The article has analyzed the views and considered the main directions of psychological and pedagogical researches of foreign and national scientists concerning the development of the problem of formation of critical thinking of junior pupils. Investigating the problem of forming critical thinking in schoolchildren, increase in the interest of psychologists and educators from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to the present was revealed. In psychological and educational researches on the problems of thinking and cognitive activity of primary school pupils sufficiently reasoned conclusions on the opportunities of the child’s thinking in today’s educational environment. In order to use the experience of researchers in psychology and pedagogy we have conducted a retrospective study of definite problem. We have substantiated the urgency and growing interest in the development of critical thinking of junior schoolchildren in connection with the introduction of the Conception of the New Ukrainian School in the educational process. Pupils do not receive critical thinking skills automatically, they are formed and developed with a certain systematic organization. In recent years, research has been carried out to improve the system of exercises, techniques and, as a result, an advanced technology for the development of critical thinking. It is through critical thinking that the traditional process of cognition finds an individuality and becomes conscious, continuous and productive.