A daily routine is a set sequence of sleep, walks, games, developmental activities, nutrition, and hygiene. When a child begins attending kindergarten, the question arises of preparing him for classes at school: the child needs to develop skills in using a pen and pencil, as well as perseverance, the ability to concentrate, and carry out the tasks of the teacher (educator, and then teacher). A preschooler’s well-established daily routine helps with this – and more.
What should the regime be?
The importance of a daily routine for preschoolers is difficult to overestimate. It has been established that children who follow a daily routine are more balanced and productive. They gradually develop certain biorhythms, as well as a system of conditioned reflexes. All this helps the small organism physiologically switch between one or another type of activity, prepare in a timely manner for each stage: eating, walking, exercising, resting.
In the absence of a stable regime, the nervous system of a preschooler experiences great stress: the baby quickly becomes overtired or overexcited, and accumulated fatigue prevents proper sleep. Children with developmental disabilities feel this especially acutely, since their body’s reserves are often reduced.
What does a harmonious daily routine for a preschooler look like? It includes the following periods.
- Night sleep. For younger preschoolers it should last 13–14 hours a day, for older ones – about an hour less. Babies should be put to bed at night between 20 and 21 hours.
- Daytime sleep. Before 4 years of age, its duration is about 2 hours, after - about 1.5 hours.
- Meals. There should be at least 4 of them, every 3.5–4 hours.
- Stay awake for 6–6.5 hours.
How is a daily routine beneficial for a child?
The benefits of a routine are determined by physiological and psychological aspects, which are the basis for creating a daily routine:
- the benefit from the physiological side is the development of conditioned reflexes, with the help of which the body adapts to existing conditions. The child is prepared to perform the necessary tasks and does them without unnecessary stress. Those. energy is saved and distributed evenly for all necessary activities;
- from a psychological point of view, the child’s nervous system needs a stable environment, which, with its predictability, gives a feeling of peace and reliability. This, in turn, creates a favorable background for the child’s development, a deeper understanding of the actions performed and the development of skills.
What does it mean to be awake?
This is not just a period when the child does not sleep. The wakefulness of a preschooler attending kindergarten is filled with a variety of useful activities:
- walks (in winter - about 3 hours, in summer - up to 6);
- study of the surrounding world;
- physical activity;
- speech development classes;
- work activity;
- classes or games on mental development (mathematics, learning to read, logic, development of attention, memory), moral education;
- creative activity;
- music lessons;
- teaching writing skills.
Such activities directly contribute to the development of qualities that a child will definitely need at school: initiative, perseverance, concentration, activity, motor skills, curiosity, and the ability to withstand a certain amount of time at work.
For younger schoolchildren in kindergartens, up to 10 different classes are provided per week, for older students - up to 14.
At the same time, activities aimed at teaching children are planned between 9 and 12 o'clock in the morning, between 16 and 18 o'clock in the evening. This is due to the level of performance and activity of preschoolers during the day. The most unfavorable period for learning is between 12 and 16 hours.
When drawing up a lesson schedule, the degree of difficulty is also taken into account. The more complex ones include mathematics, speech development, studying the world around us, while the simpler ones include drawing, modeling, appliqué, and design. The most complex ones are planned in the first half of the week, when children are more productive, and the simple ones - in the second half. Static activities are combined with dynamic ones (walking, gymnastics, music classes).
Educational activities are structured taking into account age capabilities. The duration of one lesson for younger preschoolers is about 15 minutes (there should be no more than 2 per day), for older ones - up to half an hour (2-3 developmental classes are held daily).
Don't overdo the sections or circles. For a kindergarten-preschooler, 1–2 clubs are enough. He should have time to rest and communicate with his family. Excessive developmental workload will lead to overstrain of the nervous system, sleep disturbances, and a decrease in the body's immune defense.
Organization of the daily routine of preschoolers
Preschooler's daily routine
The daily routine is of great importance for the health and physical development of children. Constant time for eating, sleeping, walking, playing and studying is what I.P. Pavlov called it an external stereotype - a prerequisite for the proper upbringing of a child.
Daily regime
- this is a clear daily routine of life, providing for the alternation of wakefulness and sleep, as well as the rational organization of various types of activities. A correct regimen that corresponds to the child’s age-related capabilities improves health, ensures efficiency, successful implementation of various activities, and protects against overwork.
The physiological basis that determines the nature and duration of activity is the level of performance of the cells of the cerebral cortex, therefore it is so important not to exceed the performance limit of the central nervous system, as well as to ensure its full functional recovery after work. The degree of morphofunctional maturity of the organism determines the content of the daily routine and the duration of its main elements, among which the following are distinguished:
- dream;
– staying outdoors (walking);
– educational and training activities;
– gaming activities and activities of one’s own choice (reading, music, drawing and other creative activities, sports);
– self-care, family assistance;
– meals;
- personal hygiene.
When carrying out regime processes, the following rules must be adhered to:
1. Complete and timely satisfaction of all organic needs of children (sleep, nutrition).
2. Careful hygienic care, ensuring cleanliness of the body, clothes, bed.
3. Involving children in participating in regime processes as much as possible; encouraging independence and activity.
4. Formation of cultural and hygienic skills.
5. Emotional communication during routine processes.
6. Taking into account the needs of children, the individual characteristics of each child.
7. Calm and friendly tone of address, careful attitude towards the child, elimination of long expectations, since the appetite and sleep of children directly depend on the state of their nervous system.
Basic principles of building a daily routine:
1. The daily routine is carried out throughout the entire period of raising children in a preschool institution, maintaining consistency, constancy and gradualness.
2. Correspondence of the correctness of the daily routine to the age-related psychophysiological characteristics of the preschooler. Therefore, in the National Children's Educational Institution, each age group has its own daily routine.
3. The organization of the daily routine is carried out taking into account the warm and cold periods of the year
WHAT IS THE DAY SCHEDULE IN KINDERGARTEN?
The importance of a child's daily routine
A correct regimen that corresponds to the child’s age-related capabilities improves health, ensures efficiency, successful implementation of various activities, and protects against overwork. In a child accustomed to a strict routine, the need for food, sleep, and rest occurs at certain intervals and is accompanied by rhythmic changes in the activity of all internal organs. The body, as it were, adjusts in advance to the upcoming activity, so it is carried out quite efficiently, without unnecessary waste of nervous energy and does not cause pronounced fatigue. Good performance during the day is ensured by a variety of activities and their alternation. From a physiological point of view, this is explained by the ability of the cerebral cortex to simultaneously work and rest. At each individual moment, not its entire surface is working, but individual areas, namely those that are in charge of this activity (the field of optimal excitability). The remaining areas of the cortex are at rest at this time. All physiological processes in the body, having their own biological rhythm, obey a single daily rhythm - the change of day and night. During the day, the child’s activity and performance are not the same. Their rise is noted from 8 to 12 hours and from 16 to 18 hours, and the period of minimum performance occurs at 14-16 hours. It is no coincidence, therefore, that activities that cause pronounced fatigue in children are planned in the first half of the day, during hours of optimal performance. The duration of periods of wakefulness in preschoolers is limited to 5-6 hours. This implies the need to alternate wakefulness and sleep.
HYGIENIC ASPECTS OF ORGANIZING THE DAY REGIME FOR PRESCHOOL CHILDREN
The concept of “daily routine” includes the duration, organization and distribution during the day of all types of activities, rest and meals. A rationally constructed and organized regime is an important factor in ensuring timely and harmonious physical and mental development of children and adolescents, an optimal level of performance, and also prevents the development of fatigue and increases the overall resistance of the body.
In connection with the beginning of early education and its intensification, deviations are noted in the daily routine of preschoolers, forming functional and other health disorders.
The main hygienic principle of constructing a rational daily routine is its strict implementation, the inadmissibility of frequent changes, and the gradual transition to a new regime of education and training.
According to modern concepts of the theory of functional systems of the body, the development of a dynamic stereotype, as well as its change, occurs gradually, over a certain period of time, under repeated conditions [7]. It is noted that the smaller the child, the more difficult it is to form a dynamic stereotype, and a small child is more sensitive to any changes in it.
The physiological basis that determines the nature and duration of activity is the level of performance of the cells of the cerebral cortex, therefore it is so important not to exceed the performance limit of the central nervous system, as well as to ensure its full functional recovery after work. The degree of morphofunctional maturity of the organism determines the content of the daily routine and the duration of its main elements
Dream
ensures complete functional restoration of all body systems. The physiological need for sleep in children of different ages depends on the characteristics of their nervous system and state of health (Table 1). In the preschool period, both night and daytime sleep are required, regardless of whether the child attends a preschool educational institution (DOU), a short-stay group or not. A full night's sleep is important for both preschoolers and schoolchildren, since it is known that it is during this period that information is transferred from short-term (operative) memory to long-term memory, which is a necessary condition for educational activities and mental development. Depending on age, bedtime is recommended to range from 20:30 to 22:30 hours.
Table 1. Duration of sleep in children
Staying in the open air
(walking) is the most effective type of rest, due to increased blood oxygenation, replenishment of ultraviolet deficiency, allowing for hardening of the body and an increase in physical activity. Walks are especially important for preschool children: in winter, at least 4-4.5 hours, and in summer, if possible, all day. The walk is not carried out at an air temperature below -15 °C and a wind speed of more than 15 m/s for children under 4 years old, and for children 5-7 years old at an air temperature below -20 °C with a wind speed of more than 15 m/s (for average stripes).
Educational activities.
When building a rational training regimen, one should take into account the biorhythms of the functioning of the child’s body. In most healthy children, the greatest excitability of the cerebral cortex and performance are determined in the morning - from 8:00 to 12:00 hours and in the evening - from 16:00 to 18:00 hours.
Training and education programs at preschool educational institutions provide for developmental activities. In the younger group, the duration of classes is 10-15 minutes (10 lessons per week), in the middle group (4-5 years old) - 20 minutes (10 lessons per week), in the older group (5-6 years old) - two lessons per week. day for 20-25 minutes with a break of 10 minutes. In the preparatory group (6-7 years old) - 3 lessons a day are held for 25-30 minutes, taking on the nature of training. The duration and frequency of classes during the day and week for children who do not attend preschool educational institutions should correspond to the recommended ones, as for children of organized groups. Hygienic studies have shown that classes on speech development, literacy, mathematics, and familiarization with the outside world are more tiring than modeling, drawing, and design. Physical education and music (dynamic exercises) reduce or relieve fatigue.
Currently, there is a large selection of additional educational services for preschoolers. Hygienists recommend conducting additional education classes for children of the 4th year of life no more than once a week, lasting no more than 15 minutes; for children 5-6 years of age - no more than 2 times a week and no more than 25 minutes; for children 7 years of age - no more than 3 times a week, lasting no more than 30 minutes. It is unacceptable to conduct these activities at the expense of walking and sleeping time.
Gaming activities and recreation of your own choice
contribute to the formation of positive emotions in children, individual inclinations and the development of creative abilities. It is imperative to give the child time for free activities of his own choice (reading literature, playing music, drawing, sports, social work).
Play activities for preschoolers are allotted time in the morning before breakfast, during walks in the first and second halves of the day, after naps and in the evening before bed. Games should be varied, individual and group, role-playing, didactic, and active. Thus, didactic games are similar to educational activities, are characterized by low mobility, and provide an emotional coloring of wakefulness. Outdoor games, especially outdoors, help strengthen the body, increase its endurance, and improve movements. Every day, children can spend their free time in accordance with their interests and do what they love. Such a vacation brings pleasure, evokes positive emotions, and relieves psychological stress. It must be remembered that watching TV and working on the computer create conditions for a significant load on the visual analyzer.
Time for self-care, helping family
should also stand out in the daily routine. Preschool children can perform simple self-care duties, helping to clean dishes and rooms (no more than 15 minutes a day). Both at home and at school, students can and should provide all possible assistance in cleaning the premises, putting away dishes, watering plants, caring for younger children, etc. Learning self-service and engaging in socially useful work must begin from the first years of school. It is strictly forbidden to involve children in work that poses a risk to life, is unsafe from an epidemiological point of view (cleaning toilets) and exceeds the physical capabilities of the child’s body. The duration of such work for preschoolers should be no more than 30 minutes.
Meals and personal hygiene
are mandatory components of the regimen for children of any age. The concept of diet includes strict adherence to the timing of meals and the intervals between them, a physiologically rational frequency of meals, the correct distribution of the quantity and quality of food among meals. If the intervals between meals are not observed, normal gastric secretion is disrupted and appetite decreases. Preschoolers without health problems should eat 4-5 times a day with an interval of 3.5-4 hours
Compliance with a rational daily routine by children and adolescents helps to strengthen and improve their health, as well as increase the effectiveness of educational and educational activities.
Recommendations for parents “Organization of the daily routine in the conditions of family education”
In modern conditions, many parents believe that they can give their child much more knowledge at home. In this regard, they take on great responsibility. When raising a child at home, you need to understand that the child is deprived of full communication with peers at various regime moments. Communication only on the street is not enough. The child must learn to interact with other children in classes and matinees. Nowadays, kindergartens pay great attention to the diversified development of the child. Here are a few simple rules for organizing a daily routine in a family environment:
1. Follow the daily routine and diet adopted in kindergarten at home.
2. At home, praise the child for showing independence, performing proper hygiene procedures, fostering the habit of cleanliness (washing, washing feet before bed in the summer, monitoring the condition of hands, washing hands after a walk, using toilet paper, brushing teeth, rinsing mouth after food).
3. Maintain a walking routine. Give your child the opportunity to move freely during walks. Start a family tradition of playing sports.
4. Provide an emotional, joyful background to the child’s life. Maintain a joyful atmosphere in the family. Keep the traditions of family holidays. Visit theaters with your child. Concerts. Circus.
5. To eliminate and prevent violations in sound pronunciation, conduct play exercises with your child. Special game exercises are also used to develop phonemic hearing and speech attention.
6. Let children at home, under the supervision of an adult, cut with scissors, sew with a needle, sculpt, and so on.
7. Tell and show your children a lot, read fiction.
Compliance with these rules by parents will make life easier for their children. After all, the situation may change and the child will need to go to kindergarten. In this case, he will already have basic self-service skills.
Approximate schedule
The daily routine of preschool children who go to kindergarten is subject to the work program of a particular institution. It might look something like this:
- 7:00 – 8:00 – getting up, exercising, morning hygiene, going to kindergarten;
- 8:00 – 8:30 - breakfast;
- 8:40 – 10:00 – gaming and educational activities;
- 10:10 – 12:10 – walk, games;
- 12:30 – 13:10 - dinner;
- 13:10 – 13:30 – preparation for daytime sleep;
- 13:30 – 15:30 - dream;
- 15:30 – 16:00 – awakening, quiet games;
- 16:00 – 16:30 – afternoon snack;
- 16:30 – 17:30 – educational activities, games;
- 17:30 – 19:00 – a walk, the way home, playing outside;
- 19:00 – 19:30 - dinner;
- 19:30 – 20:30 – quiet games;
- 20:30 – 21:00 – bathing, preparation for bed;
- 21:00 – 7:00 - night sleep.
The child spends the evening at home. Therefore, it is important for parents to remember that the child’s activities before bed should not be too noisy or active. You can read books, draw, play with blocks or construction sets, and discuss the past day.
If your preschooler attends kindergarten, try to adhere to the routine established at the preschool on weekends. This will allow the child to be more productive in activities by the beginning of the next week. If your child does not yet attend preschool, but you plan to send him there in the foreseeable future, find out the schedule of a particular kindergarten and teach your child to it while he is at home. Then it will be much easier for him to adapt to life in a children's group.
Child's daily routine
A child’s daily routine depends primarily on his age.
Up to a year
When starting to talk about the regime of children under 1 year old, it would be correct to separately highlight the newborn period.
A newborn's daily routine consists of alternating periods of feeding and sleeping. Ideally, only hygienic procedures are wedged between them: washing, bathing, dressing.
Natural feeding
Natural feeding occurs at the request of the baby. This is important because the baby and mother adapt to each other during this period.
There are important points:
- It is impossible to limit the time spent at the baby’s breast, because The pace of sucking in babies is different and in the case of a slow “suckling”, with a reduction in feeding time, there is a risk of depriving him of his portion of “hind” milk, rich in protein and lactase. The result is weight loss, abdominal cramps, foamy stools with all the ensuing consequences. The average feeding time is 30-40 minutes (in hot climates, the baby can reduce the feeding time himself, consuming only foremilk, rich in water, and thus quenching his thirst). Valuable hind milk is produced approximately 20 minutes into feeding;
The mother should pay attention to the baby’s correct latching of the nipple so that during prolonged feeding the breast is not injured. Also, there is no need to dry out the skin of the areola with excessive washing and various antiseptics, because... This contributes to the formation of cracks and infection.
- Feeding by the hour during breastfeeding is a thing of the Soviet past, but you should pay attention to a baby that sleeps “too” well. It is advisable that regular sleep breaks between feedings should not exceed three hours. This is very important in the first month, because... Frequent feeding every 2-3 hours contributes to the good development of lactation in the mother, which, in turn, ensures the growth and development of the child and the prevention of mastitis in nursing mothers.
Night feedings must be mandatory, because... they stimulate the production of prolactin, which, in turn, supports daily lactation.
Therefore, if necessary, to comply with these conditions for successful feeding, it is sometimes necessary to even wake up the baby.
Feeding by the hour
When artificial feeding, it is necessary to adhere to feeding by the hour to avoid overfeeding, because... Formulas take longer to digest than breast milk.
The intervals between feedings are 2.5-3 hours, after 5 months - 4-4.5 hours.
Frequency of feedings: from 8 times a day in the first month and 5 meals by the year.
Age difference
The pattern of sleep and wakefulness in a newborn child differs from that of an older child due to a very short period of wakefulness. At this time, in addition to hygiene measures, the child can be given gymnastics and a light massage.
Time for walking and being outdoors
It coincides with sleep time. Once the newborn period has passed, the child's daily routine begins to change towards longer waking hours and shorter sleep times.
A child's waking time by month: at the age of 1-3 months, the total waking time is approximately 6-7 hours (the duration of a single period is 1-1.5 hours). From 3-6 months this time extends to 8.5 hours, while the child is in an active state for up to 2 hours. In the second half of the year, the daily waking time increases to 10 hours, with 2.5-3.5 hours in between sleep periods.
Approximate sleep schedule for a child up to one year: in the first half of the year, from the age of 1-2 months, a child can ideally sleep up to 3-4 times a day for 1.5-2 hours, in the second half of the year the frequency of sleep is 2 times 2.5-3 hours.
The outdoor routine for babies in the first months of life replaces sleeping on the street.
1 year old child's daily routine
“Yearlings,” despite the fact that they have successfully passed the age limit of 1 year, continue to follow the regimen of 9-10-month-old infants:
- night sleep - 10-11 hours;
- daytime sleep - 2 times for 2.5 hours;
Usually, by the age of one year, parents have an idea of what type their beloved child belongs to: a “night owl” or a “lark.” So, “owls,” that is, those children who like to get up closer to noon and go to bed by midnight, can sleep once a day.
- 5 meals a day;
- the period of total daily wakefulness is 10-11 hours;
- the period of stay in the fresh air can be up to 5-6 hours a day, depending on the time of year and weather conditions, but not less than 2 hours per day.
When organizing walks, it is necessary to provide for the child’s physical motor activity, as an important link in the development of physical and mental health.
Toddlers
For toddlers (1 year 6 months - 3 years), a regimen is built in such a way that it contributes to the proper development of the muscular and skeletal system, the development of speech function, strengthening the immune system, and improving existing basic motor skills. You need 4 meals a day, active walks in the fresh air at least twice a day for 2-3 hours.
There are classes devoted to the development of speech, self-care skills, and fine motor skills. They are carried out in a playful way. Children at this age can hold their attention for up to 10 minutes. These games are best played in the first half of the day, at least 30-40 minutes before rest. During the day, children over the age of one and a half years sleep, as a rule, once for 2-2.5 hours. The daily amount of sleep is 12-12.5 hours. The periods of wakefulness are approximately 4.5-5 hours.
If parents plan to send their child to kindergarten, then the daily routine should be as close as possible to the nursery routine. You should help your child in advance to adjust to waking up early and going to bed the same way in the evening if the child adhered to the opposite routine. Such an event will contribute to a faster and more successful adaptation to the life of the children's group.
Preschool children
The routines of preschool children vary by age. In kindergarten they are divided into groups.
Groups | Age | Nutrition | Classes | Dream | Games | Walks |
younger | 3-4 years | 4 times | 2 lessons of 10 min. morning and afternoon | 12-12.5 hours. Once a day for 2 hours | Before breakfast, after sleep and after afternoon snack | 2 times a day, at least 4 hours a day |
average | 4-5 years | 4 times | 2 lessons in the morning for 10 minutes with a break of 10 minutes | 11.5-12 hours a day. 1 time during the day for 2 hours | Games in free time | 2 times a day, at least 4 hours a day |
Older | 5-6 years | 4 times | 3 classes a day in the morning for 20 minutes with breaks of 10-12 minutes | 11.5-12 hours a day. 1 time during the day 1.5-2 hours | Games in free time | 2 times a day, at least 4 hours a day |
Preparatory | 6-7 years | 4 times | 3 classes of 25-30 minutes a day before lunch with breaks of 10-12 minutes | 11.5 hours of night sleep, 1.5 hours of daytime sleep. | Games in free time | 2 times a day, at least 4 hours a day |
Thus, with age, the time spent practicing for the development of higher nervous activity increases, and the need for daytime sleep decreases.
Night sleep remains 10-11 hours long until the end of primary school.
The time for walks and games remains unchanged, which, as they grow older (from the age of 5 years), begins to include, and then become more complex, the main work activity (sweeping paths, cleaning the room, watering, etc.) lasting from 10 to 15 minutes a day.
Home mode
What should you do if, for some reason, your child does not and will not attend kindergarten? Sticking to the same regime is a definite thing. True, with some nuances. The first of them is that the baby can be allowed to wake up a little later (since there will be no time needed to travel to the kindergarten). Secondly, you can also put the baby to bed later.
Another subtlety is that parents will have to organize educational activities for their child themselves. To do this, it is advisable to familiarize yourself with the requirements for preparing a child in the school that the child will attend in the future, and try to prepare the child in accordance with them. Of course, you can also attract specialists to help (for example, enroll your child in an early development group or with a teacher who will take on the role of a kind of tutor). But if you have confidence in your own abilities, then it is better if the parents teach the preschooler. This way they will have the opportunity to once again (which is not at all superfluous!) demonstrate to him their love, interest in his development and pride in his first achievements.
You will have to do the same things as in the garden: teach writing, reading, drawing, sculpting, dancing, teaching basic mathematical concepts, developing speech, studying nature, playing, developing the child physically (independently or in a sports section), and be sure to accustom him to work. Among other things, mothers are entirely responsible for their child’s diet.
We teach to study
This is where the biggest difficulty awaits parents. Children are used to it and love to play. But learning for them is something incomprehensible in principle, and therefore boring and unnecessary. In a group of peers, children study together, which is an additional incentive. In addition, experienced teachers know how to find an approach to children and interest them in the upcoming work. But how can you explain to your child at home what the point is in learning?
Most of us will start to scare the child with the fact that “ignoramuses, when they grow up, work as janitors or loaders.” To a child, such a prospect seems very distant and vague. And besides the fact that he will devalue the work of a loader or janitor for himself, such suggestions will be of no use.
The second option, and also not the best, is bribery: if you read it, you will receive a toy, sweets, or play on the computer. This approach will only create commodity-money relations between the preschooler and adults. The baby will not be interested in the result of his work. It will be important for him to quickly finish what is preventing him from having fun and get the desired reward.
How can you help your child accept the need for classes?
- Appreciate all your child’s achievements: both existing and upcoming ones. Teach it to teach, and not to satisfy your unfulfilled ambitions.
- Don’t cram as much knowledge into it as no one knows everything. First of all, take into account what is interesting to the child himself, comparing with the requirements for readiness for school.
- Do not compare your own child with others who are more successful - this will lower the child’s self-esteem and discourage the desire to learn. Compare with how he himself is progressing.
- You cannot buy the efforts of a preschooler with some benefits, just as you cannot force him to study as a punishment for wrongdoing.
- You cannot punish for mistakes or inability. Parents are helpers, mentors and advisers.
- Always praise your child for any successes, support him, show your pride in his successes and faith in his strength.
- Difficult tasks cannot be excluded. They are most useful for the development of the baby. Just show him that you are always ready to help.
- Stick to the established time of classes, observe age standards for their number per day and duration.
- Diversify your lessons with fun physical education breaks so that your child doesn’t sit too long and get tired.
The daily routine of a preschooler is aimed, first of all, at his development and preparation for learning. Therefore, it is so important to draw it up correctly and strictly adhere to it. This habit will help the child throughout his life. It will make him more confident, organized and productive.