DEVELOPING SPATIAL THINKING AND LOGICAL REASONING THROUGH MÖBIUS STRIP MODELING IN PRESCHOOL

The paper presents a practice-oriented approach to introducing senior preschool children (6–7 years) to the Möbius strip through mathematical modeling and guided experimentation. Möbius strip activities are described as a low-cost, high-impact pedagogical tool that strengthens children’s spatial representations, visual–figurative thinking, attention, and logical reasoning. The proposed methodology is built around problem situations, inquiry-based tasks, and play-based experiments that help children move from direct manipulation to mediated representations (schemes, conditional signs, and modeling actions). The article offers a step-by-step instructional sequence and a set of exploratory tasks that can be used in the educational area “Cognition,” as well as in extracurricular mathematics clubs. The approach emphasizes children’s autonomy, curiosity, and the development of learning motivation through discovery and reflection.