Three Year Olds
Three is an age of smoothness and increased self control and integration. There is an awareness
of what people like and do not like. The typical three-year old wants to please and is highly
susceptible to praise.
Motor behavior is now sure. They enjoy gross motor activities with large objects. Block play
usually includes much carrying and lifting, which is as important as the finished product they
are building.
Fine motor development has progressed to enable this age child to pick up small objects more
easily. In writing with a crayon, the adult grasp is simulated. Movements are still awkward.
Sometimes they will pick up the crayon with the nondominant hand and then transfer it to the
dominant hand.
Play now goes on with other children. Whereas at two they were involved in parallel play, they
now begin to play cooperatively. Play is often structured by the children's imagination.
Language has expanded and the three-year old now has the ability to have fun with language.
They like to make up new words and enjoy silly rhyming. They like guessing games. The
concept of space and the understanding of place words have developed so that the three-year
old can respond to directions which include prepositions, such as "put the ball under the table."
Three-year olds can be induced to respond by using words such as: help, needs, guess what and
how about. They like the idea of a surprise and a secret. Compliance is more assured by giving
the three-year old a feeling that they have a choice.
Three and one-half is an age of transition developmentally and visually. Children are more
sensitive, noncomforming, and anxious in their behavior. Stuttering, eye blinking, faulty eye
coordination, and trembling hands of manifestations of motor difficulties.
Four Year Olds
At the age of four, children begin to test and feel their power. They need climbing apparatus,
ladders, boards, and building blocks to release energy as well as learn. They enjoy dramatic
play, excursions around the neighborhood, books and stories, and talking.
Four is not an easy age for children. They are considerably more powerful than at the age of
three; language is developing very rapidly; time sense is increasing; and they can identify with a
larger social group. They are self-sufficient in many of their personal needs. This leads many
adults to think they can perform on a high level at all times. When they retreat temporarily to
needing help, or when they are suddenly defiant, it may be that they are exhibiting a persistent
need to experiment and test others. At four they have not learned all they need to know about
the ways of their own world, or about other children or adults. Consequently, they still require
acceptance of feelings and help with limits, just as they did at age three, but always with due
recognition of their increased growth.
The four to five year old seeks to satisfy curiosity through a discovery process. A school
learning environment arranged with centers allows the freedom and materials to provide for
individual and group learning. Each child should be provided with opportunities to create,
explore, discover, and experiment through their own experiences to enable them to find their
own unique place in the world..
Five Year Olds
Five-year old children have lost the top-heavy look of infancy and are usually about twice as
tall as at two. They are dependable and obedient with a certain capacity for friendship. They
are at their best in small group situations where they can deal with something they can see for
themselves. They are relatively independent and self-sufficient but still need to be able to count
on adults for security in the unfamiliar and unexpected.
Five to six-year old children think in concrete terms, therefore, they need concrete experiences
in the learning environment. They have a special need to experiment and discover things that
can be related to their own experiences and the world around them. Expression through
movement and music is necessary for growth. Dramatic and rhythmic activities are especially
appropriate for the 5 to 6 year old.
This age child is interested in creative expression through language by the introduction of
sounds, letters and words. They enjoy learning games that give them opportunities to tell
stories, read books through memory, and write language experience stories.
The self-assuredness of the five-year old is no longer the characteristic of the five and a
half-year old who is said to be restless. During this period the child is in a more-or-less constant
state of emotional tension. Many difficulties arise out of an inability to shift and to modulate
behavior. Teachers can help guide this behavior by planning a smooth transition time when
changing from one activity to another.
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