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Development Milestones Article:

Skills such as taking a first step, smiling for the first time, and waving "bye bye" are called developmental milestones. Children reach milestones in how they play, learn, speak, behave, and move (crawling, walking, etc.). (Click on Development Milestones to access full article)

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10 for 10: Ten Activities to Occupy Toddlers
By Shauna Smith Duty 

Toddlers are busy little people, working hard to explore their new world and learn everything they can. They move from one challenge to another in a matter of minutes and require a great deal of chasing, engaging, cleaning up after, and redirection.

 

These ten creative activities will keep toddlers occupied for at least ten minutes at a time, and they are great for encouraging both an increase in their attention span and developing motor skills.

  1. Sorting Machine. Most toddlers love to sort things. For a toddler who enjoys organizing, provide a few handfuls of multi-colored, O-shaped cereal and a muffin pan. With a little direction, she’ll sort the cereal by color into the muffin pan cups and enjoy a healthy snack. For a non-edible activity, use blocks or colored manipulatives.
  2. Future Picasso. A bowl of soft, chopped fruit with a little cream cheese and graham crackers is great for an entertaining, edible art project. First, spread the cream cheese on the graham cracker. Then have the toddler press fruit chunks into the cream cheese to create a nutritious work of art. You may just inspire the  world’s next Picasso.
  3. Toy Rotation. A bin filled with toys can be stashed away for  months in a closet or cupboard. When the forgotten toys are reintroduced, toddlers feel they have rediscovered them. 
  4. Shake It Up. Place toys or treats inside clear containers with the lids attached. Children love to shake and rattle things, and when a toddler realizes a treat is inside, the activity will be even more appealing. 
  5. Water Colors. Add a drop of blue food coloring to a shallow wading pool or sand and water table. Toss in some sea creature toys. For a change of theme,  use green food coloring and jungle creature toys. It makes a great outdoor activity on warm days. Remember to closely supervise any waterplay.
  6. Paper Play.  Consider allowing toddlers to wrap themselves in toilet paper and pretend they are snowmen, or to decorate the room with toilet paper streamers. You may want to use the game as a potty training introduction or celebration of a potty success.
  7. Lid-Le Ideas. Try presenting toddlers with a tub of plastic containers and their detached lids. Children can find and affix the matching lids to each container. Cleaned and dried plastic bottles like those used for condiments (ketchup and mustard), and grated cheese have distinctive lids that are easily identified and attached.
  8. Roughin’ It. Turn over a table or gather chairs into a circle in the center of the room, then drape blankets over them to construct tents. Flashlights and a non-sticky snack can create a fun environment while you read a story or sing songs.
  9. Obstacle Course. Use nap mats on their sides, propped against chairs or tables, to form walls for a maze. Pillows can be hopped over, crawled on, or used as steppingstones in an obstacle course. Play Follow the Leader in the obstacle course, changing the leader each time you reach the beginning. Encourage the children to vocalize - can they travel as kittens, as cows, as racecars?
  10. Footsteps. Place a small amount of washable paint on a pie tin or sturdy paper plate. Encourage the toddler to step into the paint with her bare foot, or feet, and walk across banner paper. She can even have a different color for each foot. This activity can be confined to a wading pool or tarp to ensure easier clean-up.

Conclusion

With all their energy, providing constant stimulation for toddlers can be difficult. These inexpensive and easy ideas will afford early childhood educators a few minutes of downtime while encouraging children to use their minds and their bodies to explore, play, and learn in their new world.

 

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Shauna Smith Duty is a freelance writer and homeschooling mother of two in Roanoke, Texas. She writes activities, crafts and parenting articles for websites, magazines, and newsletters. Visit www.shaunasmithduty.com to find out about her latest projects.



-Article found on Early Childhood News website

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EARLY CHILDHOOD & CHILD DEVELOPMENT FOR PARENTS

Feb 2, 2010 | By David Kingsbury

It's difficult to describe the feeling a new parent experiences when he first looks down at the newborn in his arms, amazed that this baby is a little piece of him. Still, most people can relate to the next feeling, the one of uncertainty and confusion that occurs when parents think, "What now?" Unfortunately, newborns don't come with owner's manuals or instructions on what to expect as they grow. Hopefully, this article will give new parents a glimpse into what the future holds as they watch their son or daughter mature into adolescence. So, buckle your seat belt because the trip there will happen much faster than you might think.



















PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

Physical development is the first form of maturation that parents detect, and it is the easiest to determine. Gross motor development refers to a child's ability to move and use the various parts of her body. Motor development occurs when the child rolls over, crawls, walks and interacts with her environment. Parents should examine their child's muscle tone, strength and range of movement to determine if they are developing properly. 
Fine motor development refers to precise and intricate movements as when a child uses his tongue to speak, his fingers to complete elaborate tasks or his muscle groups to cooperate and perform full-body motions like dancing. Concerning early milestones, a child should be able to sit unassisted at 8 months; pull up to a standing position at 10 months; walk, climb and use utensils at 2 years; and complete simple puzzles, kick balls and ride a tricycle at 3 years.

COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

Cognitive development is a bit more difficult to detect because it encompasses learning, memory, perception, language, problem solving and other mental processes. Jean Piaget, famed developmental psychologist, defines child cognitive development in four stages. In the sensorimotor stage (birth to 18 months), infants primarily interact with the world through actions such as touch, tactile exploration and facial expression. The preoperational stage (2 to 7 years) is a period when children begin to symbolize objects and personify items. Their thoughts are influenced by fantasy since they have difficulty conceptualizing time and seeing things from other people's viewpoints. 
The concrete stage (7 years to adolescence) introduces children to abstract thoughts and rational judgments. Children are better able to understand complex issues without the need for physical examples. Lastly, the formal operations stage (adolescence to adulthood) brings the child's mental development to fruition. Besides being able to use hypothetical and deductive reasoning, children are capable of assessing concepts from multiple perspectives.

PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

Psychosocial development addresses interpersonal maturation including the formation of peer and family relationships, motives, emotions, roles, identity and personality traits. Psychoanalyst Erik Erikson conceptualized the most comprehensive theory addressing this form of development. According to his theory, personality unfolds in a series of stages defined by resolving conflicts that arise from unmet needs. Although there are eight stages, only five will be discussed herein. 
The first stage (birth to 18 months) determines whether children will have a trusting or untrusting perception of others depending upon how well their caregivers meet their basic needs. The second stage (2 to 3 years) determines whether children will have a confident or insecure outlook depending upon how well they master essential life tasks. The third stage (3 to 5 years) determines whether children will feel purpose and take initiative or be frozen by guilt depending upon how well they learn to influence their environment. The fourth stage (6 to 11 years) determines whether children feel competent or inferior depending upon how successful they are at meeting social and academic demands. Finally, the fifth stage (12 to 18 years) determines whether children develop a sense of identity or experience role confusion depending upon how well they navigate social interactions.

NATURE VERSUS NURTURE

Each form of development is imbedded in the psychological debate known as "nature versus nurture." "Nature" refers to genetic and biological predispositions that relate directly to muscular, hormonal and brain development. Those who believe development is strictly the product of genetic or biological causes assume that child maturation is largely hereditary and physiological, meaning that parental actions have little to no influence over developmental outcomes. 
Conversely, "nurture" refers to change in response to environment, which encompasses learning, experiences and social interaction. Neither side of the debate can claim absolute accuracy. Otherwise, children reared in similar environments or with similar genetics would all achieve developmental milestones at similar times. This is simply not the case. Instead, it is more likely that nature and nurture contribute to development in the form of a delicate balance between environmental learning and inherited traits.

-Article found on the Live Strong Website

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