PRESCHOOLERS’ DEVELOPMENT

By Kimberly Griffith

CHARACTERISTICS OF CHILDREN AGE 3-5:

Curious Energetic Confident Independent Silly Creative Imaginative

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT: BODY AND SKELETAL GROWTH

Body growth slows down. Most children grow 2-3 inches in height and 5

pounds in weight each year. Boys are slightly larger than girls.

Skeleton continues to grow. New growth centers immerge, where cartilage

hardens into bone. Many children lose their first baby tooth around age

5-6. Tooth decay is common so brushing children’s teeth

is critical (both for baby and adult teeth). Brain size increases.

By age 6, the brain is 90% of the weight of an adult brain.

Unused neurons die and stimulated neurons become more complex and take up more space.

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT:NUTRITION AND SLEEP

Sleep: 2-3 year olds need 12-13 hours of sleep daily 4-6 year olds need 10-11 hours of sleep daily Having a enforced bedtime, bedtime routine/special

ritual, and not watching TV before bed can help children get adequate sleep.

Nutrition: Appetite commonly decreases. A high-quality diet is needed.

Milk, meat (or other foods with protein), vegetables, fruits, breads, and cereals should be included.

Food with a lot of fat, sugar, and salt should be minimal.

It is important not to adapt to a picky eater but to continue to offer a variety of foods.

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT: GROSS MOTOR SKILLS

Preschoolers have more endurance and balance.

3-4 year old milestones: Walking up stairs with alternating feet Jumping and hopping Throwing and catching (with slight involvement of upper body but

still catching against the chest) Pedaling and steering a tricycle

4-5 year old milestones: Walking up and down stairs with alternating feet Running more smoothly Galloping and skipping Throwing ball by rotating body and transferring weight on feet Catching ball using hands Riding tricycle quickly and steering smoothly

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT: FINE MOTOR SKILLS

Preschoolers gain better control of their hands and fingers, which can be seen in how they take care of their bodies (dressing, eating, etc.) and the artwork that they make.

3-4 year old milestones: Fastening and unfastening large buttons Serving self food without help Using scissors Copying vertical lines and circles Drawing first picture of person (tadpole image)

4-5 year old milestones: Dressing and undressing self without supervision Using fork effectively Using scissors to cut on a line Copying triangle, cross, and some letters

COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT: MENTAL REPRESENTATION AND

MAKE-BELIEVE PLAY

Preschoolers begin to understand that object can represent something else.

They engage in more complex pretend/ make-believe play and their imaginations increase.

Sociodramatic play (make-believe play with others) contributes to cognitive and social skills.

Many preschoolers have imaginary friends.

Magical thinking is common.

COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT: INFORMATION PROCESSING

Attention: Preschoolers sustained attention improves from toddler

years. They become better at planning (thinking about their

actions before doing them). Memory:

Their ability to recognize something that they have seen before is much greater than their ability to remember what they have seen (recall).

They are just starting to use mental strategies to help them remember things.

Preschoolers’ episodic memory improves, meaning that are able to remember and give descriptions (scripts) of everyday events especially familiar repeated events.

COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT: INFORMATION PROCESSING (CONT.)

Problem Solving: Preschoolers try many different strategies to solve

problems and observe which ones work best. Problem solving is improved through practice,

reasoning, being given new challenging task, and with the help of adults.

Theory of the Mind By age 3, children realize that thinking takes place in

their head and that they can think about something without having contact with it or talking about it.

Around age 4, children understand false beliefs can guide people’s behavior.

Language, cognitive abilities, make-believe play, and social interaction contribute to a child’s theory of the mind.

COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT: LITERACY AND MATH SKILLS

Emergent Literacy: Preschoolers begin to recognize the difference between

drawing and writing. At first think that a single letter stands for a whole word or

that letters look like the meaning that they represent. By the end of preschool, children understand that letters

are parts of words and have individual sounds. Children’s literacy is improved when they are read to and

provided experience with texts and symbols. Math Reasoning

In early preschool, children attach labels to sizes/ amounts (big, little, lots) and begin to count, realizing that a number refers to a specific quantity.

Around age 4, children master cardinality, that the last number when counting is the total, and are able to use that to solve simple arithmetic problems.

LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT: VOCABULARY

Preschoolers vocabulary is increasing daily. In preschool, children learn an average of 5 words

per day! At age 2 most children have a vocabulary of about

200 words, but by age 6 their vocabulary should be around 10,000 words!

Children use fast mapping (connecting new words with an underlying concept) and syntactic bootstrapping (discovering meanings of words by noticing how they are used in a sentence) to build their vocabulary.

LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT:

GRAMMAR

By age 2-3, children use simple sentences that follow the sentence structure and word order of their native language.

Preschoolers sometimes overextend the rules of words that are exceptions (for example, saying runned instead of ran).

Preschoolers rarely use the passive voice (for example, “The window was broken by Susan.”).

Adults can help children with grammar by restated what they said but in the correct form and by elaborating on children’s speech.

By the end of preschool, children should be using more grammatical constructions correctly and easily.

LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT: PRIVATE SPEECH

Many preschoolers engage in private speech, which is self-directed speech that children use to plan and guide their behavior.

Private speech is used in order for children to walk themselves through how to complete a task. It is used most when the task is moderately difficult.

LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT: LEARNING A 2ND LANGUAGE

Children should be encouraged to keep up their native language.

Children are capable of learning more than once language at a time.

Knowing one’s first language well, helps in learning a second.

SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT: SELF-CONCEPT AND SELF-ESTEEM

Preschoolers begin to develop a self-concept, in which they define who they are by their characteristics, abilities, attitudes, etc.

Preschoolers typically describe themselves through observable characteristics (such as physical appearance, possessions, and behaviors) and sometimes in terms of their emotions and attitudes.

Preschoolers do not typically describe themselves using personality traits, such as shy or kind.

Children whose parents are positive and encouraging have high self-esteem and are highly motivated.

By age 4, most children begin to have self-judgments; however, preschoolers generally rate their own ability as very high and underestimate the difficulty of certain tasks.

A child’s self-esteem affects their initiative.

Self-Concept: Self-Esteem:

SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT:

EMOTIONAL COMPETENCE Emotional Understanding:

Preschoolers understand their emotions better. They can talk about their emotions more easily and

effectively, especially with the guidance of an adult. They are able to respond appropriately to others’ emotional

signals.

Emotional Self-Regulation: Preschoolers make large gains in their self-regulation,

coming up with strategies to control their emotions and deal with unpleasant situations.

By age 3 or 4, children are able to verbalize strategies used to control their emotions (for example, saying to oneself “Mommy said she would be back soon.”).

SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT: EMOTIONAL COMPETENCE (CONT.)

Empathy and Self-Conscious Emotions: By age 3, self-conscious emotions, such as shame and

guilt, are connected with self-evaluation, but many times children rely on messages from adults to know how to feel about their actions.

Perspective taking increases and children are able to understand other’s emotions, which leads to sympathy, empathy, and prosocial behavior.

Parents have a great influence on a child’s development of empathy.

SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT: PEER RELATIONS

Play During preschool, children should begin associative play, where

they share materials and talk, and cooperative play, where they have a common goal and are working together.

However, it is normal for 3-4 year olds to spend much of their time playing by themselves or simply playing next to another child (parallel play).

First Friendships: Preschoolers see friends as people who they play with or likes

you, rather than being based on trust. Friendships change quickly and frequently. Children may need assistance in making friends and knowing

how to join a group.

Social Problem-Solving: During preschool, children begin to learn how to resolve conflict. They experiment with different strategies to prevent or resolve

conflicts to see what works the best.

SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT:

PARENTS’ INFLUENCE ON PEER RELATIONS

Children first acquire social skills through their interactions with their family.

When parents organize play dates, give children guidance as to how to interact with others, and engage their children in play, children are more socially competent.

SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT:

GENDER TYPING AND IDENTITY

By age 3, preschoolers know what their gender is and generally associate certain toys and colors with a specific gender.

Most preschoolers do not yet understand that their gender is constant (that it cannot change).

It is important for parents and teachers not to gender stereotype, but to encourage their children to try a variety of activities and roles instead of only ones associated with their gender.

MORAL/SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT:

MORALITY Preschoolers’ morality is generally controlled externally

through adults and the punishment or rewards they receive for their actions.

Gradually, they begin to internalize standards and want to do the right thing despite an external consequence.

Parenting and a child’s temperament/personality influence moral development.

Guilt influences moral action. Preschoolers do have some well-developed ideas about

morality. 3-year-olds believe that people who do something bad on

purpose should be punished more than a person who does the same thing by accident.

4-year-olds know the difference between truth and lies and disapprove of lying.

MORAL/SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT: PARENTS’ ROLE IN MORAL DEVELOPMENT

Parents play an important role in a child’s moral development: Adults should help children to understand the results of

their misbehavior on others. (For example, saying “She’s crying because you took her toy.”)

Adults should also give children reasons for changing their behavior.

In order for children to engage in prosocial social behaviors, adults need to model appropriate behavior, being warm and responsive, competent, and consistent in their words and actions.

Harsh punishment, such as slapping, yelling, and spanking, are usually ineffective and do not encourage moral development.

Using time outs, explaining reasons for discipline, and giving clear expectations are most effective.

MORAL/SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT:

SPIRITUALITY

Parents should use the early childhood years to lay a foundation of faith in their children.

By age 4, a child can understand that God loves them and created them and that the Bible is God’s book.

Preschoolers can also begin to pray to God and learn to be kind and loving like Jesus and to obey their parents.

Around ages 5-6, children understand that God can do anything and that He understands us and plans our lives, and they understand that Jesus is our savior and forgives. They can also begin reading the Bible on their own and start to ask God for help.

ACTIVITIES TO PROMOTE DEVELOPMENT:#1 PLAY DOUGH

Making and playing with play dough promotes fine motor and cognitive development (measuring, following directions, using creativity).

Here is one possible recipe for play dough that you can do with your children:

Uncooked Playdough

(from http://fun.familyeducation.com/sculpting/recipes/37040.html) Materials—Bowl, 1 cup cold water, 1 cup salt , 2 teaspoons vegetable oil,

Tempera paint or food coloring, 3 cups flour, 2 tablespoons cornstarch Directions

1. In bowl, mix water, salt, oil, and enough tempera paint or food coloring to make a bright color.

2. Gradually add flour and cornstarch until the mixture reaches the consistency of bread dough.

3. Store covered.

You can give the children cookie cutters, plastic knives, or other things around the house so they can make things with their play dough.

ACTIVITIES TO PROMOTE DEVELOPMENT:#2 ALPHABET BOOK

Make a book with your child that has pictures of things that start with each letter of the alphabet.

This activity focuses on fine motor and literacy development. Materials: paper, stapler or whole punch and string, crayons or

markers, old magazines or pictures, scissors Directions:

On each page, have the child write a letter of the alphabet (depending on your child’s letter printing skills, you can write it on another sheet of paper and have them copy it or you can write it and have them trace it)

On each page have the child draw a picture of something that begins with the letter and/or use scissors to cut out pictures of things that begin with each letter

Staple (or hole punch and tie) the paper together like a book Talk about the sounds letters make and have child “read” you the book(note: this is a long-term project that you can work on in segments) See: http://fun.familyeducation.com/alphabet/activity/36734.html

ACTIVITIES TO PROMOTE DEVELOPMENT:#3 PLAY DATE

Organizing a play date with another child can promote

your child’s social skills

Materials: a playground at a park or toys in your home Directions:

Ask another child’s parent ahead of time if they can organize a play date for their children.

Encourage your child to ask their friend (either when leaving school/daycare or over the phone) if they want to play with them.

When the other child comes over or when you meet at the park, encourage your child to greet them.

Give the children time to play (suggest activities if needed) and supervise to see if you need to guide the children through resolution of any conflicts that arise.

ACTIVITIES TO PROMOTE DEVELOPMENT:#4 SHOWING SYMPATHY AND EMPATHY

Promote your child’s emotional development, specifically their understanding of and care for others by making a get well card and bring a gift (such as homemade cookies or flowers) to someone who is sick or recovering from a surgery.

Materials: paper and markers to make card and ingredients for cookies (or anything else you are making as a gift)

Directions: Discuss with your child how the person who is

sick/recovering might be feeling and how they have felt when they have been sick in the past.

Make a card together (have your child draw on it and write if they are able).

Have your child help you make cookies. Deliver the finished card and cookies (or other gifts) to the

person.

ACTIVITIES TO PROMOTE DEVELOPMENT:

#5 ANIMAL WALK In order to encourage your child’s large motor

development by moving like different kinds of animals.

Materials: large room, yard, or park Directions:

Give children directions to do different movements like various animals (for example, hop like a bunny, slither like a snake, jump like a kangaroo, run like a cheetah, gallop like a horse, etc.)

Do the activities with your child Start at one side of the room or yard and do the one

movement all the way to the other side and then turn around the do the next movement

ACTIVITIES TO PROMOTE DEVELOPMENT:

#6 NATURE WALK AND COLLAGE Promote your child’s cognitive and physical

development by going on a nature walk and creating a nature collage.

Materials: bag to collect things, sturdy paper, glue Directions:

Take your child on a walk through the park. Discuss things that you see, hear, and smell (talk about

things that are alive and things that are not). Have your child collect leaves, rocks, petals, twigs,

feathers, acorn, seeds etc. in their bag. When you get home, encourage your child to glue the

things that they collected onto a piece of paper to make a nature collage.

ACTIVITIES TO PROMOTE DEVELOPMENT:

#7 READ BOOKS

Reading books to your child will promote their literacy and language development and teach them a variety of new things.

Materials: children’s books (get a library card so you can check out new books every week)

Directions: Read book to child. While you are reading, ask the child questions

about what they see in the pictures, what they think will happen next in the story, what characters they like and why, if they have ever seen or done something in the story.

Point to the words on the page as you read and talk about the letters and the sounds that they make.

ACTIVITIES TO PROMOTE DEVELOPMENT:

#8 PLAY RESTAURANT

Engage your child in so make-believe play! Materials: table, table cloth/blanket, plastic

dishes, silverware, cups, play food (if you don’t have any you can use any toys as pretend food), napkins, paper, and crayon

Directions: Have child put table cloth on table Take turns being the customer and the

waiter/waitress Ask for orders and use the paper and crayon to

“write” down orders Pretend to make food and serve each other Have fun!

REFERENCES:

Berk, L. (2008). Infants, children, and adolescents (5th ed.). Boston: Pearson.

Copple, C., & Bredekamp, S. (Eds.). (2009). Developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood program: Serving children from birth through age 8 (3rd ed.). Washington D.C.: National Association for the Education of Young Children.

Activities for preschoolers. (n.d.) Retrieved from Family Education Web site: http://fun.familyeducation.com/games/preschool/33373.html