Improvement of Children's Development in the period 4-6 years

Neviana Petkova ^ORCID

Web of Science Researcher at Angel Kanchev University of Ruse, Bulgaria.

*Corresponding author: Neviana Petkova, Web of Science Researcher at Angel Kanchev University of Ruse, Bulgaria.

Received: 19 May 2026; Accepted: 27 May 2026; Published: 29 May 2026

Introduction

Child development is extremely important for the accurate development of everyone. Therefore, great attention is paid to it. It is this period of a person’s biological existence that is the basis that sets the further course of personality development. Child development is an increasingly debatable issue in our time, as it provokes contradictory disputes, but with one direction progress [2]. All this presupposes the author’s excitement towards considering this topic. In connection with its development, a clear goal is set to investigate the development of a child in the period of 4-6 years of age and the possibilities for its improvement.

The main tasks on the way to the goal are:

1. To study the available documentary and reference information on the issue under consideration.
2. To develop an overview of games as a central foundation in children's lives and the development of emotional intelligence in them.
3. To synthesize and summarize the available information.

Play a central predictor.

Children's work is precisely play. It captivates, engages, entertains, develops, builds on, introduces, postulates, even predicts. Children are brought up by learning independence. And we adults must learn from them how not to rush and to enjoy life as it is. Children are always open to the world and accept everything it offers them from the heart. They understand happiness, nature, art with fragile sensitivity and eternal innocence. They know how to return to them and experience their wonderful emotions. They are themselves at every moment. They are self-sufficient in their happiness. All this springs from their "inside". One of the most cherished memories of childhood is precisely play. Play fills children's daily lives and accompanies life growth. It is a central meaning-supporting and meaning-defining factor in children's lives and the main language in which children begin to communicate, even after passing the initial breastfeeding period [3]. Play accompanies the entire period of childhood. It is a main tool for the child's socialization during the period under consideration, together with supplementary education. Through songs and games, children gradually get to know and enter life. It - play is implemented, helps, builds, assists, synchronizes, educates, strengthens, improves, orients, teaches, organizes, systematizes, presents, includes, seeks, engages, entertains, creates, develops, offers, functions, activates, is an impulse, is a natural environment. Play is the foundation that expresses children. It teaches them to work and to work together in a team. To be united and cohesive in common activities. Through play, each child imitates the world that surrounds them. Thus, over time, the child himself integrates into the society in which he lives, as an independent person. The game changes the child's psyche and helps its active maturation. Hence, it also sets behavioral characteristics. It is particularly indicative of the further development of the child's personality. It is an obligatory and necessary stage of the growth of every person. And it seems that in modern times, even greater attention is paid to the game, and its importance reaches the importance of the air we breathe. The game forms the child's character. It builds independence, because it is a purposeful, conscious and organized activity. Through the rules of the game, children are accustomed to discipline. Their inexperience and immaturity in early childhood indicates the need for a pedagogical regulatory function. The main friend of children in games is their own imagination [4]. The game only enriches, makes sense of, moves, educates, reflects, shows, and sets. Through games, children gain experience and at a later stage seek and consider the correct solution to the task or situation they find themselves in. Thus, children master new knowledge, habits, skills and relationships. The game includes its importance for the growth, education, development, socialization and entertainment of children from a very early age. Through play, children grow up. Through play, children prepare to solve complex life problems at the adult stage. Through play, children come closer to the perfectly real living conditions of adults. It’s just that the conditions are a little easier for them. For example, six-year-old children play with dolls, build houses out of sticks, as if they were doing homework. But they rarely get together to play love games, choose couples and build houses, pay a bride price as a joke, and even, imitating their parents, lie next to each other [5]. From the perspective of modernity, play is accepted as a method/tool for effective adaptation of children to the dynamic and turbulent way of life. Play provokes and thus develops the child's personality. It helps to develop several skills and abilities at a later stage. Play creates a "comfort zone" for the child's development and improvement. It develops fantasy, creative abilities and imagination. Fantasy games strengthen children's memory and develop the ability to remember information. They develop language and help to understand speech. Associativity in children at an early age is strengthened. According to some scientists (Vygotsky), in play conditions, children exceed their development. Play is a catalyst for child development. Children show a desire to compete with adults. The characters of games/fairy tales bring them hope and reassurance that good will prevail. They build confidence, authority and prestige. Games captivate and invite dialogism. Games teach children to express their emotions correctly. Through games, children become observant, curious, thoughtful, and constructive. Thus, children mature socially and intellectually [6]. Talking about play as a central predictor of the childhood period in human age is more than justified. The study of games in children's lives makes sense and should be continued. They are a path to new dimensions, setting clear parameters and conditions, paving the way for children's dreams [7]. Through games, children learn, express, transform, experience, try out, and perceive the new for them. For this purpose, appropriate methods, processes, and means are used. Which ones are appropriate in each situation and age of children are judged by educators/specialists/adults themselves. Games contribute to the improvement of children's mental, physical, motor, psycho-motor, neuro-emotional, cultural, and communication development. Through games, children project the world for themselves and project themselves in the world that surrounds them. They learn to "read" others and "place" themselves in a specific situation. Finally, games provide the conditions for building well-rounded individuals by encouraging children's desire and curiosity for learning. Games are an example, and example is the easiest form of learning [8].

Role of emotional intelligence.

The formation of attitudes and views about the world in children is a direct correlate of their emotional development already in the period of 4-6 years of age. Emotions are an important and imperative part of the self-image of children in their transition to personality formation. The ability to experience emotions indicates a degree of emotionality. Emotionality is an invariable part of temperament from a psychological point of view [9]. There are four main types of emotions: joy, anger, fear, and sadness. The ratio between them is decisive for the emotional characteristics of the personality. In children aged 4-6 years, emotions reveal to what extent the child's psyche is developed, and this is quite relevantly applied in the system of pedagogical activity. Emotions reveal the inner world of children, and through their emotional intelligence, the child manages mental processes and responds adequately to those from the outside. Emotional intelligence is a continuous conscious use of emotions and the formation of a higher level of manipulation with the structure of consciousness - feelings. Feelings are stable and specifically related to an attitude towards an object. They are characterized by the quality of polarity, which causes opposition. That is why it is extremely important to diagnose emotional intelligence in children aged 4-6, so that at a later stage - primary school age - models and strategies for direct awareness of emotions can be built [10]. When a child regulates, determines, knows, understands, he gains greater confidence in his further social contacts and relationships. Not only are cognitive abilities in general an active prerequisite for success in satisfying children's personal needs, but a well-formed emotional intelligence (understanding of feelings and emotions) is also an alternative to cognitive intelligence. Because intellect is educated and exercised. And according to L. Vygotsky, “emotional and cognitive processes need to be considered in dynamic unity. The psyche of adolescents becomes increasingly deliberate, that is, they master subordinating their actions to a consciously set goal” [11]. The study and improvement of emotional intelligence and the recognition of feelings is of utmost importance, because the knowledge of how emotions “manifest” in children’s consciousness and behavior determines their motivation at a later stage of making efforts for schoolwork and perceiving the educational material. Feelings and emotions are internal prerequisites/motives for the individually manifested emotional intelligence in the child [12].

An exemplary mechanism for developing and improving emotional intelligence through game models.

Table 1: [13-16] Fundamental parameters.

Table 2: [17] Diagnostic model for recognizing and developing emotions.

Conclusion

Childhood is a precious period that everyone must keep impeccably and unconditionally. Because it is the foundation on which we step to build our lives as adults. Childhood is a perfect state of the soul we love everyone and hate no one. It lacks any pretension. Childhood teachings without imposing. Childhood is life. The studied and analyzed scientific and theoretical statements in the specialized literature contribute to identifying conceptual support for further empirical research, as well as to arguing the practical and theoretical relevance and prospects of the identified research problem, indicated in the topic of this study. The constructed toolkit for empirical research can prove its fruitfulness for its implementation in such a way as to collect significant empirical data set on the topic in terms of volume and content

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