The meaning of religious symbols in early childhood: The case of mosque example

The 2-6 age period, which is called the early childhood period, includes an important time period in human life in terms of development. In this period, children combine affective knowledge with physical action and perceive the world beyond its current meaning. They construct symbolic thought in their own world through words, images and drawings. Human beings also learn to overcome problems through the bond they establish between God and His creatures. This bond is developed by human beings through symbolic language. From early childhood, the family and other institutions providing religious education have the power to influence the development of this bond. At the same time, every new information the child learns and every object he/she encounters shows a schematic existence in his/her mind. Each schema is in relationship with the previous schema. As the child grows and object sensitivity increases, his/her ability to comprehend the relationship between what he/she relates to and the meaning it represents also increases. In this way, the ground is prepared for him to understand and make sense of the symbols he encounters. In this context, mosques are one of the important concrete symbols of Islam that children can encounter and relate to. Since the feelings and thoughts that children develop when they encounter the mosque symbol are expected to have a significant place in adulthood, it is important to determine the content of this relationship. In this study, the development of symbolic thinking in the minds of early childhood children was investigated. The role of the mosque, one of the concrete symbols of Islam, in the development of children's religious feelings and thoughts was aimed to be revealed. Keywords: Religious Education, Early Childhood, Religious Development, Religious Symbol, Mosque