Child Development

Child Development Infant Age to 6 Years Parenting & Family Time - Infant age to Preschool Age Copyright © 2014 by Devika Primic 1

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Contents Introduction Page 1 - 5 Chapter One Page 5- 55 Planning together our educational goals Programme planning Using themes 3

Chapter Two Page 56-155 Discovery activities Discovery materials and activities Organising discovery activities Caring for plants Cooking with young children Learning through discovery Helping children discover 4

Chapter Three Page 156-179 Educational trips Organising educational trips Learning through trips Helping children learn through trips 5

Chapter Four Page 180-191 Books for young children Kinds of books for young children Organising our books Learning through books Helping children learn through books 6

Chapter Five Page 192-200 Story-time Kinds of stories for young children Organising our story-time Learning through stories Helping children through stories 7

Chapter Six 201-213 Page Music for young children Organising music for young children Learning through music Helping children experience music 8

Chapter Seven Page 214-222 Time to know your Child Babies First Books Child Care Development of Reading Parent and Child Picture Books About the Author 223 9

1 Introduction The times that a parent can’t recapture of a child are the moments that the child experiences for the first time. Every day, there is something new for a child to learn, to communicate with, to create, and to think about. It's one of the most special times for them and their parents. Your child is now attending a day-care centre, nursery or playgroup. It's time for them to learn to be independent. Getting involved in activities with him/her would make it valuable and exciting for your child. Children benefit from enjoyment of the activities a lot more when friends or parents are involved. Young children learn through playing with friends of their own age group and not through formal teaching. This allows children to explore and find out about what they are capable of. A child can’t concentrate when hungry or exhausted. A play session should be relaxing. Never try to force a child to concentrate if he/she does not feel like a certain activity, leave it for another day. Allow them to do what they want, provided it's not dangerous. 1

2 Make the most of your time with your child If you are the parent of a baby, toddler or a pre-schooler, you are aware that your child's brain develops at an astounding rate until the age of seven. Every bit of stimulation they get now is an investment. In spite of expensive toys and good intentions, most parents have so many other responsibilities that they soon find their child's precious first years have sped by. Teach your child to brush their teeth and dress from an early age, so you'll have more time to do interesting things together. In spite of the great advantages of playgroups and pre-schools the demands put on school beginners are so high that it's rare for a child to be completely ready for school from day one. By preparing your child for school from an early age, you can save yourself and your toddler a great deal of frustration. Don't only focus on educational activity, also, do ordinary things like taking walks together. Find out what your child should be mastering at that age. This will, prevent your spending unnecessary time on games that are too easy, or pressuring your infant to perform at an unrealistically high level. Choose activities that don't need much preparation. A three year old can concentrate for only about 10 minutes if you have the planned activity and it takes 15 minutes to prepare, your child will lose interest. 2

3 Children from infant to pre-school age will have more fun doing things they are good at than those they don’t have a natural talent for. Do not take over an activity a child is busy at; learn a good deal by watching children observing their own material. That's how they have new findings out and encounters on their own. Early learning of a pre-school child Intelligence is only responsible for a small percentage of a child's success at preschool, while a child's personality accounts for a larger percentage. Our indication is that confident children, who are more independent by the age of three or four, tend to be less anxious when they start pre-school, and therefore learn quickly. Friendly children spend more time playing with others, and as a result have more opportunities to learn new ideas. An extrovert, meaning the outgoing child, is usually more successful at pre-school than an introvert, the withdrawn child, and motivation is a key factor in their success. 3

4 When using this book: Although this book is for the ages from an infant age, to the starting of pre- school I have not indicated an age group for each activity, with regard to the enormous changes that age span encompasses. Age is not the actual, point; it’s a question of, how able the child is to perform the activity. The activities are organised into different sections. 4

5 Planning together our educational goals Discovery activities Educational trips Books for young children Story time Music for young children A Time to know your child The main aim in this book is to suggest ways, to channel a child's natural curiosity. Finally, an activity for the child and parent can be fun when doing it together. 5

6 Chapter One Planning together our educational goals Children get to learn their names, surnames, and to increase their vocabulary gradually. When children start building with blocks they begin to know the shape and the size of objects and learn how to construct each block according to size and shape. At the tables at pre-school children can learn to do table-work. This helps them to concentrate for longer periods. They could learn from resources, like cards, or, exercise books, teachers can get worksheets made and stencils, can be used to show how one can trace letters from. They can write down key words, key sentences and this can brighten your child's ability. Objects can be provided for children to sort out according to their size and shape. Put objects that can be balanced according to weight. Make matching numbers on cards so that children can develop their understanding clearly. They can learn to write and to draw, and to colour their drawing correctly. Other methods are that children can bring to school all sorts of objects in different shapes and sizes and teachers can ask them to use their sense of touch to feel all the unique textures of these objects. 6

7 Children can label the objects to read each name on the label. For each day there should be an activity set out for children to play freely, like drawing, painting, some energetic activity like skipping, throwing a ball to each other, or playing on a swing. There should be a daily routine of activities that gives the child a sense of security. This allows them to feel secure in their environment and to learn without fear. Every day should be occupied with some activity, so they don't get bored. They are often excited to be at pre-school and love excitement. The more activities they have, the more fun-filled they'll be. Children begin to know and understand their reality by means of examples. The different methods of teaching should be shown by pre-school teachers. Children are now going through a phase where they will be reaching out to adulthood. The first things children learn are about the different natures and cultures of the people in their communities. It takes time for a child to master nature and culture. Children are unable to sense and obtain knowledge easily, it gets confusing when so young, and so a child requires an adult to adapt information. It should be made to be understood at their level. Reality must be chosen in such a way that it's chosen from various subjects or life realities. Culture and nature should be taught, as that stage of childhood can master and apply knowledge skills obtained. Teachers should have authority over children; this must be approached in such a way as to be meaningful to the children. 7

8 Teachers have responsibility with regard to the way children gain knowledge. Children should not only know and be able to; they must know and do too. They get to learn and develop from their own experiences. In pre-school or even at home there are varieties of subjects from which children can learn. Subjects like, language, culture and health education are subjects just for the pre-schoolers, too many can be confusing. Language for children is the most important thing for a child to learn. Pre-school children are not so familiar with the real part of language. They should use language as part of their level only. In this way they'll understand it easily. Language releases a child from the concrete world and makes him/her more mobile. Young children need to feel and do what they like and also speak freely and be outspoken and not to be shy of others. This helps the child to grasp the reality around him and to verbalise. Children's programmes should be based on children's needs. They should be told about their development as young children and when they grow older. Activities chosen by children should never be underestimated. Presentation of activities should be informal. Attention should be given to the programme and activity within the programme. 8

9 Programme planning Each school has its plan and course for the day. The daily programmes in nursery schools or playgroups are as follows: The teacher appointed to teach a certain group of children has activities of different kinds to teach the children, and these are written out. All free-play activities which are planned by the teachers are not chosen by the teachers, the children have their own choices and types of activities chosen by them so they can be able to go about doing whatever is possible. On certain occasions teachers are free to choose the class programme for the day. A nursery school being well adapted will have these types of activities during the day. They will follow a specific time-table which may differ from other pre- schools, nursery schools or playgroups. The daily programme should be written or typed neatly and placed on a notice board, so parents can read it and be familiar with their children's activities for the day. Depending on the activities a child can only do an activity within his/her capability. In cases like that the teacher will always give several activities to a child, for example - the art activities (ages 2-5yrs)). You can arrange a playroom to look attractive and very inviting and your child will be encouraged to learn the activity with great enthusiasm. 9

10 Classroom management Teachers should work with a small class of children. A daily routine gives children a sense of security. They know what to expect and they also feel safe in the process. Allow children to play freely from one classroom to another. Have structural activities prepared for children, in this way they can learn to follow their own interests. Encourage children to take an individual equal responsibility while in the classroom. Making of worksheets, flash cards and ideas can be of resources to children. Well equipped learning areas are needed. By children working together in different cultural groups they learn new ideas and new languages together. This gives them a chance to learn about each others’ backgrounds at an early age. Discussion topics are ideal too. Learning how to share and to respect one another is possible as soon as they become debatable and are given stimulation activities. Children that work well should be put to work together. Shy children should be invited into discussions often to get them used to audiences. Having open discussion questions allows your child to be encouraged to learn and think from the task arranged. If children are slow in learning, divide children into pairs provide an explanation of the specific subject which then is understood properly. 10

11 When preparing using material Always use materials that are easy to find and can be bought cheaply. Ask the children to bring to school the following objects-useful materials like cardboard boxes, empty egg trays, old plastic jars, old containers, old magazines, or shells. Children should be able to perform activities that interest them and be able to achieve goals at their own pace. Activities should be creative - indoor or outdoor activities are best. Doing art activities gives children more potential and creativity. This is when they are using paint and not so much when using crayons. A playroom at the day-care centre A reading corner should have storybooks or colouring books. Storybooks for the appropriate age groups and colouring books for the age group that is capable of colouring such books. Always remember to have the playroom kept neat and tidy, have lots of toys, like building of blocks, jigsaw puzzles, tea-sets, and with dolls. Children need to be seated or relaxed during a certain activity. 11

12 Most important The teacher at the pre-primary school must remember that she is not to teach a child in a formal way, rather, in an informal way. The children are young and cannot follow a routine so soon. There should not be too many children in a class. The amount of six children in a class is most appropriate. Art activities These are selected by the child. Choice is adapted to the age of the child. These go according to the topics of each week, and the skills and experience the child has. This is not offered to a large group of children, only six children at a time. 12

13 Activity that is not chosen by a child This activity is chosen by the teacher, to specifically reinforce skills of a particular day. Teachers do the explaining to the child of the type of activity of the day. Children have an opportunity to express their feelings, their thoughts and to create new ideas of their own. A pre-primary child cannot communicate well concerning a vocabulary that may not be too well-developed. By drawing, painting and modelling of clay playing, this enables the child to cope. A child should also differentiate between shapes, colours, and painting of pictures and to think creatively. Teachers should allow children to feel free to draw what they can and want to, the teacher should not show them how to do it because they would feel that they are unable to do it individually and in the process may have a low self-esteem. 13

14 Using variety of drawing activities 1. Thin and thick felt-tipped pens 2. Crayons 3. Coloured tipped pencils 4. Chalks of all colours 5. Chalkboards 6. Charcoal This type of activity should be offered on a daily basis on good quality paper, by dipping chalk into water before use is best as the writing stays on the board for a while. Children can draw pictures and then trace out the outline and colour it in. 14

15 Cutting and pasting of pictures A child can cut out pictures from old magazines using a blunt-nosed pair of scissors, and those that he drew he can stick on a plain sheet of paper or in an old book, to make it an attractive picture book. Painting Children can use paint to paint blotches. They can mix all the different colours together, one can make a rainbow and paint all the different objects (old toys) - paint handles of old brushes, or some old books. Any area that is not in use can be used for painting. To avoid mixing colours especially when painting a specific picture place the paint brush in a different holder. A child should be given paper of all sizes and shapes it must be plain white paper. Children should wear aprons when using paint. Teachers have got to encourage children to choose light and dark colours. 15

16 Guide to the use of stages I-IV Stage (I-III) 1. Allow the teacher to understand the aims of each lesson. 2. Keep the children busy on a daily basis. 3. Have discussions on themes - discussions and actions of music and movements -progresses from easy to difficult. Gradually the child masters the contents. They develop self-confidence and learn while playing. Stages IV-V Self-confidence and awareness which have been developed by the child and the language the child masters can make him call upon his experiences. Children are led to problem situations where they get to find solutions to make discoveries. A pre-schooler is open to asking questions. 16

17 Talking to your child is helpful Being a pre-schooler your child is aware of people around him thinking creatively. Children at this stage want to explore and discover new ideas and new situations, they want to have new friends and become more outspoken. Having discussions in class is the utmost objective idea. This is testing the children's knowledge. It's got to be a two-way communication, questions and answers are what you need. This gives the child confidence in himself. By questioning the child it openly makes him discover new discoveries. This is to stimulate their thoughts, also a child questioned by the teacher and parent on a subject that's of interest to the child. 17

18 B. Using themes Let your child know about preschool learning. Parents got to teach their children the different parts of their bodies. The growing child has got to learn about it at an early age. A child should undress in front of a mirror to look at his body and then know the actual parts or what each part or organ looks like (but only at home - not at kindergarten). Children got to know the appearance of them that is by looking at their description. At some stage at school children will come across a human body which is made out of plastic in this they can be taught about all the different parts we have and the functions of each. This can teach children lots of new ideas. Oneself A pre-schooler can find out about plenty activities that can be indoor and outdoor and about the child himself too. Finding out about oneself What do you look like? Parts of your body Are you a boy/girl? 18

19 How old are you? What is your name? What is your nationality? Are you friendly? How many pets do you have? Emotions - About, feelings, happiness, sadness, angry, or afraid. What are your likes and dislikes? Senses: Touching – Can you feel textures of your skin? Can you tell if it is rough or smooth? 19

20 Hearing – Do you hear yourself making different sounds like laughing, crying, screaming, shouting or giggling? Taste – Do you taste the kinds of foods you eat? What tastes sweet, bitter, or sour? See – Do you see the colour of your eyes? What is the colour of your hair? Is it brown or black? Can you tell the colour of your clothes and shoes that you have on? 20

21 Smell – Can you smell yourself and the perfume you have on? Hygiene Have you washed your body? Have you brushed your teeth? How often do you brush your teeth? Do you have healthy foods and drinks? Kinds of music you like Kinds of art you like Are you tall or short? Match hands and feet; are they the same or different? Do you have long or short hair? How are your manners at the table? 21

22 Do you have a big family? How many members are there in your family? Which school do you go to? What language do you speak? What are your manners when speaking on the telephone? Do you perform any exercises at home or at the gym? What is your address? What is your place in your family? Parents should show children photographs of them when they were much younger and also present photos. It is to let them know about each person in the photo. Children should beware of the noises their bodies make. Moves of their bodies when walking, running, exercising or dancing. The foods that children eat should be healthy foods. Foods like meat, fish, poultry and eggs. One should be a well-mannered child at home and in public. 22

23 Personal grooming Combing of your hair Washing of your hands before and after eating How neat and clean is your clothing Cutting of your fingernails Your hygiene in the toilet Washing of your hands after the use of the toilet Use of toilet paper Children should be able to recreate facial expressions like angry, sad and happy faces. When children are happy or sad? At pre-school teachers should teach children the feelings of being happy, sad or angry. 23

24 What brings happiness or sadness? What causes you to be angry or happy? What makes you feel scared? When children are sad, an adult should make them feel happy by making conversation to them that will take their minds off their sadness. If someone is sad it could be because one has lost somebody in their family, a pet can have gone missing or even if one has lost a special gift. Happiness is when you feel like listening to music and being with people. Children would want to enjoy being with people and have fun in dancing and singing. Give children the opportunity to express themselves of these feelings and to talk about it to one another. The feeling of anger is what one feels towards someone, if betrayed or if you had lied to someone. 24

25 Let children talk of their personal experiences to teachers at school or at home. They then realise that this kind of feeling is inside of them. Act out dramas of anger, sadness or happiness to the class to make each child understand these feelings and what actually causes them to react or feel that way. Chiming of clocks Music Assisting of deaf people Flowers, fresh produce, lotions or creams. They will need photos of themselves to develop a positive self-image. Children have to be aware of the differences between them and other people. Things like the following: Who are you? What is your name? Where do you live? 25

26 What are the names of your parents? Ask your child about the pet he has or about himself. What is the name of his pet? What is the colour of his eyes/hair? Ask children about themselves, about their body parts and its functions, like the eyes, hair, fingers, toes, hands, legs, and, about the importance of life. Parts of their bodies Their shoulders, the neck, hips, ankles, elbows, throat, spine, back, bottom, chest and with the use of the skeleton they will be able to identify such parts. Make children know the functions and how many of each they have. It could be the eyes, nose or the mouth. Teach children about the ankles and that when they play twist and turn they can hurt their ankles and it can be painful. 26

27 Getting hurt on their elbows can be very uncomfortable too. These experiences make them know that there are games that cannot be played dangerously. Discussion with your toddler, to make them know the way that people are the same and the way they are different. We all need food and water, clothes and a home, the requirements of a normal life, like the need to learn security, to be healthy, and, be clean and tidy. We are all tall or short, big or small, speak different languages, have different religions, sizes of families, play and sing differently, and like sweet and sour, taste of sugar, salt and spices, something that is juicy or dry, like an orange that is juicy and an apple that may not be. Children can be taken for walks to experience the scents of flowers; they can touch the different trees and plants to feel the different textures of each. They can feel the stones, trees, leaves, petals of roses, the grass and lots more can be done with the help of a parent. They can hear the different noises of birds, or dogs barking, cars hooting, screeching of tyres, or children screaming to each other and even shout out to you, if they would like to. As parents you should be able to help your child to describe these experiences to them. 27

28 Ask questions about the walk they had in the garden. Questions like, what did they see? Did they enjoy their walk? Did they hear noises? What kind of noises did they hear? The types of trees they saw. What were the scents of the roses like? Did they like the scent of the roses? Ask children to talk freely of their experiences that they have had. By blindfolding your child and asking to guess what is on the table can be a good idea too. Try to guess the smells of fruit and vegetables. 28

29 Your toddler could try to tell you what it is by just the smell of it. This encourages them to learn more out of experiences. Guessing games can speed their abilities. Make colour flash cards with different colours on each one and ask your child about the colours. Patterns can be done in the same way. It can be very creative for your child. He/she can be given a chance to guess if they are the same or not. Children should be allowed to feel things, the warmth, and the coldness of an object, the weather, the cold of ice, and the warmth of clothing, or their home. The feeling of being out in the cold and coming inside the house. When bathing they should know if the water is hot or warm enough to bath in. Hot and cold foods can be compared too. They can have hot or cold drinks. Ice cubes from the freezer, children should know how ice is made. This is known when children have experiences with the feeling of warmth or cold. 29

30 They can collect objects to school and feel textures of each one. Objects like crayons, cardboard boxes, shells, stones, toys of different sizes and shapes, matchsticks or sticks from trees, books, the smoothness of egg shells, or stones if rough or smooth and the feeling of wet and dry. Feeling of boiling water can be dangerous; this shouldn’t be attempted by your child. What does it feel like when water is on your body? Does the water make you feel good? The texture of hard or soft Hard What is hard? Wooden furniture, hard covered books, floors, wooden boards, the skin of a fruit, or a plant. What is soft? 30

31 Wool, sponges, clay, pillows, swabs, cushions, fur, soft ball or soft material. Revise these themes as often as you can. This allows children to remember and understand easily. Daily talks of these topics will enable them to talk and learn about the senses themselves. Hearing of sounds Loud noises Sounds of thunder Use of a drill Sounds of a trumpet There can be fear of listening to loud noises, especially, if you are not expecting it. 31

32 Slow Walking slowly, dancing slow/waltz Playing with soft toys A cruise Jogging instead of running Taking your time in an activity Driving slowly Near Ringing of bells from a church Doorbell ringing Lighting a candle close to you Eating at a restaurant Alarm of a clock goes off A place to go to 32

33 Far Going shopping A gym The clinic Doctor’s surgery Sounds Sounds that you can recognise Sounds of animals / nature Tools Spoons, forks and knives Children playing outside 33

34 Emotions Children should be able to participate in discussion groups to talk about their emotions. Love and care they need, the need to be loved or liked by someone, feel the warmth of love. They can love their parents, pets, friends of family. Insects A child can collect insects from a local environment. One can try going to a nearby park or playground at school, in your garden or even a river if close by. Encourage children to collect insects as much as they can. They will need the top of the container to be closed properly and it should be plastic containers. A net on top of the container is a good idea. You can build a home-made top to trap insects. Have the insects taken to your classroom; they could be ants, ladybirds, ground crickets and beetles. At school your teacher can help you identify the parts of these insects. 34

35 It can be very exciting for children as this kind of project mainly takes place at school, there are ideas that you can come up with. The size of the insect, the number of legs it has, and the number of eyes. Find out how insects see and feel. Can you see its eyes? Are they large or small eyes? What type of weather it prefers. Does it like to be in a sunny area or in dark corners? Animals Speak of animals to your child, often so that he/she knows what it is like to be close to one. Allow your child to have a pet. He will realise that one can get close to a pet and love it too. This will open his mind to be experienced, and know about being affectionate towards an animal. 35

36 This would allow a child to know that one can be close to animals as well as humans. If he has a pet he should learn more about it and take lots of care. Information can be obtained from library books if he doesn't know much about his pet. Depending on the kind of pet is required. A child should know of the kind of food to feed his pet, know the breed of his pet, and know how it should be treated, where it should sleep and lots more if necessary. Children learn lots from these kinds of experiences. It makes them feel responsible and free to know about what goes on in their daily routine. Pre-schoolers can learn new ways of how to take care of their pets and maybe get to know advanced ideas. They eventually learn of wild and tame animals, as they get older. 36

37 Clocks Pre-schoolers could look at library books that tell you how to see the time on a clock; it will give them an idea. There are different types of clocks, like watch faces with or without numbers, stop watches, grandfather clocks, Mickey Mouse clocks and lots more. Draw a clock for your child and he can be familiar with it as he would want to look at it and have it taken to school daily. A child will notice time on a clock after each of their daily programs. This can allow him to see time. The sign of sunrise and sunset is one of the ways in which he can learn to see time. He will experience the time of day and night. Talk about the time of the year, the four seasons, alarm clocks that go off at a specific time, when it is lunch time, supper time or breakfast time. Teachers should show the children the numbers on the clock, the number of hands the clock consists of, talk about the hours, minutes, seconds and the counter hand. 37

38 Growing Things Allow your child to plant his own tree and he can watch it grow. Give him that opportunity to watch something grow it could be a good experience for him as a pre-schooler. By doing this your child realises what a plant needs to make it grow and how it should be done. He will know where a certain plant should grow. Does it need to be planted in a shady spot or a sunny spot? At home or school, children should be asked to cover seeds with a dampened piece of cotton wool. It can be seeds of beans, an example just as an experiment. These seeds should be kept for a few days so that you can see what happens to the seeds. It can be very exciting for children doing it for the first time. Besides the seeds under damp cotton wool you as the parent can help your child to grow an avocado plant. You can use the pip of an avocado, place it in a glass of water with four matchsticks pricked into it, so that it just rests on the rim of the glass, preventing the pip from being totally submerged in the water, and let it stand for about a week or until you see shoots growing. When children watch their own plants grow they tend to take a lot of care of it. 38

39 They water it daily and know that it should be in a certain spot and learn of the nature of it. They learn that it needs a specific amount of sunlight and that it gets the right soil. Pre-schoolers learn how to look after a plant and that it should not be destroyed as it beautifies our gardens provides us with shade and plenty of fruit. Frogs Introduce your child to frogs at home or at pre-school. Study its life-cycle. Observe tadpoles/frogs. Children find it amusing playing with frogs and watching frogs jump and catching its prey with its slimy tongue. They can try to jump like frogs too. This allows them to learn about frogs, their habits and habitats and food requirements. Also names of different kinds and areas where they are found. Frogs can swim and children can do the same. 39

40 Do research and label parts of the frog's body. In this way you will know what each part is. Frogs are amphibians as you know and it is because they live half- time on land and half-time in water. Children love playing with frogs because it is a harmless amphibian and they find them fascinating and have a rough skin. More information on frogs can be found in encyclopaedias when reading magazines and by watching television documentaries. Learning is within your child At pre-school children should be allowed to discuss their experiences they had feeling scared and panicky. The panic of talking to strangers, being asked to perform in class can make one fearful or nervous, especially in front of an audience, and if not used to the public. Strength Allow children to describe their feeling of strength. Physically strong, they can demonstrate by showing how strong they are by methods of exercising. Play games of action and swimming are ideal for children. 40

41 Explain that not all children are strong and why? Your home This theme is to create a skill? - A comparison? To their life. Children will eventually learn of the activities they perform in each room, the photographs of their homes and the names of each room. Discuss the purpose or activities in each room. What is the dining-room for and what do we do in the bathroom? Explain to the children the different kinds of homes that are built around us. Talk about the homes in different homelands like the cabins which are made of timber and the thatch-roof house which has lots of dry grass on the roof which some people like to live in. The Eskimo's live in igloos, homes that are made of ice. Houses are made of bricks, blocks, stone or even sticks when one cannot afford to build expensively. In Africa because they are unable to afford to build expensively their homes are built as huts. 41