Preschool education and your child

Depending on your perspective a preschooler can be defined in several different ways.  Here are some ways that will help you relate better with your child. Your preschooler is full of activity. They actively explore the world around them. They are also more confident about using their bodies. They run, jump, climb and perform other motor activities at a smooth speed. Fine motor skills like cutting, drawing, and painting are also develop but are not as good as a 5-7 year old. Preschoolers can be described as little explorers in terms of their cognitive development. At this stage they are trying to understand how the world operates and functions. They play the roles of Mom and dad to understand gender differences.  They can remember day to day events, they can learn from events that have happened yesterday apply to today and even begin to understand the events of the next day. They are unable to separate fantasy from reality and live in a fairy tale world. Attention span of a toddler is 8 to 15 minutes on a good day.

Kids of the preschool age are learning to understand how to interact with their peers. At the age of 3 and four children engage in what is called parallel play. Parallel play consists of children playing with the same toys but not with each other. Children learn to play co-operatively as well as separately. When children reach the age of 5 to 6 they begin to play together. At this age they are also developing their gender identity and they begin becoming curious about sexual differences. As they develop friendships they make best friends.

At this age children play different roles and they become different personalities from mom and dad to the garbage man to the policeman.  The aim behind this type of play is to understand the role of adults in their lives. Children want to please adults they frequently want approval from their primary care givers like their parents. They like to be observed and seek full attention from their parents. They become afraid when separated from parents or care givers, but are easily consoled and adjust to new environment fast. Language development is associated with cognitive development and is a major part of childhood development. From a developmental perspective a three year old child can use complete sentences and constantly asks questions. They are capable of using almost 900 words and are capable of communicating their basic needs like they are hungry or their foot hurts. Four year old children develop further they are capable of using complete and compound sentences. They like to sing, tell tales, boast and will often exaggerate and call other children names.  Five year old children develop a vocabulary of over 2000 words and love to tell and listen to stories. They can focus on events for longer periods of time and often ask questions. In addition to the above 3-5 year olds can only understand clear commands and have difficulty in understanding multi-step directives.