Chapter 6

Understanding Two- and Three-Year-Olds

Gross-Motor Development

Improved coordination and body control

More control in leg and foot muscles

Fine-Motor Development

Finger dexterity and control

Hand preference Build with blocks

Self-Help Skills

Two-year-olds can undress themselves dress themselves drink from a cup without help eat with a spoon begin toilet learning

Cognitive Development of Two-Year-Olds

The two-year-old’s cognitive development focuses on three main areas: language comprehension skills expressive language skills math readiness skills

Language Comprehension Skills

Language comprehension: a person’s understanding of language Follow directions Give answers to where questions Appreciate the difference between soft and

heavy Understand words such as big and tall Start to understand words related to space

Expressive Language Skills

Expressive language: the ability to produce language forms Speech involving simple sentences

There are two language strategies that are important when you work with two-year-olds. Feeding-in: you provide the child’s language Expansion: you expand the child’s language

Math Readiness Skills

Math skills are developed as children interact with others and with objects. Size concepts

Big Small

Forms and colors Sort objects by shape

and color

Social-Emotional Development of Two-Year-

Olds Social development

Play next to each other, but not cooperatively Tend to be negative Can be very physical in their responses Are usually affectionate

Emotional development Like to control their surroundings Are afraid of being hurt Show love and caring

Teaching Two-Year-Olds

Working with two-year-olds requires gentle and firm guidance flexibility and patience noise control from time to time adequate supervision a dramatic play corner some routine in their day

PART 2

THREE YEAR OLDS

Gross-Motor Development

As a result of better coordination, three-year-olds are able to throw, jump, and hop catch large balls ride and steer tricycles walk heel-to-toe for four steps balance on one foot for up to eight seconds hop on one foot up to three times

Fine-Motor Development

The fine-motor skills of three-year-olds include using scissors to cut

paper reproducing simple

shapes manipulating blocks

and puzzles

Self-Help Skills

Three-year-olds become increasingly self-sufficient. They turn the water faucet on and off become better at dressing themselves are able to use knives during mealtime have almost full control over toilet routines

Cognitive Development of Three-Year-Olds

By the third birthday, the ability to think matures, improving language comprehension skills expressive language skills math readiness skills

Language Comprehension Skills

Understanding of language continues to grow in three-year-olds. They begin to understand the pronouns you and

they. Space concepts become clearer.

Toward Up Top Next

Expressive Language Skills

Children’s ability to produce language continues to increase. May use more than 900 words Improve grammar Understand the difference between past and

present tense Understand possesive nouns Start to use question words Talk out loud to themselves

Math Readiness Skills

Three-year-olds continue to learn concepts basic to math. Start to understand the following concepts:

full less smaller empty

Begin to develop counting skills Distinguish between one and many

Brainstorm

Name some activities you can use with three-year-olds that might contribute to the development of their counting skills.

Social-Emotional Development of Three-

Year-Olds After the third birthday, children start to learn

socially acceptable ways of expressing their feelings. Social development Emotional development

Social Development

Social development during this age involves using new ways to show concerns for others applying positive ways to get attention adjusting to new people more easily playing with, rather than next to, other children recognizing gender roles (behaviors that are

expected of girls or boys)

Emotional Development

Emotional development involves strong visible emotions less frustration less likelihood to become angry when things do

not go their way development of self-concept

Self-concept: the way you see yourself

Teaching Three-Year-Olds

When teaching three-year-olds, you have to consider that they are happy, sociable, agreeable enjoy playing in groups of two or three like pretending are becoming increasingly independent