Children Age 3 Through 5: The Preschool Years (page 3)

Four-Year-Olds

Mary is an active and confident 4-year-old. Having mastered the basics of movement, she is constantly testing her physical limits to improve upon her skills. Mary climbs higher, runs faster, and pumps vigorously on the swing to challenge her motor skills.

Mary’s language has now matured to the point that she can communicate with others using fairly sophisticated words and sentences. Language becomes a plaything for Mary, and she loves rhyming and nonsense words. Bathroom talk, tall tales, and swearing are also parts of her experimentation with language.

Highly interested in how things work, Mary is constantly asking questions that challenge the adults who work with her. Her interest in the concepts of life and death lead her to explore the world of insects and small animals. Mary will often name her artwork and begins to draw and paint objects that represent things and people in the world. Number concepts are beginning to develop, and Mary enjoys games and songs that incorporate them. Mary understands time as a sequence of events and appreciates a consistent routine to her day.

Mary’s friendships are becoming stronger, and she has clear preferences for playmates. These special friends change regularly, however. Play has now become a truly social activity during most times with others. Occasionally, however, Mary still likes to go off by herself for some quiet time. Turn taking and sharing are becoming easier for Mary because she is beginning to recognize the value of cooperation. However, her growing skills and confidence often lead Mary into confrontations with others. She wants to be the leader and is bossy and assertive in her relationships with peers.

Five-Year-Olds

Abdul has calmed down a bit from a few short months ago. He is now much more interested in fine motor activities and spends considerable time building with Legos, cutting paper, making artwork, and engaging in beginning writing activities. Abdul’s interest in swinging, climbing, and running is still strong, and he engages in these activities in a fluid, coordinated, confident manner. He also has fun throwing and catching from short distances.

Abdul’s language use is now fully developed, with a vocabulary of several thousand words. He can construct complex sentences and accurately use grammatical forms in communicating. Abdul eagerly learns new words that give him labels for the increasingly widening world he is exploring. Socially, Abdul has solidified his friendships at school and in the neighborhood. Although he will play with others, his strong preference is to be with his special friends. Cooperative play themes, in which children take on roles, is a common component of Abdul’s activity. He is aware of rules and begins to enjoy simple games.

Abdul’s conceptual knowledge is expanding rapidly. His understanding of numbers has improved, and he can now accurately count 10 objects and count by rote to 20. Abdul can sort objects by either color or shape. He knows the purpose for a calendar and can tell time by the hour. Abdul also understands the concepts of tomorrow and yesterday.