The article deals with the actual problem of the intellectual development of primary schoolchildren by including in the work of non-standard tasks of a search nature, the use of sign-symbolic means of presenting information, which allow you to create models of the objects and processes under study. Among the non-standard are the problems with matches described by the authors in the form of visual calculating material, the search for a solution to which makes it possible to intensify the mental activity of students of this age category, to develop their fine motor skills of hands and mathematical observation. The article describes a methodology for the step-by-step familiarization of junior schoolchildren with simple and more complex transformations and manipulations with matches as geometric objects, the consistent formation of an independent creative approach in children to the choice of schemes for solving non-standard educational and practical problems.

The article deals with the actual problem of the intellectual development of primary schoolchildren by including in the work of non-standard tasks of a search nature, the use of sign-symbolic means of presenting information, which allow you to create models of the objects and processes under study. Among the non-standard are the problems with matches described by the authors in the form of visual calculating material, the search for a solution to which makes it possible to intensify the mental activity of students of this age category, to develop their fine motor skills of hands and mathematical observation. The article describes a methodology for the step-by-step familiarization of junior schoolchildren with simple and more complex transformations and manipulations with matches as geometric objects, the consistent formation of an independent creative approach in children to the choice of schemes for solving non-standard educational and practical problems.