Developmental Profile of 4 Year Old Children by Nhi Nguyen

Sense of humor

nhi_nguyen1216 — 2015-10-15 18:11:57 UTC

A four year old child is starting to develop a sense of humor and will start laughing or giggling at situations they believe to be funny.

Children at this age also like to tell silly jokes.

At this age...

nhi_nguyen1216 — 2015-10-15 18:18:29 UTC

Four year olds are developing friendships and are learning how to be a part of a large group. They are becoming more aware of others in the group and practice waiting their turn.

Physical Development

jacobsja1 — 2015-10-15 22:13:25 UTC

-Greater Attention Span-

bloomk — 2015-10-15 22:31:03 UTC

Children typically have an attention span of about 3-5 years per year of the child's age.

-2-3 Part Directions-

bloomk — 2015-10-15 22:34:16 UTC

Children are usually able to follow 2-3 part directions.

SOCIAL/EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

nhi_nguyen1216 — 2015-10-17 03:54:54 UTC

nhi_nguyen1216 — 2015-10-17 03:55:30 UTC

This video provides a basic overview of a four year old child's social/emotional development and why play is so important for children at this age.

THEY LOVE THEIR FRIENDS!

nhi_nguyen1216 — 2015-10-17 03:57:26 UTC

A four year old child is starting to form friendships with peers and will start to show attachment to a certain friend. Some four year olds may also start having imaginary friends.

Words VS. Actions

nhi_nguyen1216 — 2015-10-17 04:10:18 UTC

At the age of four a child will start to express their feelings, needs and wants verbally rather than physically. However, temper tantrums will still occur if the child is too stressed out.

They are becoming more independent and will want to do more for themselves.

nhi_nguyen1216 — 2015-10-17 05:10:53 UTC

For example, at the school Nhi Nguyen is currently observing, she was outside during recess with the class. She saw a four year old boy attempt to get into a little tikes' cop car. He seemed to be having trouble getting in all the way but when Nhi walked up to him to ask if he needed help, he immediately put his hand out and said "Stop! me do it!" in a very loud and clear voice. Nhi then backed away to let the child get himself into the car and after a few more seconds of struggling, he successfully got in.

nhi_nguyen1216 — 2015-10-17 05:28:01 UTC

A four year old child is beginning to participate in more dramatic play scenarios. These dramatic play scenarios will reflect something they have seen or experienced.

nhi_nguyen1216 — 2015-10-18 04:03:11 UTC

Empathy

nhi_nguyen1216 — 2015-10-19 03:19:45 UTC

Children at this age is starting to develop a sense of empathy for others. When they see a friend who is hurt or sad they may try to offer them support.

COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

nhi_nguyen1216 — 2015-10-19 03:28:34 UTC

To support their growing independence, adults should give them 2-3 choices regarding what they want to eat, wear or do.

nhi_nguyen1216 — 2015-10-19 03:34:42 UTC

nhi_nguyen1216 — 2015-10-19 03:47:53 UTC

Mrs. Kilmer's 4 Year Old Classroom

nhi_nguyen1216 — 2015-10-19 03:52:44 UTC

-----------------------------------------There is a lot of different play scenarios going on in this classroom. There were kids playing in the "construction" area, others were buying ice cream and the main dramatic play scenario that occurred was with the little girl, Elizabeth. Elizabeth was taking care of a baby and her friend Jake, was there playing with her. When she wanted the baby bed, he tried to help her but the teacher ended up getting the baby bed.

nhi_nguyen1216 — 2015-10-19 03:56:28 UTC

Mildred Parten (Stages of Play):

nhi_nguyen1216 — 2015-10-19 04:00:23 UTC

By now, a child has acquired the skills to interact with others. Their speaking and listening skills have improved and so they can communicate with each other. Therefore, parallel and/or associative play occurs less often and cooperative play will be more common between four year old children.

bloomk — 2015-10-20 21:42:42 UTC

bloomk — 2015-10-20 21:54:07 UTC

bloomk — 2015-10-20 22:02:06 UTC

Fantasy Vs. Reality

bloomk — 2015-10-20 22:15:30 UTC

At this age, children know the difference between fantasy and reality, but they still enjoy playing "pretend," which becomes increasingly inventive. They may also blur fantasy and reality when they are stressed or have extreme emotions.

jacobsja1 — 2015-10-22 05:09:22 UTC

jacobsja1 — 2015-10-22 05:10:13 UTC

jacobsja1 — 2015-10-22 05:12:44 UTC

jacobsja1 — 2015-10-22 05:17:00 UTC

jacobsja1 — 2015-10-22 05:23:16 UTC

Erik Erikson --

nhi_nguyen1216 — 2015-10-22 06:02:20 UTC

According to Erikson's (8) psychosocial stages, four year old children are in the third stage which is Initiative VS. Guilt. This means that a four year old child will begin wanting to have more control over his/her environment. It is important that they are allowed to make these decisions about what type of activity they want to do or who they want to play with (it will most likely be with their best friend).

Four year old children --

nhi_nguyen1216 — 2015-10-22 06:10:31 UTC

- are beginning to talk about what they like and what they are interested in.

- gains an awareness of how their actions can affect others.

- will start to become a little more demanding and bossy.

- transitions between one activity to the next with little fuss.

Theories --

nhi_nguyen1216 — 2015-10-22 06:13:29 UTC

Jean Piaget (Constructivism)

nhi_nguyen1216 — 2015-10-22 06:22:57 UTC

At this age, children love to play with others and it is important that adults in their life continue to provide them with these opportunities to go out and make friends. Piaget believes that children create and construct their own understandings of how the world works through their interactions with others.

nhi_nguyen1216 — 2015-10-22 06:46:16 UTC

nhi_nguyen1216 — 2015-10-22 06:49:21 UTC

nhi_nguyen1216 — 2015-10-22 07:10:27 UTC

Four year old children are able to copy square shapes, draw a person with up to four body parts, stack up to 10 blocks, cut in a (somewhat) straight line and they should be able to use utensils with ease.

Balancing Act: Children are able to hop and stand on one foot up to five seconds. They can also bend over without falling and walk upstairs and downstairs without losing their balance. Attempting to ride a bike (without help) is not too far off from feasible.

nhi_nguyen1216 — 2015-10-22 07:13:32 UTC

Large Motor Skills

nhi_nguyen1216 — 2015-10-22 07:15:35 UTC

Children can kick a ball, throw overhand, and catch a bounced ball the majority of the time. They can also move forward and backward with agility and test the abilities of their legs by jumping up to try touching something out of reach.

Vision:

nhi_nguyen1216 — 2015-10-22 07:18:44 UTC

20/20 eyesight! This helps them learn their motor skills by developing a sense of hand eye coordination.

A four year old child will gain around a quarter of an ounce each day and should weigh around 40 lbs. They should also be about 40 inches tall.

nhi_nguyen1216 — 2015-10-22 07:19:43 UTC

They will still need a decent amount of sleep (around 11-13 hours per night) to keep growing because they will grow to a height that is double their original birth length! Downside though, they may still have some bed wetting incidents.

nhi_nguyen1216 — 2015-10-22 07:20:33 UTC

Physical Growth --

nhi_nguyen1216 — 2015-10-22 07:21:29 UTC

Fine Motor Skills --

nhi_nguyen1216 — 2015-10-22 07:24:41 UTC

4 year old children enjoy reading and they are starting to recognize familiar words from certain book.

nhi_nguyen1216 — 2015-10-22 07:30:16 UTC

Gender Identity

nhi_nguyen1216 — 2015-10-22 07:32:33 UTC

4 year olds are more aware of their own gender, and are able to identify the gender of others. The gender constancy theory is described as the understanding of the permanence of gender, and occurs around this age.

Counting

nhi_nguyen1216 — 2015-10-22 07:33:58 UTC

At this age, children can understand the concept of counting and may know some numbers. Many of them can also start to skip-count with certain numbers.

They can also start to play sports if you help them learn the basic skills!

nhi_nguyen1216 — 2015-10-22 07:41:27 UTC

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nhi_nguyen1216 — 2015-10-22 07:43:37 UTC

Understanding of Time

nhi_nguyen1216 — 2015-10-22 07:58:08 UTC

Despite the fact that they have a better understanding of time and the order of their daily activities it would still be helpful to have a daily schedule that the child can easily see. They have not yet developed effective strategies to recall information over long periods of time.

nhi_nguyen1216 — 2015-10-22 08:07:14 UTC

nhi_nguyen1216 — 2015-10-22 08:15:28 UTC

bloomk — 2015-10-22 15:21:01 UTC

Differences and Similarities

bloomk — 2015-10-22 15:29:09 UTC

Children at this age are better at understanding the difference between things that are the same and things that are different.

Language--

bloomk — 2015-10-22 15:34:59 UTC

Complexity

bloomk — 2015-10-22 15:37:07 UTC

4 years old are using more complex sentences, usually consisting of 5 to 6 words.

Clarity

bloomk — 2015-10-22 15:39:45 UTC

Children are speaking clearer enough for strangers to understand them.

Jean Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development

bloomk — 2015-10-22 15:48:05 UTC

Piaget believed that cognitive development, as a progressive sort of reorganization of mental processes, resulted from biological maturation and environmental experience. Children at age 4 are still within his second stage called Preoperational. In this stage, children use symbols, words and images, to represent objects. They can also play pretend, and are largely egocentric.

Stories

bloomk — 2015-10-22 16:05:46 UTC

Children love to tell stories. As they develope their imagination, their stories become a mix of fantasy and reality. It allows them to express themselves, and explore different personas and feelings. It also enhances language skills.

-Name-

bloomk — 2015-10-22 16:16:11 UTC

4 year olds can recognize, if not write, their first and last name.

Songs

bloomk — 2015-10-22 16:25:05 UTC

At this age, children love singing songs such as "Itsy, Bitsy Spider" from memory.

Colors and Shapes

nhi_nguyen1216 — 2015-10-22 17:03:39 UTC

Children can name at least four colors and three shapes.

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nhi_nguyen1216 — 2015-10-22 17:13:14 UTC

Theory --

nhi_nguyen1216 — 2015-10-22 17:39:15 UTC

nhi_nguyen1216 — 2015-10-22 18:15:08 UTC

While four year old children have developed a better sense of control regarding their large motor and fine motor skills they still need opportunities to continue practicing these skills. This video provides some different methods in how to further support a child's large motor development.

nhi_nguyen1216 — 2015-10-22 18:32:54 UTC

nhi_nguyen1216 — 2015-10-22 18:53:35 UTC