Developmental Stages
There are three different stages of development for all ages of children. Social / Emotional Development, that is involving the development of feeling and affection. Cognitive Development is the development of the mind and memory. Finally Physical Development, the growth of your body and strength.
Preschoolers average abilities
At the age of four the practice of vocabulary and grammar starts to become very important. For four and five year olds the average vocabulary span is between 1500 and 2000 words. In this age group, education wise, curriculum should focus on past tenses and pronouns of words. One word concept that becomes very confusing to the preschool age students is Literal Statements. Literal Statements are those phrases that explain something but not realistically. An example is “When pigs fly”; if you say this preschooler would picture a pig actually flying.
Mathematic skills are also coming into effect a lot at this age. Preschoolers begin to recognize numbers better and understand the concept of numbers and what they’re used for. Rote Counting is very popular in a curriculum for this age. Rote Counting is being able to recite numbers in their proper order.
For the physical development of preschoolers their curriculum should include more challenging activities. They like to do more things on their own. They love to help with anything they can, and have responsibility. At this age their coordination has improved a lot and body proportions have changed. Simple hygiene is also able to be their responsibility.
