The purpose of the article is to present of an innovative type of exercises in the Russian language, referred to as the complex intellectual-linguistic. The novelty of these exercises is: a) in an unusual arrangement of linguistic material which creates an educational research situation; b) in giving non-traditional tasks, aimed at simultaneously interconnected intellectual, linguistic and language development of students. The paper theoretically proves the possibility of stimulating effect of complex intellectual and language exercises on the formation of elementary schoolchildren's cognitive abilities; characterizes types of this kind of exercises, discloses the specificity of their composition and use on different stages of the lesson of the Russian language in elementary school, presents the results of their application in the educational process.