Children Go Through Multiple Stages of Development
All children go through developmental stages. As with physical characteristics such as height and weight, children have stages of social and cognitive development. This includes their interest in playing alone or with friends. It also includes how they learn or how talkative they are. For the most part, developmental stages are predictable. With each stage, children will go through predictable changes in how they relate to others and how they approach the world. That said, the rate at which each child goes through the developmental stage may differ.
Developmental Characteristics of 5 Year Olds
Five year old children enjoy life. They generally have a very happy outlook. They also tend to develop a more uncertain perspective as they develop.
SOCIAL
- Enjoy following rules and like to do things that show they are good kids
- As they develop, they start to test authority and show uncertainty about whether or not to be good and follow rules
- Do well with consistent rules and enforcement of the rules
- Respond well to clear and simple expectations
- Need empathetic discipline as they make mistakes learning and testing the limits
PHYSICAL
- Gaining better control of physical coordination
- Need lots of physical activity, including free play
- Pencil grip switches from a three-fingered grip to other grips
- Able to see close objects while focusing from left to right is difficult
- Have a hard time copying from a board or chart
- Readers will read a single word at a time
COGNITIVE
- See one way to do things and rarely see other viewpoints
- Imaginative toys and other objects are alive
- Very literal thinking
- Letters and numbers are often reversed
- Enjoy repeating the same activities
- Verbally announce actions before taking the action
- Learn best by exploring materials such as paints, nature, blocks, clay, sand
Credit: Tolmacho from Pixabay
