Abstract:

Developed mathematical preliteracy in preschool children is an important prerequisite not only for successful mastery of mathematics at the beginning of school attendance, but also for many situations in everyday life. The environment in which a child's mathematical ideas can develop is, in addition to the family, primarily the kindergarten.

The paper will present partial results of the pedagogical experiment Working with a map in kindergarten (WMK), which took place in 2021. The aim of the experiment was to test activities proposed for developing children's spatial imagination based on working with a map in a kindergarten environment. Children aged 4-6 participated in the experiment. Following activities were included in this experiment:
* Construction of a kindergarten class map (individual activity).
* Orientation in the class map (paired activity),
* Construction of a map of the school garden (collective work),
* Orientation in the school map (group work).

Due to the nature of the experiment, the method chosen was qualitative reflection in conjunction with interviews with children and teachers. It can be stated that the children were very interested in working with the map. The children spontaneously initiated repetition of the activities. During these activities it was possible to notice that the children's abilities and skills were gradually developing and improving. During group work, the natural cooperation between younger and older children was evident. The children suggested further variations of activities. The experiment confirmed that active map work is suitable for preschool children. The data obtained provide suggestions for further research investigations.

Keywords:

Kindergarten, spatial imagination, map.