5-6 years

Child from 5 to 6 years

Child in this period has a good sense of balance and is becoming more coordinated. He or she should know to kick a ball, walk in a straight line, hop, skip, and march. The kid is learning to lace and tie shoes and button and zip clothing. They enjoy drawing, coloring, and participating in activities and games.
Recognizes letters, numbers, and some words. They like to pretend to read and write. Asks questions, make comments, and give answers that show increased understanding. Kids are good at problem-solving. She is curious and eager for facts. They start to distinguish truth from fantasy. It has a short but increasing attention span and it likes definite tasks. Children enjoy jokes and tricks, but cannot laugh at himself or herself. They adore stories, singing, poetry, and dramatizations.
The children are friendly and eager for pleasure and cooperation. They are beginning to prefer being in small groups of children but may prefer a best friend. May create less conflict in group play because they are beginning to understand rules. In games they often trie to change the role for his or her benefit.
A child of 5-6 years learning the difference between right and wrong. Sometimes tells untruths or blames others for his or her wrongdoings because of an intense desire to please adults and do what is right. Is ready to be taught spiritual principles.

 

Physical development (large and fine motor skills)

 

Typical physical development:

– A child of this age is perfecting the activities he has learned in the previous period: running more skilfully, jumping over obstacles, walking in a straight line, etc.
– Develops a sense of rhythm and can master simple choreographies.
– He hits the ball with his goal, catches the ball in the jump, with one hand.
– He knows he draws a man, a house, a tree – the drawing is recognizable.
– Cut and glue simple forms of collage paper.
– He knows that he also names the basic shapes (circle, square, triangle …).

Encourage children’s development:

– Provide your child with enough movement and physical activity to further improve and develop his motor skills.
– Encourage your child to dance, individually and in a group, to accompany and express body experiences with music movements.
– Buy, or make, your coloring books and different worksheets; get your child to sit, develop mindfulness and patience, practice using a pen and
the second accessory, solve tasks from worksheets (simpler and easier to design).
– Focus on preparing for school, developing graphomotor skills and empowering your child.

 

Speech development/communication

 

Typical physical development:

– The child uses full sentences to communicate something (four to six words in a row).
– Articulates all voices (possibly missing voice R, Lj, L).
– She knows clearly that she is telling/telling an event.
– Asks questions: “When?”, “Why?”, “How?”

Encourage children’s development:

– Use everyday situations, events, and activities to talk to your child.
– Through spontaneous conversation, encourage the child to recount the event they saw, the situation in which they participated.

Kids in the kindergarten
Kids in the kindergarten

Cognitive development

 

Typical physical development:

– He knows what’s his left and what’s his right hand.
– Understands and uses speech comparison: shorter, longer, heavier, easier …
– She sees similarities and differences.
– The beginnings of logical operations (classification, serialization, correspondence, and conservation) occur.

Encourage children’s development:

– Have your child solve tasks such as: find a way out of the maze, connect images with lines, form shapes by connecting dots, trace lines, copy shapes, letters, numbers, count, round, cross, underscore, identify opposites, color, compile event sequences, drawing on the subject…
– Practice batching, classifying, grouping, comparing through daily activities: pairing clothing pieces, classifying clothes by color, by weather…
– Have your child sort and make sets of fruits, vegetables, etc. in the kitchen.
– Encourage your child to compare objects in size, color, find differences and similarities in different situations; ask him, for example: What are apples and lemons similar to, and how different?
– Encourage different exploratory games and activities: Why is everything falling to the ground? How do bodies start and stop? How do waves come about?
– Encourage your child to do something on their own; praise him for his hard work, not just his successful task.

 

Socio-emotional development

 

Typical physical development:

– Develops the ability to cooperate for joint activities.
– Strengthens self-esteem.
– Able to recognize, differentiate and correctly name his or her feelings.
– Follows the rules of the game in the group (with peers).
– Selects a favorite friend.

Encourage children’s development:

– Encourage your child’s responsibility, independence, the fulfillment of expectations in different situations, awareness of oneself, his / her personalities, similarities and differences about others.
– Consistently praise hard work, desirable behaviors.

 

Self-help / self-care

 

Typical physical development:

– Completely self-uses the toilet (and wipes).
– Binds the boot (or tries).
– He sets himself a table, uses feeding accessories.

Encourage children’s development:

– Require greater independence in daily routines: toilet, feeding, dressing, removing, tidying up toys, organizing and maintaining the hygiene of space and personal belongings, toys.
– Teach your child to prepare a simple meal (at home), to lock and unlock the door (must know who to open when
home only), when and how to use your phone. Ask your child to go to the grocery store alone.

 

Source:
The importance of play, Dr David Whitebread
Play and Child Development, JOE L. FROST, SUE C. WORTHAM, STUART REIFEL
Learning through play, UNICEF-Lego Foundation University of Nebraska, Lincoln