Attention is understood as the ability of the human brain to select the valuable from the flow of information and discard the unnecessary. This is the ability to fix thoughts on an object. Undeveloped attention in a child slows down the process of learning at school, the assimilation of new knowledge and development in general.

• The volume is characterized by the number of objects that the child is able to cover at the same time. The amount of attention depends on past experience, which a child of 7-9 years old has little. Therefore, it is unable to fix several objects in the field of view at the same time.
• Sustainability means the duration of drawing attention to one subject. The most important feature that characterizes stability is the possibility of identifying new connections and aspects in the subject under consideration. The stability of attention develops most intensively in children from three to seven years old and increases with age: a 7-year-old child has been playing for more than an hour, classes last 30 minutes, a one-year-old child has a game duration of 10-14 minutes, a three-year-old child - 27 minutes. The stability of the attention of a child of 7–9 years old is weak, there is instability.
• Concentration of attention - the force of fixation on some subject or action in a child of primary school age is large, it is easier for the teacher to attract the attention of the class than to hold it for a long time.
• Selectivity is the ability to focus on the part of the material needed to complete the task.
• The distribution of attention in children aged 7–9 is at a low stage of development; they do not know how to do several things at the same time with good results.
• Switchability - it is difficult for a primary school student to quickly switch from one lesson to another.
• Arbitrariness - the ability to focus on demand.

Stages of improving attention in primary school students

The development of attention in infancy begins immediately after birth. Concentration at a loud sound or on an object of interest is interpreted as the simplest manifestation of attention in infancy. At 1 month, the child does not understand speech, but listens. After 6 months - remembers the object and actions with it. After 10 months, a distribution of attention appears, consisting in the simultaneous action with two objects, a switch of attention develops (from one toy to another).

In early childhood, the child is engaged in the business of interest to him for 10 minutes, while experiencing difficulties in switching and distributing attention. Signs of concentration are expressed in fixing the most striking, but insignificant signs of objects. Interest in them disappears as soon as the novelty disappears.

The attention of preschool children is unstable, they are engaged in the most entertaining activity from 10 to 30 minutes. You can develop mindfulness in a child using techniques, techniques, exercises, tasks, games for children, attending children's courses aimed at improving attention and memory.

Exercises and games to develop attention

The main condition is to practice regularly. You should start with daily classes lasting 20 minutes, 1 or 2 days off per week are acceptable. The duration of the lessons is gradually increasing. During classes, you should use techniques to attract attention to interest the baby. The best methods of attraction and concentration are related to the game forms of completing tasks.

Find a house

The picture shows different animals (7-8) and houses for them. Animals with houses can be connected with lines. The kid needs to use only vision to determine which of the animals, which house belongs. If for the first time there are difficulties with the implementation, you can use a pencil. This exercise develops attention span.

palms

Children sit in a circle in the middle of the class and put their hands on the neighbor's knee. The right hand on the left knee of the neighbor on the right, the left hand on the right knee of the person sitting on the left. On command, the palms rise, but not all at the same time, but in turn, in the form of a wave. Hands raised late or too early are removed from the game. This exercise develops attention span.

most attentive

Children become a semicircle in the middle of the class and choose a driver who remembers the order in which the players are placed. After the command, he turns his back to the children and calls in order which of the players is behind whom. Each of the players must be in the role of a driver. Named the order of the players correctly encouraged. The exercise helps to train visual attention and memory.

Telephone

Children sit in a circle in the middle of the class and in a circle and whisper a message into each other's ear until it reaches the first player. This game develops memorization by ear and auditory attention.

My birthday

Children take turns saying their names and dates of birth. The first one says his name and date of birth, the second - the name and date of the first and his own name and date of birth, the third - the name and date of the first and second player, adding his name and date. The last participant in the game calls the names and dates of birth of all players in order and their own name and date of birth. Exercise helps develop memory and concentration.

Mashtal technique

Child psychologist Olga Mashtal devoted a whole book to improving attention in children. The book is a practical guide for methodologists, teachers, child psychologists and parents.

Techniques and techniques used to develop the memory of a child with mental retardation

Mental retardation (MPD) in a child is a suspension of the rate of formation of the psyche, expressed in an unsatisfactory amount of knowledge, dominance of gaming interests, and rapid satiety during mental work.

One of the main causes of learning difficulties and academic performance problems in 7–9 year old children with mental retardation is memory loss. Children with mental retardation do not memorize the conditions of the task or texts well enough. Improving memory in students of the first - second grade is to develop ways of remembering information. Without the work of the class teacher, these ways will be formed unconsciously, which will lead to difficulties with learning after the transition to the 5th-6th grade and in adolescents.

The best memory training techniques for primary school students with mental retardation are to present tasks in a playful way.

Exercise 1

Memorization and reconstruction of visual images.

• Ask the child to draw a car. At first, the drawing will be simple, over time it needs to be complicated with additional details (mirrors, headlights, etc.).
• Give the task to draw joy, sadness and any other non-objective image.
• Let the child look at the drawing for 30 seconds, then he must draw it from memory.

Exercise 2

• Offer the child a list of words and ask them to break it into groups on some basis.
• Ask them to write a story that combines the words of the group.

Exercise 3

Give the child pairs of words that are absolutely unrelated to each other, ask them to compose a sentence from them that connects them. For example, “the dog is tea” and “The dog does not drink tea.”

All exercises for children with mental retardation are based on the need to develop associative thinking, which leads to good memory. Children with mental retardation are characterized by inertia and non-emotionality, are passive, do not show active involvement in actions with toys or objects.

When working with schoolchildren with mental retardation, it is important to continuously evoke positive emotions for the activities recommended by the class teacher. If a child with mental retardation is interested, the results of the completed task will pleasantly surprise you.

To correct the lag in preschool children with mental retardation, special optional courses, techniques and methods are used to ensure preparation for school.

Techniques for attracting the attention of schoolchildren 7–9 years old during classes

Younger students tend to be often distracted in the classroom, since at this age involuntary attention to foreign objects easily appears. In addition to this, the stability of voluntary attention is short-lived. When completing the fifth task, children tend to be distracted, even if the exercises are given no more than 10 minutes. For this reason, you need to know the techniques for attracting the attention of students 7–9 years old:

• Non-standard start of the lesson.
• Change the usual tone, pace and volume of the voice, giving tasks to children.
• Use provocation.
• Transform into a popular hero.
• Conduct lessons outside the box in the form of travel, games, concerts.
• Choose tasks with elements of competition (who is faster, who is better).
• Use problematic questions (if you cut off all the branches of a bush, except for one, will it become a tree?).
• Apply problem tasks. For example, find differences in sections of cabbage and onions.
• Brilliant visual aids.

Using techniques to attract attention during classes with children aged 7–9 years, the teacher will achieve the maximum effectiveness of the work of students.

It is necessary to apply exercises for the development of attention and memory for the harmonious development of the child. At the same time, the best courses and methods take into account the stages of development of the child's psyche, selecting exercises in accordance with the age and mental development of children.

A child of 7–8 years of age intensively develops the ability to volitional regulation of attention, control it, and voluntary attention is formed. This is due to the fact that, firstly, the maturation of the brain by this time leads to a balancing of the processes of excitation and inhibition, and secondly, the level of cognitive development of the child at this age allows you to perform mental actions in the inner plane (in the mind).

The learning process, which is the leading activity of a younger student, contributes to the development of voluntary attention, its stability and concentration. As the range of interests of the child expands and he becomes accustomed to systematic educational work, his attention - both involuntary and voluntary - develops intensively. However, voluntary attention is fragile, and if something interesting appears, then attention immediately switches. Therefore, for younger students, especially for first graders, it is not a verbal explanation that is of such great importance, but a show, a bright picture or a slide, an action. An attempt to hold attention for a long time is unsuccessful, since the high exhaustion of the nerve cells of the cerebral cortex, low attention stability, emotionality and the rapidly developing so-called "protective inhibition" lead to distractions, "motor restlessness" after 10-15 minutes of intensive work.

The development of the attention of a child of 7-8 years old should be carried out in several directions. The first and most important thing is the formation of mental actions. Let's illustrate this process on the example of counting: at the first stage, the child is explained the need for the ability to count; at the second, he masters counting operations in a materialized form (counting with sticks, etc.); the third stage is to learn to pronounce all the actions performed aloud; at the fourth stage, the child pronounces the whole process of counting to himself; and finally, at the fifth stage, he is able to count in his mind.

The second and no less important direction in the development of attention at this age is associated with the formation of the child's ability to control and evaluate himself. For example, when teaching letters to write, it is necessary to discuss with a first grader all the nuances of the standard, pay attention to difficult points that can cause errors, help the child understand why he cannot write as in the sample. The purpose of this work is to get a pattern imprinted in the child's head that he can use as a help.

And the third, far from obvious, direction of developing the attention of first-graders is to increase their self-esteem. The fact is that, according to research, for many children, when they enter school, self-esteem decreases. And a person who is afraid of the result does not concentrate well on the problem, because he worries more than he thinks. The task of parents is to support the child in this difficult time for him, in no case scold him for the fact that the letters are not beautiful enough, etc.

You can also develop attention with the help of special exercises. The tasks offered on the site in this topic are aimed at training various characteristics of attention. Tasks are designed taking into account the interests and characteristics of the cognitive development of children of this age. They will definitely help your child become more attentive!

Good luck to you, and let the lessons bring joy!

We often complain about a bad memory - and our own, and especially in children. Experts are unanimous: you just need to deal with the development of memory. To make things more fun, we have selected 8 puzzles from the new book, which is all about . We hope these games will brighten up your family leisure.

Violin, scissors, giraffe...

Carefully examine the objects shown in the picture for two minutes. Then, without looking at the picture, write down on a piece of paper what you remember. Don't be discouraged if you can't remember everything.

When memorizing items, follow a certain order. Say their names out loud.
First memorize one group of five items, then add another one, and so on.

What's on the poster?

Carefully examine the poster for a minute.

Now, without peeking, answer the questions.

1. How many horses are on the poster?
2. Is it the US or the UK?
3. What does this poster announce - a film festival or a circus?
4. How many stars are at the very bottom of the poster?

Candle and snowman

Come up with associations for numbers and words in accordance with their external form. You can spend as much time on this as you need. Then close the picture.

Answer the questions provided.

1. What number corresponds to a snowman?
2. What numbers correspond to the ravine and the candle?
3. What numbers correspond to a sailboat, an egg and a snake?
4. What numbers correspond to a balloon, a bird, a children's slide and a duck?

Swim everyone!

Learn and memorize the details of a photo in one and a half minutes. Then close it and answer the questions.

1. Where does the action take place - on the beach or in the mountains?
2. Are all women in bathing suits?
3. Is there a man in the photo with his index finger raised up?
4. Are all people in the foreground or is there someone in the background too?

When was Galileo born?

For one and a half minutes, memorize the names of historical figures and the year of their birth. Then close the list.

Now all the names and dates are mixed up. Find the correct year of birth for each historical person.

How much is the closet?

You need to furnish your children's room. The figure shows prices from the furniture catalog. Memorize them for a minute. Now close the labels and answer the question:

How much money would you spend if you decide to buy a bunk bed, a round rug, two armchairs, two lamps, and a two-piece wardrobe?

What to pay attention to and what not, we can decide for ourselves: of course, provided that we can control our attention. Managing your attention is a common skill, and it can and should be trained.

Warning: you should not train concentration of attention directly during responsible affairs. Why? Any new business, especially against the background of tension, interferes with the main occupation. Separate these things: when you're busy, get busy and don't get distracted by concentration. If you train concentration of attention (correctly!), then do not do anything else at this time.

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​The main array of exercises for developing concentration of attention is the training of controlling the attention beam. There are dozens and hundreds of exercises that train the control of the attention ray, we offer here only the simplest ones, for example.

Exercise "Line"

The task is to draw a line on a blank sheet of paper with a pencil, very slowly and smoothly, and focus all thoughts and attention only on it. As soon as you catch yourself on a distraction, make a small peak upward, as on a cardiogram, and continue. Based on the results, it is easy to calculate the number of distractions. A good level of concentration if there is not a single peak in three minutes.

Exercise "Colorblind"

With outward simplicity, this is a rather difficult exercise. Call out loud as you read the following colored word color text. It is the colors, not what is written. Well, if after training you, in principle, managed to do this without errors.

Red . Green . Blue . Yellow. Violet . Orange . Brown . Blue .

Red. Black . Green . Blue. Yellow . Brown . Black . Green . Blue.

Violet . Blue. Yellow . Black . Red. Orange . Brown

Exercise "Fly"

This exercise requires a board with a 3 x 3 nine-cell playing field drawn on it and a small suction cup (or a piece of plasticine). The sucker plays the role of a "trained fly" here. The board is placed vertically, and the facilitator explains to the participants that the movement of the "fly" from one cell to another occurs by giving commands to it, which it obediently executes. According to one of the four possible commands ("Up!", "Down!", "Right!" or "Left!"), the "fly" moves to the next cell according to the command. The starting position of the "fly" is the central cell of the playing field. Teams are given by the participants in turn. The players must, relentlessly following the movements of the "fly", prevent it from leaving the playing field. After all these explanations, the game itself begins. It is held on an imaginary field, which each of the participants represents in front of him. If someone loses the thread of the game or sees that the "fly" has left the field, he gives the command "Stop!" and, returning the "fly" to the central cell, starts the game again.

"Fly" requires constant concentration from the players: if one of them is distracted even for a moment or think about something extraneous, he will immediately lose the thread of the game and will be forced to stop it.

Usually the game is lively, arouses interest and stimulates the participants to further work. Some athletes tend to overestimate their mindfulness. The psychotechnical exercise "Fly" can be especially useful for a coach when it is necessary to dispel this illusion.

In groups that do not have sufficient experience in working with attention, prolonged observation of a moving "fly" usually leads to tension and fatigue. Participants increasingly begin to slip off the object of their concentration, stray and eventually interrupt the game. Therefore, the facilitator must monitor the condition of the players and finish the exercise before the group begins to grow irritated and lose interest. Work "to exhaustion" is justified only in those cases when the members of the group set themselves a special task: to test and train the stability of their attention, that is, the ability to long-term concentration on the subject.

An important characteristic of attention is its volume - the breadth of the area to which it can be simultaneously extended. When, looking at your full dress, you suddenly notice a hole eaten by a moth, the area of ​​​​attention instantly narrows to the size of the discovered defect. It happens as if by itself. But we can also arbitrarily regulate the breadth of our attention.

Exercise "Two flies" is a more difficult version of the previous exercise. There are two flies on the field - fly one and fly two. Flies take turns walking, for example: "Fly one - up", "Fly two - to the right." The rules and the task are the same: mentally do not lose flies and do not make mistakes. Three minutes without errors is a good result.

The second series of concentration exercises

Reflection is a condition for conscious control of your attention and your life. Reflection helps the individual to realize where he is, what he is doing, and what needs to be done next.

• Exercise "Where is my attention directed"
• Exercise "Reflexive reading"

The third row of concentration exercises

Emotional balance.

• Exercise "Breathing"
• Exercise "Smooth surface of the lake"
• Exercise "Rosary"
• Exercise "Film Reel"
• Exercise "Mental relaxation"
• Exercise "Sphinx"
• Exercise "Sculpture"

If you do this for half an hour a day (preferably in segments of 5 minutes), then concentration skills develop on average in two months. And it's worth it. I wish you success!

Here you can get as much information on this topic as possible.

Concentration of attention - simply put, the ability to focus attention when required. It is easier for a person who is able to concentrate attention in time, without being distracted by external factors, to go through life and achieve success. Developing mindfulness through exercises and special techniques will help increase concentration.

Being engaged in an important matter, a person is distracted by extraneous sounds, switches to another activity, thereby straying from the right path. Poor concentration and loss of alertness can be triggered by the following factors:

• insufficient sleep;
• malnutrition;
• included TV;
• traffic noise;
• extraneous conversations and actions;
• fatigue;
• stress and depression;
• drug or alcohol effects.

To exclude violation of concentration of attention during work, and to ensure the development of concentration, protect yourself from the listed interferences.

How to assess the level of concentration

To understand the state of your mindfulness, a methodology has been developed for studying the concentration and stability of attention. Before answering the question of how to increase concentration, it is recommended to take a test.

• Münsterberg method.

The test will help determine the level of concentration, selectivity of attention and noise immunity.

Among the indicated letters there are words that need to be highlighted. Two minutes are allotted for the test. Get the maximum focus.

In two minutes, they found all the encrypted words - concentration at the proper height. The allotted time for the test seemed a lot - an excellent result. Two minutes was not enough - the concentration of attention is low. Give yourself 5 seconds for each word you couldn't find.

• "Ten Words"

This test tests the state of concentration and the work of short-term memory.

To pass the test, you need another person to read ten words for you. The chosen words cannot be related by meaning or associations.

Pillow, cake, snow, poodle, notebook, focus, slippers, autumn, ship, brick.

If after the first reading of the words you called 8 - the level of concentration is at a height. Repeated 7 words - a satisfactory state of concentration. Named less than 7 words - concentration at a low level.

Use one table for one try. In each of the tables, among the scattered numbers, you need to show and name the numbers in order from 1 to 25. Record the time spent on the test.

Concentration of attention is on top if you spent no more than 40 seconds on the test (one table). The test took from 40 to 50 seconds - the average level of attention. Spent more than 50 seconds - low level of attentiveness. Schulte's technique - checking the level of concentration and at the same time training attention.

Exercises for the development of concentration

After checking the level of mindfulness, consider how to develop concentration. An effective method of increasing concentration is exercise. The following exercises do not require much time and effort, are performed daily, at every opportunity.

• Awareness of what is happening.

Being at home, on the street, at work, do not be in prostration. Try to focus your attention on what is going on around you. Focus on what you are doing, who is around, what people are doing, what the weather is like.

This exercise will help to easily increase the level of concentration.

• Taking conscious action.

Learn to perform habitual actions consciously and attentively. Take every moment of life seriously, as if a lot depends on how you move your legs when walking, wipe the dust, put on clothes.

This kind of exercise will teach you to focus on things. The exercise will help increase the power of attention.

• The ability to see the hidden.

Performing the exercise, look at the objects around and notice new properties, qualities of things, the appearance of objects. Try to see things you didn't see before.

The exercise will form the skill of switching concentration from one subject to another without losing concentration.

• "Line".

To complete the lesson, prepare a white sheet of paper, a pen or pencil. The line should be drawn smoothly and slowly. Concentrate on the line being drawn. As soon as you realize that you are distracted, draw a line up. It should look like a cardiogram. The exercise is carried out for 3 minutes.

The result is positive only if the line remains straight.

• Music.

Classical music for concentration is a way to increase the level of concentration. The improvement of mindfulness during listening to music occurs due to the impact of the melody and harmony of the classical genre on the right hemisphere of the brain. When performing a task, you need to relax and distract from extraneous thoughts. The music of Haydn, Mendelssohn, Mozart and Tchaikovsky is suitable for the exercise.

Techniques for developing concentration

The development of concentration will go faster if you use exercises and special techniques to train your attention.

• "Black dot".

This technique of mindfulness development implies a long-term retention of high concentration on the subject.

For the lesson, prepare a white sheet of paper with a black dot drawn in the middle. Fix the drawing at a distance of one meter from you. Take a comfortable position so that the sheet with the dot remains at eye level. Close your eyes and let go of thoughts and images. After sinking into a state of rest, open your eyes and look at the point. Try not to look away, do not blink. Without thinking about anything, without straining, keep your attention only on the black dot. The technique is performed within 20-30 minutes. At the end of the session, close your eyes, observing the residual effect of the black dot until it disappears completely.

• "Burning Candle"

The technique of concentrating on the flame of a burning candle helps to increase the level of mindfulness. Place a lit candle half a meter away from you. Sit so that the flame burns at eye level. Make sure the room is quiet so that nothing distracts you from your session. Turn off light and noise sources. Close your eyes and disengage from intrusive thoughts and images. When you relax and calm down, look at the candle flame. Without blinking, fix your gaze on the tip of the fire. The technique takes 30 minutes. Next, continue to look at the candle with your eyes closed until the picture disappears completely.

• Meditation.

Learn to meditate. The meditation technique will help to achieve the highest level of concentration of mindfulness by distracting from the outside and focusing on inner sensations.

• "Watch".

To complete the lesson, take a mechanical watch and put it on the table. Get in a comfortable position and relax. You need to concentrate on the clock hand, without thinking about anything. The technique is performed until, during a full revolution of the second hand, not a single thought visits you, nothing distracts from the process.

The Clock technique trains attention and helps to concentrate.

• "Vipassana".

Take a comfortable position and relax. Breathe smoothly and freely. Move your gaze to the tip of the nose, and fix your attention on it. Follow only the sensations, breathing and gaze at the tip of the nose, distract from all thoughts. As soon as thoughts switch to something else, return to the starting point.

Each technique or exercise helps develop mindfulness and teaches you to focus, abstracting from extraneous noises, smells, and the actions of another person. Concentration training is the key to successful completion of tasks.

Now you know how to improve concentration and achieve a high level of concentration at work. Taking time to develop attention, you will simultaneously train your memory.