|
CATEGORY & AGE GROUP |
MOTOR SKILLS |
ADAPTATION |
LANGUAGE |
PERSONAL &SOCIAL |
|
TWENTY- |
Squats in play and returns to standing without losing balance; more agile on stairs now and walks up holding rail; coming down stairs; needs the assurance of having hand held. |
Imitates pushing train made of blocks which have been lined up; makes a tower of 5 to 6 blocks. |
Combines 2 to 3 words spontaneously; has a vocabulary of approximately 20 words. |
Handles cup quite well; verbalizes need for food, toilet, or drink; pulls a person to show things out of window or toys; tends to echo 2 or more last words. |
|
TWENTY- |
Walks up and down stairs alone now; runs well with no falling; turns pages of a book singly. |
Makes a train by aligning two or more blocks imitates a V†and circular strokes; adds about two more blocks to tower making a total of 6 to 7 blocks. |
Use 3 work sentences; uses a few pronouns, “Iâ€, “meâ€, “youâ€, does not talk on jargon now; follows 4 different directions for placing of objects. |
Remains dry at night if taken up; pulls on simple garment such as underpants and undershirt; refers to self by name, is mimicking domestic situations but prefers, as yet to play. |
|
THIRTY |
After a demonstration, can walk on tip toe; can jump with both feet; tries unsuccessfully to stand on one foot; for drawing, holds the crayon or pencil with fingers. |
Makes a tower of 8 blocks in drawing, makes 2 or more strokes for a cross, and can imitate a v and h strokes. |
Can tell his full name; is able to tell the use of an object such as a ball, block, or pencil. |
Refers to himself by pronoun rather than by name; pushes toys with good steering and helps put toys away; tends to be repetitive in speech and other activities. |
|
|
Alternates feet going up- stairs; rides tricycle and uses the pedals; can stand on one foot with momentary balance, |
Makes a tower of 10 blocks; imitates building a 3 cube bridge; names his own drawing and can copy a circle and imitate a cross; can repeat 3 digits (1 out of 3 trials). |
Uses plurals now; can answer a few comprehensive questions such as “What is a spoon used forâ€, or “What do we do with the chair?†|
Feeds self and spills very little; puts on his shoes and is able to unbutton the accessible buttons, knows a few rhymes; understands taking turns with things now. |
|
FOUR YEARS |
Is able to skip (lame duck fashion); can balance on one foot for several |
Draws a better circle with strong clock-wise strokes; drawing of a man consists of head, 2 appendages and possibly 2 eyes; imitates 5 block gates. |
Asks many questions; still tends to articulate in an infantile manner; likes to talk; uses personal pronouns. |
Makes ore uninvited comments; dresses and undresses with little assistance; takes himself to the toilet; prefers to play with others; prone to unreasonable fears; laces but cannot tie shoes. |
|
FIVE YEARS |
Skips smoothly and is more agile than at 4 years; balances himself on toes for several seconds; dawdles less in domestic duties; partly because of greater motor maturity; jumps well. Walks length of narrow board.
|
Puts toys away in orderly fashion; draws a man with certain completeness from head to feet; can count 10 objects; knows his age; carries over play project from one day to another; carries a melody.
|
Talks without infantile articulation; answers questions to the point; asks fewer more relevant questions; can distinguish left from right in himself but not in others; expresses himself in correct finished sentences. |
Relatively independent and self-sufficient; dependable and obedient in the household shows domestic interest in sweeping washing dishes; protective toward younger playmates and siblings; plays in groups of2 to 5 with new sociability; takes pride in his clothes. |
CHARACTERISTICS OF TWO-YEAR OLD CHILDREN
The second year of life is a time of rapid overall growth. As the Skills-Concepts Checklist shows, early two-year olds may speak In sentences of three of more words and correctly use approximately 50 words, while at age three, children use longer sentences and their vocabulary may consist of nearly 900 words.
Like all preschool children, two-year-olds are egocentric, that Is, they are unable to see another’s point of view and therefore find It difficult to share materials and toys. This is particularly true of later two-year-olds and early three-year-olds, who often demonstrate resistant behavior around transition times.
Nevertheless, two-year-olds are capable of demonstrating certain skills, and the activities in this book support those abilities. For example, two-year-olds are beginning to enjoy looking at books and listening to stories. They can imitate the behavior of other children as well as the actions of an adult. In art, they are able to paste collage pieces to paper. Further, their vertical scribbling strokes eventually evolve into faces as they approach the age of three.
Two-year-olds’ play is primarily sensory-motor, which is the free
movement of large and small muscles. They are able to walk up and down•
stairs and run without constantly failing. Late two-year-olds can engage in simple
symbolic or make-believe play. They can pretend to drink from a cup, for example, by
using a cylindrical block instead of a real cup.
CHARACTERISTICS OF THREE-YEAR-OLD S
The third year of life is a time of expansion for children’s cognitive, affective, and physical growth. Three-year-olds are more conforming and predictable than two-year-olds and tend to show curiosity toward anything new in their environment. Fifty percent of their play is sensory-motor, resulting in a strong need for activities that develop fine and gross motor abilities. The spoken language of early three-year-olds may consist of about 900 words and Increases to 1500 by the age of four.
Three-year-olds are capable of magical thinking - that is, the belief that their actions and thoughts can bring about events. This egocentric and attractive feature of three-year-olds (as well as four-year-olds and five-year-olds) allows them to create a life of fantasy and make-believe. Stuffed animals can take on human characteristics (animism), providing children the opportunity for development of imagination and language.
The ability to think symbolically has increased at this age. Typically, three
year-olds might take two dominoes, stand them up, and pronounce, ‘This
Is my mommy and daddy!†Artwork is often exhibited by later three-year-olds
as a face with stick arms and legs.
Three-year-olds can speak in sentences of four, six, or more words; listen to short
stories, and rote count to ten or more. They can often identify as many as seven colors
and use scissors (although lines may not be followed accurately).
CHARACTERISTICS OF FOUR-YEAR-OLD CHILDREN
Four-year-old children are lively and adventurous, and they burst with motor activity. Like two and three year-olds, they are egocentric and are perceptual thinkers, unable to think logically or abstractly. Although 40 percent of their play is sensory-motor (free movement of large and small muscles), 30 percent is symbolic and is demonstrated largely through socio-dramatic play that Involves taking on roles and verbally interacting with other children. Such play is made possible by the expansion of spoken language in the fourth year. 1500 words in early four-year-olds and more than 2000 in five-year olds. They can speak readily in sentences of ten or more words.
Four-year-old children exhibit Increased cognitive skills by asking more questions and showing greater curiosity about the environment. There is great Interest in the printed word, especially their names; and their attention span has increased to enable them to listen to a story of approximately ten minutes in length. In addition, four-year-olds have the ability to predict events and outcomes of stories.
Like three-year-olds, four-year-old children are magical thinkers. Their egocentricity causes them to create events and perceive their abilities as limitless. For example, a typical four-year-old might say, “I have X-ray vision. I can see through anything!†Like three-year-olds, four-year-old children also continue to think animalistically - that is, they give human characteristics to inanimate objects.
Physically, four-year-old children can move their bodies more creatively and are in greater control, being able to stop upon a teacher’s command or the termination of music. Their fine motor abilities have improved their artistic skills, allowing them to draw a human figure with major body parts and facial features.
KINDERGARTEN
3rd Grade
*First and second grade student’s fall somewhere between these extremes.
BABES Curriculum