CREATIVITY DEVELOPMENT IN CHILDREN OF PRESCHOOL AGE AS A FACTOR FOR THE ACTIVIZATION OF THEIR LEADERSHIP QUALITIES

The article reveals the meaning of such concepts as “leadership qualities” and “creativity”, and defines the relationship between them in preschool-age children. Modern theoretical approaches to the problem of creativity development are presented, the connection between leadership qualities and creativity development of preschool-age children is analyzed. Factors influencing the development of leadership qualities of preschoolers such as family upbringing, age, and individual development, as well as features of children’s relationships in the immediate social environment (family, preschool, socio-cultural environment, etc.) are identified. The author emphasizes the importance of forming leadership qualities of the preschooler, namely such as responsibility; activeness; energy; persistence; demandingness; independence in performing the assigned task; communicativeness; organization; confidence; observation; initiative, creative approach to work. Emphasis is placed on the active support of leadership manifestations of preschool-age children in various types of creative activities: artistic, game, and creative.Thus, the author emphasizes that while communicating with children it is necessary to psychologically support them, i.e. to show optimism, encourage any manifestations of imagination, cultivate independence from an early age, stimulate children’s creativity, decision-making, and responsibility, rely on strong aspects of the character of a learner, create a situation of success, always take into account the opinion of the child, and show interest to the learner’s problems.The socio-pedagogical conditions necessary for the formation of leadership qualities of each learner are determined: taking into account the individual characteristics of the development of preschoolers and the level of formation of their creative and leadership qualities; purposeful formation of leadership qualities of preschool-age children in various types of creative activities (game, theatric, art and aesthetic); creating a favorable developmental environment by the means of enriching the educational space with a variety of cognitive information for the formation of children’s perception; development of communicative abilities, creative thinking, imagination, worldview, emotional and value sphere of preschool children; creating a situation for the child to succeed in various creative manifestations; formation of individual style of activity, high self-esteem of children, which stimulates them to actively take a part in creative activity. Keywords: childhood; preschool age; creativity; leader; leadership qualities; leadership role; creative potential; creative thinking; game activity; pedagogical support of the development of leadership qualities of learners.