Activities

How Children Grow & Develop

In the past twenty years, the number of children who spend part of each day in childcare has grown dramatically. As a childcare provider, you play an important role in the development of young children. Early childhood- the period of life from birth to age eight- is a time when children learn to do many things and when the foundations of many lifelong skills and behaviors are developed. Children are learning all the time. Every activity, every experience, every interaction teaches children something about themselves and about how the world works. Every minute that children spend with you is a learning minute – and you are the teacher. How can you make this time as special as possible?

We know that between birth and age eight, children grow and develop in several main areas. Children develop physically; they learn to support and move their bodies, to control crayons and scissors, to coordinate the movements of their eyes and hands, and to care for themselves. Children develop socially and emotionally; they learn to understand themselves and to have a positive self –concept, to control their own behavior and to get along with others. In the early childhood period, children develop the thinking skills; they learn to solve problems, communicate with words, and to discover new ideas and ways of thinking. And children develop creatively; they learn to use their imaginations and to communicate their original ideas in writing, artwork, and make-believe play.

How You Can Promote Child Development

As early childhood teacher, your goal is to help children develop and strengthen these areas. You can use many everyday opportunities to help children develop strong muscle, solve problems, and explore new materials. Providing good activities for children does not require buying expensive equipment or complicated materials. But it does require thoughtful planning and preparation. Think carefully about the children in your care. What are their ages? What skills and abilities do they have? What are their interests? The answers to these questions will help you select activities that will promote the children’s development.

As an early childhood teacher, you will want to provide children with many opportunities to experiment and try new things. Set up your play area so that children can move about freely and experiment and try new things. Set up your play area so that children can move about freely and safely. Encourage make- believe play by providing props, like dress- up clothes and pretend food. Let children get messy during play (sometimes parents need a little help understanding that getting messy is an important part of learning about the world). Allow children to work by themselves and at their own speed. Always respect a child’s effort, even if the result isn’t perfect. Challenge children with new ideas and ways of doing things. Plan your activities carefully; think through what you will need for an activity and make sure you have all the materials ready to go.

Choosing Good Activities for Children

There are many activity books available for you to use. However, not all of them contain good or appropriate activities for young children. It is sometimes hard to know if an activity is good or not. Here are some things to ask yourself to help you judge whether or not to use a particular activity:

• Is this activity a “hands-on” activity? Can the children do something with the materials?
• Can the children use their own imaginations, ideas, thoughts, and methods?
• Are there opportunities for the children to discover new information with the activity?
• Is the activity meaningful to the children? Does it relate to the children’s own experiences?
• Is the activity appropriate for the children’s ages, developmental levels, and interests?
• Is the activity directed by the child or by the adult? Who does most of the work, you or the child? (The activity should be directed by the child, and the child should do most of the work.)
• Can the child work on the activity for as long or short a period of time as the child wants?

Working with Mixed Age Groups

Remember, not all children will want to or be able to do every activity. Become comfortable with the fact that not every child has to “do” every activity. Infants and toddlers enjoy watching older children and learn from observing. Many providers worry about what to do with an infant or young toddler when they are helping preschoolers with a project. Infants and toddlers learn by observing, touching, smelling, hearing, and tasting. You might try to do an activity with preschoolers when younger children are taking a morning nap or you might place a low barrier around the area where older children are working, so that the younger children can watch, but not disrupt the activity. You might allow younger children to do part of an activity, by placing the child in a highchair and giving them some safe materials to touch, taste, or play with.

Focus on experience, rather than product related activities. Avoid craft activities that children complete by following a set of steps, however simple they may be. Young children cannot cut straight or glue pictures in the right spot. Eventually, you end up finishing the product for everyone, and the children experience a sense of failure because they could not finish the project successfully. Focus instead on doing something that allows children to use their own thoughts and ideas. For instance, try providing a paper sack to decorate with an assortment of crayons, stickers, markers, fabric scraps, and magazine pictures instead of making Halloween puppets.

Tips for Guiding Successful Activities

• Establish basic rules and limits for children, such as “Scissors are for cutting paper only.” Set clear and reasonable expectations and follow through on your expectations. Involve preschoolers and school age children in setting rules for using materials.
• Have any materials that children will need ready to go, so there is no waiting time.
• If you are showing children a new material or way of using a material, give short and specific directions. Check to see if children understand your directions and then let children try it on their own.
• Keep an eye on all on-going activity. When children begin to lose interest, it is time to change the activity.
• Select activities that follow children’s interests.
• Give advanced notice when changing activities, so children can finish what they are doing, “In five minutes, it will be time to clean up for lunch. You can set your collage on the counter here so that the glue can dry while we eat.”
• Provide a clean up system. “Remember, paper goes back in the paper box before you leave the art table.”
• Ask children to reflect on activities. “What did you think of using sponges for painting?”
• Focus on children’s effort, rather that the product.

Ready, Set, Have Fun

You are an important person in the lives of the children and you do many things to help children learn and grow. Children need well-chosen activities to help them develop successfully. By offering a variety of appropriate and interesting things for children to do, you provide many opportunities for children of all ages to develop physically, mentally, emotionally, and creatively. When children are busy learning, experimenting, and creating, they are well behaved and directed. Well-planned activities make your day go more smoothly and both you and the children are happier- busy learning and growing together. We hope that this booklet will give you many new ideas and perhaps remind you of some activities you enjoyed in the past. Have fun!

Links and Activities

Activities for School-Age Children
Learning Moments (PDF*) - A number of activities that will help children of all ages grow and develop. **
Cognitive Development (PDF*) - Contains a number of activities for children ages 0 to 5 years that help promote cognitive development.**

** Links will open in a new browser window

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