The article presents results of a study of cognitive activity in children of the seventh year of life attending a preschool educational institution. The relevance of the study is due to a decrease in the level of cognitive activity of modern preschoolers, which may become one of the reasons for difficulties in mastering educational activities in the future. The effectiveness of the organization of psychological and pedagogical activities for the development of this activity is largely determined by knowledge about the specifics of its manifestation, and therefore there is a need to obtain new scientific data on the specifics of the manifestation of cognitive activity in children of this age. The article presents a brief overview of the available data on the formation of cognitive activity in preschool age, reflects the results of an empirical study conducted by the author of the article. The purpose of the study was to identify the features of the development of cognitive activity in children of the 7th year of life. The study was carried out in the form of a ascertaining experiment using a set of diagnostic techniques. The sample consisted of 41 pupils of preparatory groups of kindergartens. On the basis of the selected structure of cognitive activity in the study, specific features of the manifestation of this activity in children of the specified age were established.