Milestones

Professionals look at points at which a child masters a skill that is linked to their age - development milestones e.g. running at 18 months.

at 18 months - gross motor skills should be well developed - able to walk without using objects to balance, 2 year olds to kick a balland walk up + down the stairs.

fine motor skills - drawing, painting e.g. at 2 years old, toddlers will have good hand-eye coordinating.

• involves the growth of baby tissues
• bones, muscles, organ systems become bigger to erform more complex actions

fine motor skills - smaller muscles

gross motor skills - larger muscles

Fine Motor

• can build a lego tower with 10+ blocks
• fasten and undo buttons
• colour in pictures but not in lines

Gross Motor

• can walk or run upstairs
• pedals and controls a tricycle carefully
• can throw, catch, bounce, kick and use a ball
• can balence on one foot and can hop

• learning depends on brain growth and stimulation of the brain and central nervous system by the five senses.
• brain growth during the earliest years of life is critical to cognitive development

How do children learn?

experimenting, trial and error, copying, exploring, repeating, looking, role-play, playing, listening, questioning, experiencing, talking

• use symbols in play
• believe toys share there thoughts
• beginning to learn concepts
• can count to three/five/ten
• uses tenses correctly - yesterday, tomorrow, today
• asks questions about everything

emotional development is the process of developing positive feelings about oneself, family, friends and the world.

every child is born with a temperament (sensitive, placid, passive agressive)

children need to develop a full range of feelings and learn to handle the feelings appropriately

• uses pretend play to gain control
• can watch a disney movie and relate to the character
• positive self-esteem
• complies with requests from parent/guardian
• can work alone for 20 minuites
• keeps focused on tasks
• shows ability to reflect on their actions

social development pregresses from being completely self-centred and dependent as an infant to becomming an independent adult

mature social skills include being able to make and keep friends, get along with others and work as a team

social development depends a lot on the relationship that is formed with the child's primary care providers.

• can play a game with rules
• shows attachment to friend/family
• understands sharing
• explains rules
• does not get aggressive
• apologies for their actions
• listens while others are speaking
• can say "please" and "thank you" with others