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Schemes for the game, lay down the pattern preparatory group. Benefit Nikitin: Fold Pattern. The Nikitin system for preschoolers

For a long time I was going to make this toy for my daughter - “Fold the Pattern” by Nikitin. This manual consists of 16 cubes with faces painted in a certain way: four of the same color - yellow, red, white and blue, two - are divided in half.

You can make a lot of combinations, patterns, figures with the help of such cubes. Compose monochromatic “paths”, crosses and squares, sequences, complete tasks according to a special manual, come up with your own ...

If you have 16 identical cubes at home, preferably small, the game is very easy and cheap to make. It will take only 4 cuts of self-adhesive film 15-20 cm long (depending on the size of the cubes) and a little patience.

I found such cubes (of course, my own production!), the most difficult thing was to get to the building materials store, and the necessary colors of the film are almost always available. There was a temptation to buy films and other shades - in order to decorate our wooden designer.

Then it remained to measure even squares to the nearest millimeter and cut them out. It is better to be a couple of millimeters smaller than the size of the face of the cube, so that the film does not leave at the joints, they also do the same with “factory” cubes.

They stick very easily. I collected the toy with my daughter, reading a book to her along the way (the benefit of “Fedorino's grief” is almost memorized), and she turned the pages and followed the process.

It was possible to stop already at this stage, leaving the “white” edges simply unglued. However, the daughter issued a verdict - “not ready!”

It turned out very elegant cubes, like from a store!

If you don’t have suitable cubes, but you want to have such a toy at home, you can make cardboard cubes. You can get print layouts for free right now, along with one more interesting game- "Pink Tower" Montessori. Enter your E-mail, and receive materials for printing to your mail.

Buy the game Nikitin FOLD THE PATTERN

For wholesale deliveries of Nikitin's educational games, please contact by e-mail[email protected]

Game Description

The game consists of 16 identical cubes. All 6 sides of each cube are painted differently in 4 colors. This allows you to make 1-, 2-, 3- and even 4-color patterns from them in a huge number of options. These patterns resemble outlines various items, paintings that children love to name. In the game with cubes, children perform 3 types of tasks.

First, they learn to fold exactly the same pattern from cubes according to pattern-tasks. Then they set the inverse problem: looking at the cubes, draw the pattern that they form. And, finally, the third is to come up with new patterns of 9 or 16 cubes, which are not yet in the book, that is, to do creative work.

Using a different number of cubes and different not only in color, but also in shape (squares and triangles) coloring of the cubes, you can change the complexity of tasks in an unusually wide range.

This game develops well the ability of children to analyze and synthesize, these important mental operations used in almost any intellectual activity, and the ability to combine, which is necessary for design work.

How to make a game

You need 16 to play. wooden cubes 30x30x30 mm in size (35 and 40 are possible). If they are pasted over with paper, then put them in a bowl and pour boiling water over them. After 30-40 seconds, the glue will get wet and the paper will peel off easily. Spread the clean cubes loosely in one layer and place them in a cabinet or on a radiator so that they dry well. The next day, they can be cleaned with fine sandpaper (sandpaper) from the remnants of glue and paper, and especially diligently rough end faces. In the “Homemade Cubes” sets, they are not pasted over with paper, but you still need to clean them up by moving the cube along the sheet of paper on the table.

Mark clean cubes with a sharpened pencil, drawing the diagonals as accurately as possible. Diagonals lie on opposite faces, they are parallel, and should not be placed on the ends.

The coloring order is shown in Figure 1:

the front face is white (shown as transparent in the figure),

back face - yellow,

right side blue

left side is red

upper border - yellow-blue,

the bottom edge is red and white.

Rice. one

Cubes are best painted with nitro paints, they dry quickly(1-2 hours) and very durable. Only color tones need to be chosenclean and such that they match in shade with the color of the task patterns.

Technical oil paints dry longer (up to 1-2 days), and artistic oil paints must be diluted with a colorless oil varnish (technical), otherwise their drying will take months.

If the cubes cannot be painted, you can paste over them with colored paper, but then the quality and strength will be incomparably lower. For the cubes you need a 125x125x30 mm cardboard box with a lid. Make sure that the cubes enter it freely, and the lid is put on with little friction. In such a box, it is not only convenient to hold and store the cubes, but also to fold patterns of series B (of 16 cubes).

The task patterns in the book are made in 1: 6 natural size, and for preschoolers they need to be increased. It is better to increase the SU-A series to natural size so that the baby can close the pattern with cubes, and the rest - up to 1: 2 or as the parents deem necessary.

It is convenient to make them on drawing paper, on separate sheets of 100 x 100 mm or 100 x 150 mm (for long patterns). The task patterns themselves can be drawn with paints, but it is better to stick a pattern cut out of colored paper (application method).

Separate series of tasks can be divided into thick paper bags with large letters A, B, C, D, E, denoting the series, glued or drawn.

If you want the order of tasks not to be violated, then you can make an accordion book from each series or from its parts. The simplest pattern-tasks of the A series are made up of 4 cubes, they can be given to babies starting from 1-2 years old. The complication of patterns is gradual, but this gradualness is, of course, relative, and the transition from one-color to two-color faces (you will see this when playing with a baby) is a sharp jump in the level of complexity. It can be smoothed, including tasks from other series, but with one-color faces, the patterns from which are easier to fold.

On fig. 2-8 you can choose this sequence yourself, knowing the capabilities of your child from previous games. From these drawings, you can determine which of the patterns is lost and prepare a new one. On them, you can mark those tasks with which the baby is already coping, and see those that have not yet “submitted” to him. In the same drawings, some names of patterns are given: “flower”, “saw”, “boat”, but it is not necessary to immediately tell them to the child. To develop the imagination, a child can be shown a pattern-task, fold a pattern of cubes and invite the child to think about what this pattern looks like. Kids prefer their “names” and, in order not to forget, they can be entered in the book next to the printed ones.

Rice. 2

Rice. 3

Rice. four

Rice. 5

Rice. 6

Rice. 7

Rice. eight

We start to play

The way of playing depends on the age of the child and his level of development. Children 1.5–2 years old have developed the ability to copy, “monkey”, they like to do like the elders. If I hammer nails, then Lyuba, who is 1 year 3 months old, pulls her hand to the hammer and says “Dyam ... dyam” (give!) Until I give her a small wooden or plastic hammer. Then she starts knocking with this hammer exactly like me, and sometimes even on the same board that I knock on. But she still does not ask for a nail, small things, small drawings still do not attract her. This feature of the baby - to grasp the big, most important, most noticeable and must be used.

In addition, we must remember the first impressions of the game. It is not at all indifferent how you poured the cubes on the table for the first time.

If you opened the lid in front of the baby and - bang! - with a roar, they poured all the cubes onto the table at once so that they scattered to the sides, and the baby even shuddered in surprise, then don’t be surprised later when exactly the same “boom!” cubes out of the box, rather than stacking "trains" or "towers" of them.

Moms sometimes even complain: “I don’t know what to do with Vladik. Likes to just scatter. So he scattered the cubes and left, he takes out toys from the box and scatters them around the room. I can't clean up after him." And the thing is that neither dad, nor mom, nor the teacher in the nursery where Vladik goes, did not think about WHAT is deposited in Vladik's memory when he first encounters “the way of handling cubes” or with toys. And this “method of scattering” is also fixed every time Vladik himself scatters something, and his mother follows him and collects. Therefore, we try not to demonstrate such undesirable ways of handling cubes. I can lead Lyubochka to the cubes already lying in disarray and begin to put things in order, or I take them out of the box neatly one after another and immediately build a “path”, or a square, or a “train” out of them. Lyuba is surprised: dad has a good “blue train”, and I, doing “Tu-tu ... u!”, Move it slowly to the opposite edge of the table or rug. And I do not hide my joy if Lyuba also gets a “train” (albeit not very successfully at first) or Lyuba has learned to find the red side on the cubes (for now, only one red and no other) and puts all the cubes in the box with the red side up , not tired of repeating: “Kas-kas” (i.e., red). And if Lyuba managed to put even the last cube in the box herself (it can still be very difficult for a one and a half to two year old baby), shaking the cube from side to side and pushing a place for him among the rest, then ... grabbing the daughter of the armpit, I throw her to the very ceiling and catch on the fly. Lyuba adores these upward flights and therefore laughs too, is also pleased, and the next day, having coped again with the task of stacking all the cubes with the red side up, Lyuba herself, beaming with joy, comes to me, raising her hands and as if saying: “Dad, throw me up like yesterday. After all, I put all the cubes in a box and everything is ka-ka-ka.”

But if the baby is already 3-4 years old, he knows the colors and can find the right face and appreciate the beauty of the pattern, then before giving him a game, choose the most attractive, in your opinion, pattern-task of series C or D and fold in advance according to this pattern cubes in a box. When opening a box with cubes for the first time, the baby will admire the pattern with you.

– Do you think we will learn how to make the same beautiful patterns from cubes?

“Of course, we will learn,” he says without hesitation.

Then put the pattern “track” SU-A1 in front of the baby and think aloud:

- I wonder if you can quickly cope with such a task or will it take a long time to tinker? Put the cubes exactly the same color picture!

- Fu... nonsense! That's it! - most kids usually answer so bravely, assuming that since the first task was easy, then the second will be the same.

Indeed, the second and third tracks are obtained even faster than the first, and it is not scary if the length is not quite accurately measured. True, it is easy to check the accuracy of the length, but approach this delicately. Let's say that instead of 4 dice he took 3.

- Don't you think that the path turned out to be shorter than in the picture? Let's compare!

And it is better if, in this case, the baby immediately takes the entire “path” of the cubes and covers the pattern with it. The lack of one die will be immediately visible, and he will correct it.

“Now it turned out exactly, without error,” you praise him. And so encouraging the baby, go from pattern to pattern, carefully noticing the speed of work, the accuracy of laying the cubes, and other advantages of his actions. Grains of accuracy and precision in work, concentration and attention can sprout right here, in the game.

How many patterns can be added in one game, it's hard to say. Maybe 5, maybe 10 - it all depends on the mood of the child and his abilities. If the work goes smoothly, the baby is happy, you are also happy; it means everything is fine.

- You're doing well! I did not expect. Well, that's enough for today! Tomorrow we'll play again, - you gently offer to finish, but ... this is a touchstone. The main thing is how the baby will react to the proposal. If he is upset and ready to cry, because he “wants to play more”, give in, show the child 1-2 more patterns. If you usually keep your word and the baby believes you, then he will agree that “we will play again tomorrow”. This is the most successful outcome of the first game.

It’s not bad when the kid immediately agrees to finish the game, but at the same time he is interested in:

- Will we play again tomorrow?

Be sure to find an opportunity to play “tomorrow evening”, and the day after tomorrow, and in 2-3 days ... Such a “wave” of interest in the game, when the baby plays cubes for several days in a row, for example 5-7, is the most successful start. Firstly, during this time, both you and the baby will be able to get involved in the game, feel some interest in it. Secondly, the baby will have time to go through all the tasks that are already feasible for him, and you will recognize his “ceiling” of possibilities at this time. Thirdly, in a week you can learn to “feel the baby” (if you haven’t had to do this before) in such a game where you can neither explain, nor suggest, nor help, but only observe its independent movement and progress and create conditions for it. And this ability to feel the baby is a very important ability to guide development in any area. It will allow you to “not oversalt” with a dose of the game, that is, not to bring it to satiety, but to keep the baby a little “starving”, and, therefore, to start and end it on time. In addition, it will allow you to find out when the “wave” of interest begins to subside and, therefore, it is time to postpone for a while - “forget” the game.

We play yesterday, today, tomorrow

Now you can pay attention to the connection of yesterday's game with today's and today's with tomorrow. Both interest in the game and success in moving “up the ladder” of tasks to a large extent depend on this. Let's say that the baby for the first time folded 8 patterns - 4 "paths" and 4 "squares" (SU-A1 - SU-AZ). Should I give the same 8 patterns the next day? Or move on to new ones? Practice has shown that it is best to use the “icebreaker” method here, that is, to start each next game by stepping back a little. On the second day, you can give several previous patterns: 2-3 “tracks”, 1 “square”, and then new pattern-tasks of series A - as much as the baby wants.

So, each time “for overclocking” it is necessary to add up several former, already subdued patterns, and only then give new ones. The amount of "acceleration" must also be changed. If there is a difficult pattern ahead, for example, during the transition from one-color faces to two-color ones (this period is noticeable in all 3 series A, B, C), then the “run-up” should be taken more, and new patterns should be given fewer, up to 1–2.

In general, the transition to composing difficult patterns is a touchstone for the art of elders to play with kids, and a test for the children themselves. The easiest way to overcome it is to “forget” about it for a month or two. After a break, with renewed vigor and taking a “greater acceleration”, that is, returning to relatively light patterns, the baby can almost immediately take on a previously unapproachable pattern.

But another option is also possible. Vanya is almost 3 years old. He can’t get “flashlights” in any way (SU-A9). He tries to fold them every time, takes “acceleration” and, having achieved nothing, says with chagrin: “No way!” Sometimes he asks: “Give me another one!” And I get him 1-2 patterns from series B, which Vanya succeeds in (they are from one-color faces). Not only dad and mom, but also older brothers and sisters already know about Vanya's failure with “flashlights”. They also sometimes play with Vanya, and with them he overcame the “saw”, which “ate, ate oak-oak - broke a tooth-tooth” (that’s what Vanya says, moving the “saw” back and forth on the table), and “flashlights” never give up.

“Soon you’ll get flashlights,” we console Vanya.

- After all, both the “saw” and the “herringbone” are also difficult, and you are already doing them. Several days pass like this, and I’m already thinking whether I should forget for a while both the “flashlights” and the game, when suddenly one evening:

- Dad! Dad! Come to us soon! - an excited 7-year-old Anyuta flew in to me. She grabbed my hand and pulled me along. And there, near the yellow “flashlight” folded on the floor, Vanya and 5-year-old Yulia are jumping for joy.

- Ulya, Ulya! (Hurray!), Vanya shouts.

- Dad, you write down that Vanya himself folded the “flashlight”. - By myself!

- trying to outshout Vanya, Julia jumped up.

Of course, both mother and older eighth-grader brothers came to look at Vanya's “flashlight” and rejoice. Anyuta brought a notebook, where on a light oilcloth cover it is written in block letters: IVAN-VANYA (we start such notebook-diaries for every baby), they sat dad on a chair and calmed down only when dad made an entry in Vanya's diary about Vanya's "major success", and Anyuta drew a yellow “flashlight” there with colored pencils.

This event, firstly, raised Vanya to a new “wave” of passion for the game, and secondly, for several days in a row, his older brothers and sisters again took up cubes and came up with more than ten new interesting task patterns for our game. Such successes do not happen often, and they must be appreciated: they leave a very good and useful mark in the life of a baby.

You can play by yourself

When the game becomes interesting for the child, he himself asks: “Let's play with blocks! Let's make patterns!”, then you might want to think about not just occasionally giving dice for self play but also to encourage this independence by all means. The point here is not only that adults will free up time, but that, by playing on their own, the child learns to control himself, compare his results, evaluate his strengths and capabilities - this is the beginning of independent thinking, a very important aspect of creative abilities.

Independent play is especially effective when, after each meeting with the blocks, movement is felt, a new step forward, noticeable for an adult and for the child himself.

In our family, kids play on their own from the time when they are able to collect cubes in a box after playing and bring it to dad or mom.

Usually we do not refuse the request of the baby to give him cubes, but we are interested in:

- And what series of patterns will you fold?

“Series D,” he replies, not without pride. Yes, and how not to be proud if this is the most difficult and difficult series.

We follow the progress in the promotion of the baby and, of course, write down all the major achievements and victories in the diary: overcoming difficult patterns like “flashlights”, “slides”, “boats”, the end of one of the series, folding a new pattern, which no one else has there was no victory in competitions, etc. The kids feel the interest of the elders and, in turn, they themselves strive to make more patterns.

In developing games, numbering and counting are quite common, and children, by the way, can master them early and by the age of 4–5 quite meaningfully use counting up to 50, 100, and even beyond.

We give pattern-tasks of the G series to children from 2–3 years old. If you don’t make secrets from the alphabet and numbers and consider the letters O or A as ordinary things as a ball or a table, then the baby will not be aware that there is any difference between them, and he remembers them just like everyone else. other words. In our family, by the age of 3, all seven already knew letters and numbers, and from 3-4 years old they began to read. The ease with which the early assimilation of letters proceeded was then transferred to the assimilation of the school curriculum.

Folding patterns from cubes according to ready-made tasks is the easiest kind of work in the game. The game can be made a little more difficult (and at the same time almost double the number of task patterns) as follows: if the pattern on the card consists of red and white edges, then you can suggest making the same, but yellow and blue pattern, and vice versa. Toddlers perceive such a change in the task as a pattern of a new type. After all, here it is necessary not only to copy the pattern, but to change it in color.

Can compete with others

When there are several sets of “Fold the Pattern”, competitions can be organized. It is good to arrange them if the strengths of the participants are approximately equal, everyone is familiar with the game, or those who are little familiar with it are older than the rest in age, and if the participants themselves are at least 3-4 people. Everyone needs to choose a place at a small table, on a chair or on a rug so that everyone can clearly see the task pattern from there, but so that the players cannot look at each other. One of the seniors takes on the role of the judge-leader, and the second - the secretary. 5-10 new patterns of increasing complexity are selected from the existing ones or prepared specifically for the competition (draw or paste patterns-tasks cut out of colored paper on a white background on a large scale - 1:1 or 2:1). The secretary prepares a table with the names of participants and task numbers.

When everyone is seated and takes out the cubes, the leader says: “Attention! Started!” - and puts or, better, hangs pattern-task No. 5 at a convenient height, and he himself watches who is the first to fold the pattern completely and without errors.

- Julia! - he says to the secretary when he sees that Yulia was the first to fold the pattern. The secretary in column 5 puts “1” next to Yulia's name, i.e. notes that she folded the pattern the fastest.

- Dima! - and the secretary writes the number 2 against the name of Dima.

- Vania! - and the secretary writes 3 in the line "Vanya".

- Masha!

- Anya!

Speed ​​competition table

The rest is clear from the table. Whoever folded patterns faster than others has the smallest amount and the best place in competitions. If the kids cannot cope with all the patterns, then the speed of laying out is not necessarily considered a decisive factor. In this case, it is better to take into account the number of patterns that the baby has coped with and their difficulty. To do this, patterns are taken from all 3 series, and the difficulty of each pattern is estimated by some number of points, as, for example, in the following table: pattern A5 - 2 points, A10 - 3 points, etc.

Difficulty competition table

Then the presenter gives all the participants the same time for folding, for example, 1 or 2 minutes, and exactly after 2 minutes the pattern is sewn. And the secretary in the tablet puts his “price” to everyone who folded the pattern, that is, for example, for the SU-A5 pattern - 2 points, for SU-A10 - 3 points, and for those who did not fold it, he does not put anything. In this case, the one who folds more patterns, will score more points and, therefore, will be ahead of others.

If the kids already know how to count, then the calculation of points in the competition can be entrusted to them. But then the leader should stock up on paper or cardboard circles with numbers printed or drawn on them indicating the number of points scored or the “price” of the patterns. And to those who folded the A5 pattern, give out a circle with the number 2, who coped with the A10 pattern, give a circle with the number 3, etc.

Whoever has the largest sum of numbers on the circles wins. The winners can also be awarded, but in such a way that the losers are not offended, but have fun, and so that everyone would like to participate in such competitions again. There is a lot of space for the imagination and creativity of dad and mom.

For example, we bought prizes according to the number of participants and laid them out on the table. The one who won first place was the first to approach the table and choose a prize for himself. Whoever took second came second, and so on.

Now let's draw patterns.

Even before the baby has switched to doing a series of patterns B and C, he can copy patterns from the blocks. This is a more complex type of work with cubes, which develops graphic skills. The kid needs to learn how to draw straight lines with a pencil, draw squares with colored pencils. It is convenient to draw patterns in a notebook in a cage. But here, too, there are “first discoveries”: to see rulers, small squares (cells), which the kids simply don’t pay attention to at first: the lines are too thin, the cells are small and therefore hardly noticeable.

The rules of the game here remain the same: from a task that is feasible, amenable to completing a task, to an extremely difficult one that requires maximum effort. Don't be discouraged if it doesn't work out perfectly right away. Babies develop gradually. And it’s better if you don’t just draw, but also fantasize at the same time. It is necessary, for example, to draw a line with a pencil along a ruler in a notebook; invite the kids to consider the ruler as a bridge, and the one who knows how to keep the pencil near the ruler all the time “does not fall into the river” and walks along the bridge.

Drawing a pattern, and even with colored pencils, requires much more time than folding it from cubes, so give the child 2-3 times less tasks for copying. But here, too, one must feel subtly when it is necessary to take up copying, where it is necessary to praise the child, when to offer to finish the game. Patterns can be drawn in different scales - 1:1, 1:2, 1:4 and even 1:6 (one cell is equal to the edge of the cube), and you need to start with what the baby will be able to do. To draw patterns, give your child a checkered notebook on the cover of which the child can print their name if you give them a pattern.

The game “Attention” helps a lot in the process of improvement in drawing patterns. There you need to make an exact copy of the seen figure, letters or numbers, and also find out the names of such shapes as “square”, “triangle”, “rectangle”, etc.

Before sketching patterns, it is good if the child completes preparatory exercises(Fig. 9).

Rice. 9

1 .Who is able to put a point in the box(in the center of the reklet ok) ? Put n o2 dots, dots, dots, po4it.d.

2 .Who can put dots “at the crossroads”, i.e., on the cross section of the rulers? r e u n c o ln s t o checks, as k n ari s unke.

3 .Who is able to carry out a straight horizontal line given length exactly according to the ruler: length in 1 cell, in 2 cells, in 3 cells, in 4cage iit .d. ?

4 .Ktos can u r t y u verti d irect to the alnu l y line a given length of exact line to e; a line of length in 1 cell, in 2 cells, in 3 cells, in 4 cells, etc. ?

5 .Who can m e tnari s o v a t s o w 1to l e tku? Who nari su e t1k circle ok, 2 circle circle, 3 circle circle ait .d. ?

6 .Also, in the circle and arranged in the other way (in the “column”).

7 .C t onari fuss s malenky yk squares k v i lichno yv1kletku ? C onari fuss tk a d r a t s o r o o y 2 cells, 3 cells, 4 cells, etc. ?

8 .C onari suet tk square tc sideways yv4klet and fill in the hot colors with a pencil on the mt so that you usually go out like a contour?

9 . with os t orono iv4 cells and p diagonal and and paint it with different colors and pencils?

10 .C t o s m e t r a d e d i t a s d e r with os t orono iv4 cells and n a4 equalX k vadra t a and paint over with different colored ik pencils?

We invent patterns ourselves

Another type of work with cubes, the most saturated with creative elements, is the compilation of new patterns, such as are not found in any of the series. In our family, we move on to this type of task when the child learns to fold almost all the patterns of series B.

The new pattern is easy to fold. But it is important that it be beautiful, symmetrical, resembling an object in its appearance. Only such patterns can be considered noteworthy. Toddlers are proud when they manage to fold just such. And in order not to forget the new pattern, you must immediately sketch it in a notebook, otherwise you scattered the cubes - and the pattern is no more. This is how the “Zoo” appeared with us - the SU-D series, where almost all the patterns were invented by children.

From the patterns invented by the child, you can make a whole series and call it the name of the baby. It's okay if there are only 5 or 10 patterns in it, they can also be drawn on separate paper squares or rectangles, or you can stick them on by cutting out a pattern from colored gummed paper.

Such a series of patterns in a bag decorated with its own ornament, the baby can, for example, give to his mother on her or her birthday.

This is how it happened in our family: everyone on his birthday gives his mother something made with his own hands. After all, it’s unfair when on this day everyone remembers only a newborn: they congratulate him, gifts for him, a holiday for his sake, and somehow they forget about the mother who gave him life that day. On such a day, for mom, the most expensive gift will be where everything is her own - both the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe pattern and its execution: “Look, mom, I'm growing, I already know a lot!”

Among the many methods early development It's easy for a child to get lost. All of them perfectly allow you to comprehensively open the inner hidden reserves of a small explorer. Counting, reading, memorizing letters and geographical names is very good and useful. But still, psychologists are sure that it is the development of intelligence in a small child that will allow him to receive excellent knowledge in all subjects in the future.

Includes logic cubes, and it was developed back in the 80s, although it did not immediately become widespread. Now this, simple at first glance, method has become very popular.

It is not necessary to buy original Nikitin educational cubes and pay a lot of money, because you can make them yourself. This method will require a minimum investment and only one evening of free time. So let's get started!

Do-it-yourself Nikitin's cubes: master class

Another way that will take even less time is pasting the edges with an adhesive-based film. It is sold in hardware and building stores. It takes very little material, and if you have it on hand, it's great, although anyone can buy it.

Do not forget about the patterns by which the child will learn to assemble the pattern. You can also draw them yourself using white cardboard.

How to solve Nikitin's cube?

Everything is very simple! Or do you use already invented by the author

Content

The early development of a child is the foundation of his further growing up. Experts recommend many methods, one of the most popular is Nikitin's cubes. An educational puzzle-type game has a great effect on the logic, attentiveness, imagination, perseverance of the child. You can start studying as early as one and a half to two years and, increasing the complexity of tasks, play until school age.

What are Nikitin cubes

The famous teacher Boris Nikitin, when creating his unique intellectual tasks for children, adhered to the principle that the child should think of the rules of the game himself. Among its main tasks are the development of independence, the desire to create something new, the training of logical and abstract thinking. Wooden or plastic Nikitinsky cubes are sold in 16 pieces per set.

Each figure has 6 faces, which are painted in different colors. As a rule, these are red, green, blue and yellow. The child needs to collect one-, two-, three- or four-color pictures, based on tasks from a special album. Nikitin's technique involves different variants puzzles, for example, "Fold the pattern", "Dice for everyone", "Bricks", "Fold the square" and "Unicube".

How to play

The essence of the game is to add pictures from cubes into a pattern or shape. Tasks differ from each other in terms of difficulty. The simplest task is to fold the figures into a 4:4 square. Later, when the child gets comfortable, you can add patterns with many faces. For example, you can build a turret or a snake, a Christmas tree, a house, a flower, a tree. The finished outlines of the drawings will look like some kind of object or simply resemble an interesting pattern.

In his book “Steps of Creativity, or Educational Games”, Nikitin recommends organizing the game in such a way that the activities give pleasure to the child himself - the puzzle should interest the kid so that in the future he himself will be drawn to collect new figures. The smallest can simultaneously tell a fairy tale or a fascinating story related to the figure being assembled. Nikitin blocks are suitable for collecting any multi-colored patterns.

However, do not disturb the children with hints: it is better if the baby himself comes up with a figure, even if it differs from the given sample. It is also better to look for errors yourself.

In addition, Boris Nikitin gives parents some advice:

• During classes, refrain from remarks if something does not work out for the child.
• If the child cannot cope with the exercise, then it is still too difficult for him and it is too early to start doing it. It is recommended to take a break and then start with easier examples.
• If there are several children in the family, it is better if everyone has their own sets.
• Do not oversaturate children with this game. Over time, she will get bored, then it is worth returning to the cubes in a couple of months.
• When the baby moves on to the figures, it will be possible to offer him to make sketches of the resulting objects.
• You can arrange competitions in collecting figures for a while, so the children will feel a slight excitement and a desire to do their best.

Types of Nikitin cubes

Practitioner Boris Nikitin developed his own method of developing games 40 years ago. The first children who grew up on his toys were the teacher's own grandchildren. Now developing games are known not only in Russia, but all over the world.

Before deciding to buy, decide what qualities you would like to develop in a child: logic, eye, fantasy, logical and spatial thinking, etc. Based on this, choose a set. Nikitin's technique for children leaves room for choice for every taste: decide what colors the edges will be painted in, how many parts the manual consists of.

fold the pattern

The simplest option is a set of 16 plastic or wooden cubes and an activity book packed in a box. This technique is also called Nikitin puzzles. It is suitable for beginners.

• Model Name: "Fold the Pattern Set"
• Price: 550 rubles
• Characteristics: developmental technique for children preschool age The item is available in different colors.
• Pros: develops imagination, color perception, the ability to combine, mental operations of comparison, analysis and synthesis.
• Cons: cubes are very small (2:2 cm).

Fold the square

For children who have already mastered the simplest tasks, game options with uneven coloring of figures are suitable:

• Model Name: Fold the Square Set
• Price: 3500 rubles
• Characteristics: a set of three parts, each - 12 squares of different colors, which are divided into parts (triangle, rectangle, etc.). This game is intended for children from two years old. The child has to put back the cut square.
• Pros: develops logical thinking, the ability to build to the whole, an eye ..
• Cons: the presence of small parts, chips and burrs on the squares, and a high price.

Unicube

A useful skill will be the ability to collect three-dimensional shapes - from geometric to funny houses or little animals. There are special kits for this:

• Model Name: Unicube Set
• Price: 680 rubles
• Product specifications: The puzzle consists of twenty-seven universal six-sided identical cubes with colored edges. From them it is necessary to collect three-dimensional figures. The game can be offered to children from one and a half years.
• Pros: develops spatial thinking, the ability to combine, self-control.
• Cons: not found.

Cubes for everyone

When the child is comfortable with the cubes, you can offer him one of the most challenging games series. At an advanced level, children can collect objects from two or three figures - animals, a house, cars. The estimated age of the child is 5-7 years.

• Model name: "Set "Bright Cubes"
• Price: 590 rubles
• Features: The puzzle consists of seven complex figures that differ in shape and color. The kit includes a brochure with examples of tasks.
• Pros: the ability to combine, attention, imagination.
• Cons: the presence of chips on the edge of the cubes.

bricks

Those parents for whom the environmental characteristics and safety of toys are of great importance will like the variation with wooden blocks. They are more durable, although the baby may like less bright light plastic cubes.

• Model Name: Little Bricks Set
• Price: 400 rubles
• Features: Includes eight wooden blocks with solid color edges and a task pad. The age of the child is from three years.
• Pros: helps to develop visual-effective and spatial thinking, an eye.
• Cons: not found.

How to choose Nikitin cubes

Like any other toy, Nikitin's developing cubes should be chosen based on the wishes of the child. If he liked wooden blocks, no need to impose multi-colored cubes or squares. When choosing Nikitin's cubes, it is worth considering the age of the child and the complexity of the game, the psychological and physiological characteristics of the baby.

You need to start simple. Even if the task seems elementary to you, let the child build an example: let him feel the taste of victory, and only then move on to a more difficult level using task albums.

The game is easy to find in free sale. You can buy Nikitin's cubes in toy stores, order in online stores. Another option is to buy it on the official website of the Nikitin family with delivery from Moscow or St. Petersburg by mail. The price of Nikitin's cubes varies from 350 rubles to 3500 rubles: the exact cost from the manufacturer, materials, set size. On the official site it will be more expensive, but better.

Another educational game proposed by B.P. Nikitin in his book "Steps of Creativity or Educational Games". The game consists of 16 identical cubes. All 6 faces of each cube are painted differently, in 4 colors. This allows you to make 1, 2, 3- and even 4-color patterns from them in a huge number of options. These patterns resemble the contours of various objects, paintings, which children like to name.

Another educational game proposed by B.P. Nikitin in his book "Steps of Creativity or Educational Games". The game consists of 16 identical cubes. All 6 faces of each cube are painted differently, in 4 colors. One face is red, the second is blue, the third is white, the fourth is yellow, the fifth and sixth are two-tone, red-white and yellow-blue. This allows you to make 1, 2, 3- and even 4-color patterns from them in a huge number of options. These patterns resemble the contours of various objects, paintings, which children like to name.

In the game with blocks, children perform three different types assignments.

First, they learn to fold exactly the same pattern from cubes according to pattern-tasks. Then they set the inverse problem: looking at the cubes, make a drawing of the pattern that they form. And finally, the third is to come up with new patterns of 9 or 16 cubes, which are not yet in the book, that is, to do creative work.

How to make a game

The easiest way is to buy ready-made cubes in an online toy store, they can often be found in the "" section. But it is much more interesting to make a toy yourself, or rather, together with the children.

Prepare 16 wooden cubes measuring 30x30x30 mm (you can use 25 and 40 mm). If they are pasted over with paper, then remove it. The most convenient sets are "Homemade Cubes", specially designed for gluing or coloring. Paste the cubes with colored paper as shown in the picture:

front face - white (shown transparent in the figure),

back face - yellow,

right side - blue,

left side - red,

the top edge is yellow-blue,

bottom edge - red-white

(the dividing lines run diagonally and are parallel).

Cubes can be painted with oil paints or nitro paints. Such cubes serve further, have a pleasant appearance, which is also not indifferent for kids, especially if the tones of the colors are clean and match in shade with the color of the task patterns.

We bought a set of plastic blanks for this game in the store. We just had to glue the pieces. And, of course, make your own task cards.

For cubes, you need to pick up or glue a square box out of cardboard. The size of the box depends on the size of the cubes. We have it 25 mm, so the box with a side of 10 cm and a height of 2.5 cm. If you have cubes with a 30mm edge, the box should be 125x125x30mm - plus 5mm for free space. In such a box, it is not only convenient to store the cubes, but also to fold the patterns of series B to natural size so that the cubes can cover the pattern. Separate series of tasks can be decomposed into thick paper bags with glued or drawn large letters A, B, C, D, D, indicating the series. If you want the order of tasks not to be violated, then on the back of each card you can write a series and number, as well as the name of the pattern.

Series of cards SU A

Here are examples of completed assignments:

The simplest task patterns of the A series are made up of 4 cubes, they can be given to babies from 1 to 1.5 years old. The complexity of the patterns is gradual, but this gradualness is, of course, relative, and the transition from one-color to two-color faces (you will see this when playing with a baby) is a sharp jump in the level of complexity. It can be smoothed, including tasks from other series, but with one-color faces, the patterns from which are easier to fold.

In the pictures, you can choose this sequence, knowing the capabilities of your child from previous games. In these figures, patterns-tasks are shown on a reduced scale. From these drawings, you can determine which of the patterns is lost and prepare a new one. On them, you can mark those tasks with which the baby is already coping, and see those that have not yet "submitted" to him. In the same figures, some names of patterns are given:

"flower", "saw", "boat", but it is not necessary to tell them to the child right away. In order to develop the child's imagination, you can show a task pattern, put together a pattern of cubes and invite the baby to think about what this pattern looks like. Children often prefer their "names".