Page 13 - LESSION 9.pmd

Stages of Child Development Three to Six years and Six to Eight Years

they are speaking.So, communication is essential in play It also helps them generate
multiple ways of expressing their thinking. Play is their arena for experimenting
Notes with and coming to understand words, syllables, sounds, and grammatical
structure. During play, children learn to use language for different purposes in
a variety of settings and with different people. In play with others, children often
use language to ask for materials or ask a question. They seek information, provide
information to others and express ideas and during the play. Children of all ages
enjoy playing with language because, in doing so, they feel in control of it.
Language play for children during this period manifests itself in the jokes, riddles,
jump rope rhymes and games they use.

Art and Aesthetic Appreciation

We have talked about the important role of creative thought and expression in
children’s development and learning. In 1958, Sigmund Freud suggested that
every child at play, “behaves like a creative writer, in that he creates a world
of his own, or, rather, rearranges the things of his world in a new way which
pleases him.” The creative person does the same as the child at play. So, play
provides an opportunity to children to appreciate art and use it in their
environment.

WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNT

In this lesson, you have learnt that:

• Children in the age group of three to six years grow and develop at a rather
steady pace. They develop small and large muscles that help them with
become physically stronger.
• Growing physical capacities of three to six year olds help them become

better at doing everyday activities such as feeding themselves, buttoning
clothes, tying shoelaces and so forth.
• Preschoolers can describe themselves in terms of their name, family
members, their possessions etc.

• Children in preschool age lack cognitive capacities such as conservation
and abstract thinking but they are able to use rudimentary logics that are
bound by the outer appearance of the objects.

• Preschoolers acquire words and social understanding of the usage of words
rather quickly.

• During middle childhood, children gain greater control over their bodies.

132 EARLY CHILDHOOD CARE AND EDUCATION