Symbol as a means for development of value-meaning representations of preschoolers

The article describes the results of the empirical research aimed at investigation of value-meaning representation in preschoolers. The most abundant and widely used in preschool practice concepts that reflect emotional states, peculiarities and personal traits that are concurrently ethical categories were figured out. Theoretical analysis of psychological researches dealing with meaning sphere of human personality, role of symbol in the consciousness and interrelationships between the psychological notions of “meaning” and “symbol” allowed to implement modified version of “Pictogram” technique for investigation of those notions in preschoolers. The sample included 102 preschoolers aged from 3 to 6 years old. Investigations of symbolical designation of the words that were posed in the experiment allowed to reveal some meanings connected with the provided concepts in children’s representations. The types of symbols used by the preschoolers allowed concluding on their sources. It was found out that children use both cultural (general and group) and individual symbols to designate concepts; their proportions and dynamics of frequency of usage of certain symbols depend on children’s age as well as peculiarities of the concept itself.