Child development during the age (from 1 to 3 years)
Children’s brains continue to develop at an astonishing rate; with at least one million new neural connections every second. Children at this age observe the people around them and listen to them constantly, even when you think they are not listening, in this way, they learn new words and behaviors and they learn what is “good” or “bad.”
Children learn and develop their language skills through repeating the same activities (cause and effect) and using creative play to understand what is happening around them and to ask questions. Children continue to primarily focus on their parents, mothers, and close adults.
Developmental progression field:
Physical-Motor Development
Important developmental milestones:
- Start with sitting, walking, then running.
- Kick the ball.
- Climbing the stairs and descending them.
- Putting on and taking off clothes.
How can parents benefit from games to promote developmental growth?
- Encouraging children to explore objects of different sizes and colors and try to reach and hold them.
- Encouraging the child to jump, kick, step, and run on chalk, ropes, music, or bowls
- Children’s hand and finger strength can be improved by playing with safe playdough and transferring safe small items from one container to another (Make sure to keep an eye on them for their safety).
Developmental progression field:
Cognitive development
Important developmental milestones:
- Repeating actions to achieve a specific result
- Exploring through different movements, such as shaking, tapping, and throwing. Beginning to recognize a certain number of colors and shapes.
How can parents benefit from games to promote developmental growth?
Children’s brains are stimulated by playing hide-and-seek, hiding objects for them to find, and trying to figure out what you’ve hidden away.
Developmental progression field:
Linguistic evolution
Important developmental milestones:
- Start speaking using single words only at the beginning, then using complete sentences.
- Start answering questions through gestures at the beginning, then using words and complete sentences.
How can parents benefit from games to promote developmental growth?
- A child can explore different sounds and rhythms when his/her favorite songs are played while he/she is playing. You can also sing, dance, and clap with your child.
- Describe what you do when you take care of your child like when bathing, eating, using the bathroom…etc.
- Reading stories (you can turn pages and describe the pictures with more details like what people are doing in the picture or what is happening with them.
Developmental progression field:
Social/emotional development
Important developmental milestones:
- Having the desire to do things on their own.
- Expressing what he/she likes or dislikes clearly.
- Showing fear in certain situations.
- Imitating behaviors (both good and bad – remember to praise the good behaviors).
- Beginning to express concern for others.
How can parents benefit from games to promote developmental growth?
- Telling stories using pictures of your family members, familiar people, or animals, or making cloth dolls; will help your child to start expressing what he/she likes or dislikes and improve his/her language by exchanging roles with parents and asking “Where is something?..etc”
- Finding ways to talk about feelings, like saying: “We will have a great time doing this…” or “Ahmed seems sad because he lost his ball.”
Child development during the age stage (from 4 to 6 years)
Children start exploring their surroundings at this age as they start moving freely, use language to express complex ideas, and become more aware of their environment. The brain continues to grow and the child develops more advanced behaviors (engages in more complex mental operations).
Children at this age become more interested in words and numbers, and their language becomes more complex (they use more words, longer sentences, and new vocabulary). This period is an important time to prepare the child for joining kindergarten or school.
Developmental progression field:
Physical-motor development
Important developmental milestones:
- Jumping and leaping for a longer distance.
- Swinging and climbing.
- Use the toilet alone.
How can parents benefit from games to promote developmental growth?
- Giving children an opportunity to practice balance and swinging in parks or on trees (Make sure to keep an eye on them for their safety)
- Sports are a good way to have fun, learn, and apply the rules of play.
- Playdough helps develop your child’s fine motor skills (strengthening hands and fingers to prepare for writing).
Developmental progression field:
Cognitive development
Important developmental milestones:
- Learning more numbers, colors, and time.
- Beginning to understand rule-based games like simple card games.
- Starting to understand how to handle money and the basics of family rules.
How can parents benefit from games to promote developmental growth?
- Introduce kids to games like ‘’The Snake and the Ladder’.
- Simple jigsaw puzzles and matching pairs card games help to strengthen the child’s memory and concentration.
- A role-playing game (imaginative play) provides children with the opportunity to develop their arithmetic skills, money and time management, and other skills like the restaurant, the supermarket, or the doctor games….et
Developmental progression field:
Linguistic evolution
Important developmental milestones:
- Increase the number of vocabulary words that a child uses
- Correct use of verbs
How can parents benefit from games to promote developmental growth?
- Playing word games like story invention games, jokes, or riddles can help build vocabulary skills for the children.
- Reading stories.
Developmental progression field:
Social/emotional development
Important developmental milestones:
- Enjoying new activities.
- Cooperative play with friends. Starting to invent more creative games and stories.
- Beginning to understand the difference between reality and pretend.
- Expressing likes and dislikes, which sometimes includes being stubborn.
How can parents benefit from games to promote developmental growth?
- Encourage your child to choose a role-playing game, let him/her be the leader, and follow his/her lead.
- Provide your child with old milk cartons, wooden spoons, empty plant pots, sticks, cardboard boxes, plastic containers, small pots, and old clothes as they are great additions to imaginative play.
- Give your child different choices instead of commands.
Child development during the age stage (from 7-9 years)
A lot of learning happens at school, but learning and development also continue strongly at home, Children begin to take more responsibility for their learning process. But they still need to:
Your encouragement.
Your guidance.
Your permission to explore more freely.
Children at this age may become more aware and sensitive towards people and the world around them, they might feel embarrassed or shy more often, and they may compare themselves to other children. They become more independent and confident in expressing their opinions.
Children at this age start to develop a sense of right and wrong, they look to their parents or their close trusted adults for guidance on how to respond to different situations. Children become more aware of things they see or hear on the news and in adult discussions, such as wars, which can make them feel anxious and scared.
Developmental progression field:
Physical-motor development
Important developmental milestones:
Continuing the development of physical capacity and agility.
How can parents benefit from games to promote developmental growth?
- Providing opportunities where children can practice balancing and swinging such as parks or trees (with supervision to ensure their safety).
- Sports are a good way to have fun, learn, and apply the rules of play (children can also be involved in sporting activities provided by clubs or community centers).
- Attempting to create a homemade obstacle course that gets the child moving in different ways, directions, and speeds.
Developmental progression field:
Cognitive development
Important developmental milestones:
The rapid development of cognitive skills.
How can parents benefit from games to promote developmental growth?
- Introducing the child to simple games like the object-animal-plant game.
- Simple meal preparation tasks like measuring ingredients, stirring, or serving food are great ways to develop mathematical abilities and daily skills.
Developmental progression field:
linguistic evolution
Important developmental milestones:
- Learn better ways to describe experiences and talk about ideas and emotions.
- An eight-year-old child on average learns about 20 new words every day!
How can parents benefit from games to promote developmental growth?
- Reading stories.
- Reading food recipes and trying to apply them with the help of an adult.
- Writing personal diaries, stories, and short plays.
Developmental progression field:
Social/Emotional development
Important developmental milestones:
- Show more independence from parents and family.
- Start thinking about the future.
- Desire to feel loved and accepted by friends
- Understand more about his place in the world.
- Pay more attention to friendships and teamwork.
How can parents benefit from games to promote developmental growth?
- Doing daily routine tasks in more fun ways like splashing water while doing the dishes or playing a treasure hunt game while shopping.
- Helping the child and his/her friends perform a song or a simple play in front of his/her family or friends.
- Speaking about what happens around him and helping the child to think in/about what’s right and what’s wrong ( Classical and religious stories usually contain inspiring moral lessons and messages)