would have remained aloof from culture for centuries if humanity had not been capable of imagination . Thanks to the imagination, a person intelligently plans his activity, manages it, and creates. Almost all human spiritual and material culture is the creation of people and the product of the imagination. Imagination is of great importance for the development and improvement of man as a species. It takes a person beyond the limits of his existence, reminds him of the past, opens the future. With a rich imagination, a person can "live" at different times, which no other creature in the world can afford. The past is presented in images of memory, arbitrarily resurrected by an effort of will, the future is presented in dreams and fantasies.

Imagination allows a person to understand and navigate the situation, to solve problems independently without the intervention of practical actions. It helps him in many ways in such life situations when practical actions are either impossible, or confused, or simply undesirable. Imagination differs from perception in that its images do not always correspond to reality, they contain elements of fantasy and fiction. If the imagination paints such pictures to the consciousness, to which there is little or nothing in reality, then this is called fantasy. If, in addition, the imagination is directed to the future, it is called a dream.

In psychology, there are two directions in the development of the imagination of the individual: cognitive and affective. The cognitive direction is focused on the development of the imagination as a specific reflection of the objective world, overcoming the contradictions that have arisen in the ideas of a growing person about reality, completing and clarifying a holistic picture of the world. The affective direction presupposes the appearance, as a result of contradictions, of the image of the “I” that is emerging in the child, which in such cases is one of the mechanisms for its construction and development.

The mind of a person cannot be in an inactive state, that is why people dream so much. The human brain continues to function even when it does not solve any problems, when new information does not enter it. It is at this time that the imagination begins to work. It has been established that a person, at will, is not able to stop the flow of thoughts, stop the imagination.

Imagination in the process of human life performs a number of specific functions, the first of which is to represent reality in images and be able to use them when solving problems. The second function of the imagination is to regulate emotional states. With the help of his imagination, a person is able to satisfy many needs. The third function of imagination is connected with the state of a person and his participation in the arbitrary regulation of cognitive processes. With the help of skillfully created images, a person can pay attention to the necessary events, through images he gets the opportunity to control perception, memories, statements. The fourth function of the imagination is to form an internal plan of action, i.e. the ability to perform them in the mind, manipulating images. The fifth function of the imagination is the planning and programming of activities.

Depending on the characteristics of the flow of the process of imagination, the following types of imagination are distinguished: involuntary and arbitrary. Involuntary imagination is a process when new images are produced by themselves in the mind of a person without a predetermined goal. Arbitrary imagination is produced intentionally in connection with a predetermined goal.

Depending on the degree of activity, imagination is passive and active. Passive imagination is the spontaneous creation of images that often do not materialize. Passive imagination can be intentional and unintentional. Intentional imagination is the creation of images (dreams, illusions) that are not connected with the will, which could contribute to their implementation. Unintentional imagination is a weakening of the activity of consciousness during its disorders in a semi-drowsy state, in a dream, with hallucinations.

A dream is an image of the desired future. It arises under the influence of a person's needs, interests, beliefs, character traits. According to its content, a dream can be associated with lofty, noble, socially important goals or, conversely, with insignificant, petty, and sometimes base motives. Dreams are a dream that is not connected with life. Dreams relax the will, reduce the activity of a person, slow down his development.

Active imagination is the creation of images that are aimed at solving certain problems. Active imagination can be recreative and creative. Recreating imagination - the process of creating certain images that correspond to the description, the more information, the less work remains for the imagination. Active imagination, in turn, includes reproductive (recreative) and productive (creative). Imagination is called productive, in the images of which there is a lot of new (elements of fantasy). The products of such imagination usually resemble nothing, or bear very little resemblance to what is already known. Reproductive is imagination, in the products of which there is a lot of what is already known, although there are also individual elements of the new. Such, for example, is the imagination of a novice engineer, writer, artist, who at first create their creations according to known patterns, thereby learning professional skills.

Creative imagination is the independent creation of images that require the selection of materials in accordance with the plan. Creative imagination is priceless in its social significance and is aimed at the implementation of a creative or personal task. Fantasy is a kind of creative imagination. Fantasy is the creation of ideas about unreal events, phenomena. Fantasy is inherent in every person, but all people (especially children) differ in the direction of this fantasy, its strength and brightness.

M.V. Ermolaeva singles out and describes the following psychological mechanisms of imagination: 1) variation is the desire to change the images and representations that exist in experience; 2) modeling is a way of recreating events on new material; 3) schematization is the reduction of reality with the subsequent transfer of the action and functions of the object to other objects; 4) detailing is a mechanism that enhances the brightness of an image, representation; 5) combination is the transformation of previously obtained representations by combining heterogeneous components in a new image.

The creation of images of the imagination is carried out using several techniques. The first method is agglutination, i.e. "gluing" various parts that are not connected in everyday life (for example, "Centaur" or "Phoenix"). The second technique is hyperbolization, i.e. an incredible increase or decrease in an object or its individual parts (“Gulliver”, “Thumb Boy”, “Dwarf Nose”). The third technique is schematization, in this case, individual representations merge, differences are smoothed out, and the main similarities are clearly worked out (schematic drawing). The fourth technique is typification, i.e. highlighting the essential, repeating in some respects homogeneous facts and embodying them in a specific image (the image of a doctor, policeman, fireman). The fifth technique is accentuation, i.e. in the image being created, some part, detail stands out, is especially emphasized (for example, cartoon; caricature).

In the images that appear in the imagination, there are always features of images already known to man. But in the new image they are transformed, changed, combined into unusual combinations. The essence of imagination lies in the ability to notice and highlight specific features and properties in objects and phenomena, and transfer them to other objects.

According to L.S. Vygotsky, at the very beginning of the process of imagination, there are external and internal perceptions that form the basis of human experience. What the child sees and hears are the first reference points for his future creativity. Then dissociation occurs, which consists in the fact that this complex whole, as it were, crumbles into parts: individual parts are distinguished predominantly in comparison with others, that is, some are preserved, while others are forgotten. The process of dissociation is followed by a process of change to which these dissociated elements undergo. This process of change is based on the dynamism of our internal, nervous excitations and their corresponding images. Next comes the association, that is, the unification of the dissociated and changed elements into a new image. Then the individual elements are combined, brought into the system, and a complex picture is built. At the very end, imagination is embodied in external images.

According to L.S. Vygotsky, imagination develops most actively in children of preschool and primary school age. Younger school age (from 7-11 years old) is called the pinnacle of childhood. The child retains many childish qualities - naivety, frivolity, looking at an adult from the bottom up. Teaching for him is a significant activity. A child's entry into school is associated with huge changes in all areas of his life. These changes relate, first of all, to the structure of relationships and the place of the child in society.

The first images of the child's imagination are associated with the processes of perception and his play activity. A one and a half year old child is still not interested in listening to stories (fairy tales) of adults, since he still lacks the experience that generates perception processes. But in the imagination of a playing child, one can see how a cube, for example, turns into a car, a doll into a cheerful or offended by someone man, a blanket into an affectionate friend. The child uses his imagination even more actively in his games during the period of speech development. However, all this happens as if by itself, by accident. From 3 to 5 years, arbitrary forms of imagination develop. Imagination images can appear at the request of others, initiated by the child himself.

The junior school period is characterized not only by the rapid development of the imagination, but also by the intensive process of acquiring versatile knowledge and using it in practice.

The individual features of the imagination of younger students are clearly manifested in the process of creativity. For the development of imagination in children, adults need to create conditions under which freedom of action, independence, initiative, and looseness are manifested. If at primary school age not enough attention is paid to the development of imagination, then the quality level of education also decreases.

In general, there are usually no problems associated with the development of imagination in younger schoolchildren, so that almost all children who play a lot and in various ways in preschool childhood have a well-developed and rich imagination. The main questions that may arise before the child and the teacher at the beginning of training relate to the connection between imagination and attention, as well as the assimilation of abstract concepts that are difficult to imagine and imagine for a younger student, as well as for an adult.

Younger school age is qualified by scientists as the most favorable, sensitive for the development of creative imagination, fantasy. Games, conversations of children reflect the power of their imagination, one might even say, a riot of fantasy. In their stories, conversations, reality and fantasy are often mixed, and images of the imagination can be experienced by children as quite real. The experience is so strong that the child feels the need to talk about it. Such fantasies are often perceived by others as a lie. Parents and teachers often turn to psychological counseling, alarmed by such manifestations of fantasy in children, which they regard as deceit. In such cases, the psychologist usually recommends that you analyze whether the child is pursuing any benefit with his story. If not (and most often it is), then adults are dealing with fantasizing, inventing stories, and not with lies. This kind of storytelling is normal for kids. In these cases, it is useful for adults to join the children's game, to show that they like these stories, but precisely as manifestations of fantasy, a kind of game. Participating in such a game, sympathizing and empathizing with the child, an adult must clearly designate and show him the line between the game, fantasy and reality.

Children of primary school age develop all kinds of imagination. It can be recreative (creating an image of an object according to its description) and creative (creating new images that require the selection of material in accordance with the idea).

The main trend that occurs in the development of children's imagination is the transition to an increasingly correct and complete reflection of reality, the transition from a simple arbitrary combination of ideas to a logically reasoned combination. If a child of 3-4 years old is satisfied to depict a bird with checkmarks, then at 7-8 years old he already needs an external resemblance to a bird (“so that there are wings and a beak”). A schoolboy at the age of 11-12 often sculpts a model himself and demands from her an even more complete resemblance to a real bird.

The question of the realism of children's imagination is connected with the question of the relation of the images that arise in children to reality. The realism of the child's imagination is manifested in all forms of activity available to him: in play, in visual activity, when listening to fairy tales, etc. In play, for example, a child's demands for credibility in a play situation increase with age.

Observations show that the child strives to portray well-known events truthfully, as happens in life. In many cases, the change in reality is caused by ignorance, the inability to coherently, consistently portray the events of life. The realism of the younger schoolchild's imagination is especially evident in the selection of game attributes. For a younger preschooler in the game, everything can be everything. Older preschoolers are already selecting material for the game according to the principles of external similarity. The younger student also makes a strict selection of material suitable for play. This selection is carried out according to the principle of maximum closeness, from the point of view of the child, of this material to real objects, according to the principle of the possibility of performing real actions with it.

The obligatory and main protagonist of the game for schoolchildren in grades 1-2 is a soft toy and a doll. With them, you can perform any necessary "real" actions: you can feed, dress, express your feelings. Also, for this purpose, younger students use a live kitten or puppy, as they can really be fed, put to bed. The corrections to the situation and images made during the game by children of primary school age give the game and the images themselves imaginary features, bringing them closer and closer to reality.

A.G. Ruzskaya notes that children of primary school age are not deprived of fantasizing, which is at odds with reality, which is even more typical for schoolchildren (cases of children's lies, etc.). Fantasizing of this kind still plays a significant role and occupies a certain place in the life of a younger schoolchild. But, nevertheless, it is no longer a simple continuation of the fantasizing of a preschooler who himself believes in his fantasy as in reality. A 9-10 year old student already understands the “conventionality” of his fantasizing, its inconsistency with reality.

Concrete knowledge and fascinating fantastic images built on their basis coexist peacefully in the mind of a junior schoolchild. With age, the role of fantasy, divorced from reality, weakens, and the realism of the child's imagination increases. However, the realism of a child's imagination, in particular the imagination of a younger schoolchild, must be distinguished from its other feature, close, but fundamentally different. The realism of the imagination involves the creation of images that do not contradict reality, but are not necessarily a direct reproduction of everything perceived in life.

The imagination of a younger student is also characterized by another feature: the presence of elements of reproductive, simple reproduction (in their games, children repeat the actions that they observed in parents and adults, play out stories that they saw in the movies, at school, in the family). However, with age, the elements of reproductive, simple reproduction in the imagination of a younger student become less and less, and more and more creative processing of ideas appears.

According to L.S. Vygotsky, a child of preschool and primary school age can imagine much less than an adult, but he trusts the products of his imagination more and controls them less, and therefore the child has more imagination in the everyday, cultural sense of the word than an adult. However, not only the material from which the imagination builds is poorer in a child than in an adult, but the nature of the combinations that are attached to this material, their quality and variety, are significantly inferior to those of an adult. Of all the forms of connection with reality, the child's imagination has the same degree of resemblance to the adult's imagination only in the reality of the elements from which it is built.

V.S. Mukhina notes that at primary school age, a child in his imagination can already create a variety of situations. Being formed in the game substitutions of some objects for others, the imagination passes into other types of activity.

In the process of educational activity of schoolchildren, which starts from living contemplation in the primary grades, the level of development of cognitive processes plays an important role, as psychologists note: attention, memory, perception, observation, thinking. The development and improvement of the imagination will be more effective with purposeful work in this direction, which will entail the expansion of the cognitive abilities of children.

At primary school age, for the first time, there is a division of play and labor, that is, activities carried out for the sake of pleasure that the child will receive in the process of the activity itself, and activities aimed at achieving an objectively significant and socially assessed result. This distinction between play and work, including educational work, is an important feature of school age.

At primary school age, imagination is the highest and main human ability. At the same time, it is this ability that cannot do without purposeful development. And if during this period the imagination is not specifically developed, then subsequently a decrease in the intensity of this function is observed. Along with the fading of a person’s ability to fantasize, the personality becomes impoverished, the possibilities of creative thinking decrease, interest in science, art, etc. decreases.

Younger schoolchildren carry out their productive activities with the help of imagination. Their games are the fruit of the active work of fantasy, they are happy to engage in creative activities. When, in the process of learning, younger students are faced with the need to comprehend abstract material, it is imagination that comes to the aid of the child.

Thus, the significance of the function of imagination in the mental development of a younger student is great. However, fantasy must have a positive direction of development. It should promote self-disclosure and self-improvement of the personality and better knowledge of the world around, and not develop into passive daydreaming, replacing real life with dreams. To accomplish this task, it is necessary to help the younger student use their imagination in the direction of progressive self-development, to enhance cognitive activity, in particular, the development of abstract thinking, attention, speech, and creativity in general. Children of primary school age love to engage in visual activities. It allows the younger student to reveal his personality in a more free form. All visual activity is based on active imagination. These features provide the child with a new, unusual view of the world.

P. Torrens developed criteria and indicators for the development of creative imagination. He attributed the following to the main criteria: 1) fluency; 2) flexibility; 3) originality; 4) brightness and detail of images.

Fluency reflects the ability to generate a large number of ideas (associations, images) and is measured by the number of produced images. Flexibility allows you to put forward a variety of ideas, reflects the ability to move from one aspect of the problem to another, use different strategies for solving creative problems. Originality characterizes the ability to put forward ideas that are different from the obvious, normative, measured by the number of extraordinary, non-recurring answers, images, ideas. The brightness and detail of the images captures the ability for productive, constructive activity, measured by the number of essential and non-essential features in the development of the main idea.

Thus, the imagination is the main driving force of the human creative process and plays a huge role in all of his life. Creative abilities must be developed in a person from early childhood, without a creative approach it is difficult to solve any problem. The imagination of a younger student is actively developing in the process of playing, productive activities, which depends on the conditions of his life, education and upbringing. Imagination goes from being involuntary, passive, recreating to arbitrary, creative. A characteristic feature of the creative imagination in children of primary school age is spontaneity, an internal interest in the process, the absence of a pronounced desire to achieve high performance in work. This is due to the fact that the product of activity for a younger student is only subjective novelty, activity at this age is more often episodic.