Page 2 - LESSION 9.pmd

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

9.1 DEVELOPMENT OF CHILDREN DURING AGES THREE TO
SIX YEARS

Pre-school age is the time for achieving muscle development and coordination, Notes
and also to build abilities to think and speak. Their power of observation, memory
and verbal skills improves rapidly. This aids in better understanding and adapting
themselves to the world around them. During preschool years, children learn
essential life skills like dressing up and feeding themselves and thus grow
independent in a number of ways. This is also the time when children learn to
separate from parents and family in preparation for school.

The sections that follow describe physical-motor, socio-emotional, cognitive
and language development of preschool children.

9.1.1 Physical and Motor Development
Children in the age group of three to six years grow slower than infants but
their growth is rather steady. The growth made by them in muscle development
and coordination ensures that they can physically do a lot of things that
previously they were unable to achieve. Generally, three to six year old children
gain about four to five pounds per year and grow approximately two to three
inches per year. Now, they need less sleep than they did. At this stage, children’s
muscular and skeletal growth progresses and they become physically stronger.
The capacity of their respiratory, circulatory and excretory system develops and
this promotes development of an array of motor skills in them. Since their eye-
hand coordination improves, this gives them an edge at engaging in a number
of tasks such as running, throwing, skipping and jumping. Along with these
gross motor skills that require large muscles, they also become efficient in using
their fine motor skills that require engagement of their fine muscles. Since now
they are able to use their fine muscles with precision, it makes them skilled
at drawing with crayons, use a spoon to feed themselves, button their clothes
and tie shoelaces. You must have also observed that the walls of a pre-schooler’s
home are often coloured with crayon marks. This is because children during
this age can physically coordinate and pull themselves up to the wall and use
fine motor muscles to stroke the wall with crayons. Some of the gross and fine
motor skills attained in this age are:

Gross Motor Development
• Becoming more skilled at running, jumping, throwing, kicking

• Catching a bounced ball

• Pedalling a tricycle at around three years; becoming able to steer well at
around age four years

EARLY CHILDHOOD CARE AND EDUCATION 121