Chapter 7 Physical Development in Early Childhood Artistic Expression o Young children love to draw dance build o Their artistic abilities increase with age o Example Many children first draw a tadpole a face and 2 sticks for the body o Progression of Drawing Skills Scribbles during 2nd year Pencil grip varies First Representational Forms Label already made drawings around age 3 Draw boundaries and people 3 4 years More Realistic Drawings preschool to school age Early printing Ages 4 6 Gradually realize writing stands for language and individual letters Pencil grip like adults by age 5 First letter kids typically print is the first letter of their name Individual Differences in Motor Skills o Body Build o Sex Taller longer limbed better at running and jumping Boys better at power and force Girls greater abilities in fine motor skills balance and foot movement o Enhancing Early Childhood Motor Development Mastered through everyday play Ex climbing running skipping climbing Kids should not be competing at age 3 but they should just be enjoying the physical activity Formal lessons have little impact Daily routines support fine motor development Ex buttoning tying shoes using silverware Provide appropriate play space and equipment Promote fun and positive attitude Chapter 8 Cognitive Development in Early Childhood Piaget s Preoperational Stage o Ages 2 7 o Sensorimotor activity leads to internal images of experience which children then label with words o Major Accomplishment Symbolic Representations recognizing that a letter or scribble means something Symbolic Representation seen in o Language Symbols that stand for something More dramatic vocabulary growth Combine words into original sentences Pretend Play Physical representations o Ex using blocks to make a building Role playing o Ex dressing up to be a spy kid Deferred Imitation Gains in Mental Representation Development of Make Believe Play o With age make believe gradually becomes More detached from real life conditions more elaborate More complex during sociodramatic play Less self centered o Benefits of Make Believe Play During social pretend play interactions last longer with other children show more involvement and draw more children into the activity in a more cooperative manner Many studies show that make believe strengthens a variety of mental abilities including sustained attention grows because of brain growth frontal cortex memory logical reasoning and creativity Leads to advances in Language Literacy Imagination Creativity Taking another person s perspective Ability to reflect on own thinking Advances in control of one s own actions self control enhanced o Enhancing Make Believe Play in Early Childhood Provide sufficient space and play materials Supervise and encourage children s play without controlling it Offer a variety of both realistic materials and materials without clear functions Enhances and encourages activity Ensure that children have many rich real world experiences to inspire positive fantasy play Ex going to the zoo aquarium recycling center clip Help children solve social conflicts constructively No winner or loser Gains in mental representation Dual Representation o Viewing a symbolic object as both an object and a symbol Ex dollhouse o Mastered around age 3 o Adult teaching can help Provide lots of maps photos drawings make believe play things etc Point out similarities to the real world Limitations of Pre Operational Thought o Egocentrism o Animistic Thinking Failure to distinguish others views from one s own Ex three mountain task Belief that inanimate objects have lifelike qualities such as thoughts and wishes Especially true if something moves Magical thinking is common during preschool years Think that wishes have power o Piaget s Conservation Tasks According to Piaget children at about age 7 enter the concrete operational stage of thought They are able to reason logically about the things and events they perceive Piaget believed that children s initial ability to reason logically is reflected in their understanding of conservation the idea that changes in the appearance of an object or substance do not change its key properties such as quantity o Piagetian Class Inclusion Problem Piaget distinct stages Now series of overlapping waves Young kids know more than he suggested o Egocentric Animistic and Magical Thinking Egocentrism Can adjust language to others and take other s perspectives in simple situations Animistic Thinking comes from incomplete knowledge of objects They know rocks don t have feelings If it moves now that s trickier Appearance vs reality Appearances don t always deceive them e g orange milk Make believe play helps children tell the difference
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