Fairytale therapy in working with preschoolers: goals, objectives and forms of working with fairy tales. Kindergarten teachers, school teachers and educators

The mechanism of fairy tale influence

The use of fairy tale therapy for preschoolers teaches how to act in difficult situations, how to communicate productively, analyze and correct behavior. The therapeutic story allows you to “meet” the child’s personal fears through the main character.

There is an unspoken rule: the more you learn about the object/character you fear, the less afraid you are. When a child hears about the protagonist’s victory over fear, he gradually becomes confident and stops being afraid.

Very often you can find fairy tales in which the main character is helped to overcome difficulties. These are family members, friends, animals or other characters. By identifying himself with the main character, the child realizes that he is not alone in his problem. He gains confidence that the problem can be solved and that close people will definitely come to the rescue. Fairy tales explore themes of love, friendship, kindness and compassion.

While thinking about a fairy tale, a preschooler gradually understands that he has internal strengths: independence, courage and various skills. The therapeutic value of stories is that the child relaxes, gains determination and recognizes his strengths.

Examples of using fairy tales

Everyone knows some fairy tales that came to us from ancient times. The well-known example of “The Roasted Hen” is an incomprehensible and illogical story for many. But if you approach it from a therapeutic point of view, you can work through many issues with your child:

What is this fairy tale about? a gift of fate - a golden egg, unprepared people cannot accept such gifts, they do not know what to do with them;
stereotypes - it is not necessary to break an egg, they could be a souvenir, and children repeat bad deeds after others, without thinking about the consequences;
accidents that change life - accidents arise according to their own laws, it is important to consider them;
love for neighbors - consolation during difficulties, nurturing compassion for loved ones;
a broken dream - when an egg is broken, everyone cries, but the ending of the story should be positive, aimed at finding resources after a difficult situation.

Why were the grandfather and woman upset, even though they themselves wanted the egg to break? Here you can talk about unjustified expectations, discrepancy between desires and reality, and so on.

Then the conversation goes in the direction of what the fairy tale teaches us: cleanliness in the room, so that there are no mice, flexibility in solving problems, not doing to others what you would not want to do to yourself.

This is an example of the work of a specialist with a famous fairy tale story. There are many psychotherapeutic fairy tales; they are selected based on the child’s problem. If these are speech difficulties, fairy tales should have simple words and dialogues so that the preschooler can easily repeat them. You can also use original stories: “The Tale of a Bunny Who Was Offended by His Mother,” “How a Baby Kangaroo Became Independent,” “The Brave Dwarf,” “The Mouse and the Darkness,” and many others.

Types of fairy tales for classes

The famous child psychologist Zinkevich-Evstigneeva identifies the main types of fairy tales for children:

Fiction - fairy tales that have come down to us from our ancestors, created by the wisdom of the people over many centuries. They contain artistic descriptions that replenish the passive vocabulary of preschoolers with names of feelings, behavior, and objects. These tales are excellently used as psychocorrectional, didactic, and psychotherapeutic material.
Folk – ancient parables, myths. Previously, fairy tales were built on the basis of one idea - the unity of man and nature. In such stories, plots are important for therapy: about the relationship between people and animals, communication in everyday life, and others. Transformation and transformation are found in folk tales - there are few such tales, but the most striking of them is the story of “The Ugly Duckling”. There are also scary stories - horror stories are not for everyone. An adult who reads a fairy tale must be confident in the child’s resistance to stress. This is where the effect of “self-therapy” comes into play: by replaying a scary story about witches and unclean spirits in their minds, children model a way out of the dead end, thereby freeing themselves from anxiety. Attention! These tales are recommended for older children. A prerequisite for ending a story is its unexpected and funny ending.
Author's stories are artistic stories necessary for working through internal experiences. The fairy tale “Two Frogs” by L. Panteleev has good reviews; it is suitable for identifying the resources of a child or an adult.
Didactic - this is another type of fairy tale, designed to stimulate children to complete educational tasks.
Psychocorrectional - these fairy tales are special, since they must be regulated by the rules of reading and selection to a specific problem of a preschooler.
Psychotherapeutic - stories that allow you to see the situation differently. These tales do not always answer the question; more often they leave a person with an open question. This is the basis for personal growth. The stories touch on existential themes such as love and life's journey, loss and gain, life and death. They are not often used for preschoolers, but they are a great way to explain these philosophical topics if the child has encountered them in life.

Recommendations for fairy tale therapy

Fairy tales for fairytale therapy are not ordinary stories that are read and forgotten. Each of them must correspond to the goal and give the intended result.

In order for a child to perceive a fairy tale, an emotional connection must be formed between him and an adult. A therapeutic effect is quickly and easily achieved if one of the parents, preferably the mother, reads a bedtime story.

Before fairytale therapy, a psychologist or speech therapist must learn how to conduct such sessions. Basic recommendations for reading fairy tales:

You cannot read or tell a fairy tale monotonously! When conveying a story, true feelings and emotions must be experienced.
You need to sit in front of the baby so that he can see the reader’s face. At the same time, he adopts the facial expressions of an adult, sees gestures, and eye expressions. Eye contact is important for children.
Prolonged pauses are prohibited. The experience of feelings and emotions should be “here and now.”
A fairy tale should not have an obvious ending. Ready-made answers are not allowed in fairy tale therapy. Preschoolers should imagine as much as possible on their own. Then the baby will gradually stop crying in his sleep, his sleep will become calm.
Fairy tales should be age appropriate. That is why such sessions are conducted by a fairytale therapist - a person who knows all the nuances of therapeutic work. At two years old, it is still difficult for a child to concentrate, so it is necessary to use elementary fairy tales: “Teremok”, “Kolobok”. By the age of 4, a preschooler distinguishes fiction from reality, perceives plots and can complete the story independently.

Therapy using fairy tales occurs not only using the classical method - reading. In his work, the fairytale therapist uses story drawing, diagnosis through a fairy tale, writing, staging using small figures, and making dolls.

In order for fairy tale therapy to benefit a disobedient or anxious child or a child with speech problems, it is necessary to take into account his intellectual and physical development. Children do not agree to work with an adult if they lack motivation. Therefore, the specialist, first of all, explains what will happen and what feedback he wants to receive from the child.

Program for overcoming children's fears

The right fairy tale will help you overcome any fear.
Very often, fairy tales are used to overcome children's fears.

Special techniques help to identify what fears torment a child (for example, “Two Houses”, where the child is asked to draw a black and a red house into which they need to “settle” their fears - the strongest and not so strong). Typically, children's fears are divided into:

medical (fear of pain, injections, doctors, diseases)
physical (fear of damage from vehicles, unexpected sounds, fire, war, elements)
fear of one's death
fear associated with fear of animals
fear of fairy tale characters
fear of the dark and nightmares
social fears (people, children, loneliness, etc.)
fear of space (depth, heights, closed spaces).

As soon as everything is clear with fears, you can apply a program for overcoming the fears of preschoolers :

Play a sketch based on the fairy tale “Fear has big eyes.”
Play the dramatization game “Hares and the Wolf.”
Organize a search for ways to combat feelings of fear with the help of relaxation exercises “Conversation with the Forest” and “Flight of the Butterfly”, sketches “The cabbage was delicious!” and “Different moods.”
To promote the formation of skills in expressing different emotions with the help of fairy tales “Why was the coward sad?”, “The brave coward.”
Develop courage by overcoming fears with the help of the fairy tale “My Fear is My Enemy” and the games “Tag” and “Hide and Seek with a Voice.”
Form the necessary behavioral skills with the help of the fairy tale “It’s time to sleep.”

Group classes for children of the same age are effective.
Such a program is best carried out with a group of children of the same age for preventive and therapeutic purposes with the participation of a child psychologist. When working individually with a child, the program can be varied, taking into account the nature of the problem, filling fairy tales with new meaning.