The article analyzes the essence of the problem of forming self-esteem in preschool children. Attention is focused on the relevance of this aspect. The need to study the problem of self-esteem is due to the fact that the child's ideas about himself are formed in the early stages of development, which is a prerequisite for the formation of personality. The analysis of numerous interpretations of the concept of "self-esteem" is presented, on the basis of which it is recognized that researchers do not have a single opinion on this issue, although most of them include it in the structure of self-awareness as a required component. It is emphasized that in the early stages of preschool childhood the child's ideas about himself are formed, which is a prerequisite for the formation of personality. In the formation of such an idea of self, it is very important to harmoniously combine the individual experience of the child with the assessments that he receives through communication with adults and other children, comparing them with himself. At the same time, communication is an objective condition, outside of which the process of forming the child's ideas about himself becomes complicated or impossible. It was found that the development of self-esteem occurs in accordance with the peculiarities of family upbringing, and highlights the dependence of children development with low, overestimated and adequate self-image from different styles of family upbringing. It is established that as a means of knowing one's own capabilities, self-assessment of actions is closely dependent on the nature and content of the activity, in particular its three types: unintentionally-dependent, purposeful-dependent, purposeful-independent. The key approaches to solving the problem of forming self-esteem in the process of activity are considered. It is substantiated that the following activities are most suitable for solving this task: individual exercises, independent games-exercises, various productive activities in individual and collective forms, role-playing game; their brief description is given and it is emphasized that realistic self-assessment, which includes the ability to objectively relate to the results of their actions, depends on the type of activity and attitude to it.