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Abstract: The article deals with the issue of search of approaches to patriotic education of senior preschool children. Each age stage has its specificity which is to be taken into account while organizing the corresponding work. Thus, preschool children are characterized by concrete thinking, prevalence of unconscious psychological processes, etc. The methods of preschool pedagogy make it possible to take this specificity into account in working on concrete works of art (educational programs “From Birth to School”, “Childhood”, “Paths”, etc.). Artistic perception is used in kindergarten more often as a certain means or tool allowing children to study a concrete work of art. But there is a certain deficit of methodologically tested guidelines connected with the process of upbringing in such important areas as moral and patriotic education, ideas about moral, the good, the evil, etc. The problem is that such a phenomenon and notion as Motherland is not directly connected with concrete objects and phenomena from the habitual surrounding world of the child. In this connection it is necessary to modify the approach to suit work with artistic perception: not to proceed from the general to the particular, i.e. by way of deduction, but, on the contrary, from the particular to the general. With this purpose in view, it is especially urgent to find a “particular” object which is easily understandable for the children, and which can be used to form a generalized image of Motherland. Practical work in the kindergartens of Ekaterinburg showed that a matryoshka (nesting doll) — an originally Russian toy truly symbolizing Russia, and combining multidimensional character and unity may become such object. Various matryoshkas — from the smallest to the biggest ones: Playful Child, Story Teller, Little Hostess, etc. — acquaint children with different aspects of the Russian everyday life and culture. The article demonstrates some methods facilitating the formation of the image of Motherland — the country where the children live - in the artistic perception of preschoolers. The article also specifies the pedagogical conditions promoting effectiveness of the work focusing on patriotic education at preschool education institutions.