Large Motor

Large motor development refers to the movement and coordination of

large muscle groups such as the arms, legs, and torso. Large motor skills
are needed in everyday life to complete tasks such as walking, dancing,
riding bikes, climbing a ladder, painting a house, digging a hole, etc.
Another name for large motor development is gross motor development.
Preschool children require a schedule with plenty of opportunity for large
motor activity, as it eases tension and relaxes, as well as offering many
learning experiences.
Large Motor Skills/Objectives
Locomotion: walking, running, climbing, hopping, skipping, rolling, etc.
Balance: children practice balance as they stand on one foot, as they walk
along a beam or stepping stone, and as they stay upright on a balance
board, trampoline, or climbing structure.
Rhythm: as in dance, while swinging, or in repetitive movements.
Projectile Management: throwing and kicking objects such as balls, rings,
beanbags, etc
Rebound and Airborne: jumping techniques, such as jumping on mats,
trampolines, over hurdles, etc
Coordination: a general term for smooth, fluid, harmonious movements.
Eye-hand Coordination and Eye-foot Coordination: moving hands and feet
in harmony with each other as directed by and in
response to what the eyes see.
Strength Enhancement: building muscle strength to allow for greater
duration or power.

Fine Motor
Fine motor development may also be called small motor
development. It involves the use of small muscle groups
found in the fingers and hands. Fine motor skills are
necessary for self-help skills like buttoning and zipping,
building with manipulatives such as legos, painting and
writing. Activities like playdoh and manipulating sensory
materials and small toys builds strength and coordination
which support the ability to write, cut with scissors, and tie
shoes as children grow.

Fine Motor Skills/Objectives

Eye-hand Coordination: coordinating the sense of sight
with the sense of touch and movement of the hands
and fingers.
Finger and Hand Dexterity: skill, grace, and accuracy of
hands and fingers.
Palmar Grasp: grasping an object by placing palm on object
and picking it up with the whole hand. Young children
often use this grasp.
Pincer Grasp: Preschool children continue to grow in
strength and coordination as they grasp markers,
paintbrushes, and other utensils between the thumb and
index finger. This forms the foundation for holding a pencil
in an appropriate grip.
Finger and Hand Strength: developing strength within the

fingers and hands.

Social
Social development refers to maturing relationships with
others. Infants and toddlers primary relationship is with
the caregiver. Relationships with peers become more
important in the 2 to 5 year old age group. Social skills
influence childs ability to play and cooperate with another
individual as well as in a group setting. Language skill and
emotional development support growth in the social area.
Social Skills/Objectives
Parallel Play: playing next to others, but not with, often with
the same materials. May speak to each other and be
aware of others, but children do not share materials.
Associative Play: playing with other children, talking and
sharing materials.
Cooperative Play: playing with other children working
toward a common goal, often playing different but
complimentary roles to achieve a goal.
Sharing
Turn Taking

Conversation: responding to questions, asking questions,

and following up on what another child says.
Conflict Resolution and Negotiation: learning how to
peacefully negotiate a solution to social problems such
as through compromise, turn
taking etc
Entering a Group: learning various strategies for entering
an existing playgroup. This may include techniques
such as asking, What are you playing?, observing
until the rules of play are obvious, or offering a toy or
idea to support the play theme already in progress.
Empathy: being aware of anothers feeling and responding
to their needs.
Respect for Others: respecting others rights and ideas, and
exploring differences and similarities among people,
including race and gender.

Emotional Development
Emotional development refers to the maturation,
expression, and control of the affective/feeling part of the
human being. This portion of development is very
important and affects all other areas of development.
Emotional control and self identity are developed largely
through everyday activities including routines such as hand
washing, eating, brushing teeth, and interactions with
parents, peers, and teachers.
Emotional Skills/Objectives
Attachment: developing a healthy attachment to caregivers,
appropriate to age. Preschool children develop attachment
to extended family members and members of their peer
group as well.
Coping with Separation Anxiety: being able to separate from
the parent and/or caregiver in an age appropriate
way.
Coping with Fears: demonstrating age appropriate
responses to fears such as loud noises, storms,
monsters, dark, dogs, snakes, etc
Impulse Control: developing control over immediate
impulses.
Self Identity: developing a sense of who you are including
appearance, strengths, personality; seeing oneself as
separate from others and as an individual.
Independence: developing a sense of being able to do
things without the aid of parents or other adults. This
leads to pride and self-confidence.
Pride/Self-esteem: feeling pride in ones own work or self
thus increasing self-confidence.

Identification and Expression of Feelings: being able to

appropriately demonstrate in words or body language
what one is feeling. A
healthy, young child experiences a wide range of
feelings, both positive and negative
Belonging: feeling confident of ones value and place in a
group. This can relate to family or another social
group.
Nurturing/Care-taking: taking care of peers, pets, plants, or
make-believe creatures. Taking care might refer to
giving food, shelter, clothing, or
affection.

Creative
Creativity in our classroom may be in the form of play,
the arts, or unique thought process. Creativity can generally
be seen in all areas of the classroom including, art, dramatic
play, blocks, sensory, group time and even transition time.
The expression of creativity is dependent on other skills.
For instance creative expression through painting is
dependent on motor skills. Creative expression through
dramatic play involves language and social skills. Finding
creative solutions to problems involve cognitive processes.
The prime time in a childs life to encourage uninhibited
creativity is age 4 to 6.
Creative Skills/Objectives
Divergent thinking: children think divergently, when they
come up with new or different solutions to problems
or ways to accomplish a task. Teachers can support
divergent thinking by asking open-ended questions.
New Use of Materials: using unusual materials during art
projects, constructions, movement, or using familiar

materials in new ways.

New Techniques: children may learn new techniques, such
as sponge painting, painting with watercolors, using
glue, etc. if offered a wide variety of art and creative
activities.
Expression of Feelings or Ideas: the child feels free to
express the self through the creative activity.
Exploration of Materials: children should be free to use
materials in any way they wish, encouraging visual
and unique ideas.
Imagination: a variety of ideas are encouraged and
respected.
Creative Thinking: a general term for encouraging original
ideas.
Trying Out Unconventional Ideas: a general term for
encouraging originality

Language
During the preschool years, children learn spoken and
receptive language skills. The preschool years are an
important time for language development. Language grows
rapidly. By the time a child is five-years-old he or she is
almost an equal language partner with adults.
Language can also be written. Therefore, language skills
may also refer to reading and writing skills. During the
preschool years, children are introduced to the concept that
the spoken word can be symbolized in writing. The
foundation for reading and writing is fostered through
experience with words, conversation, songs, books, art and
drawing materials, and by including literacy related props
in the dramatic play area like note pads, pencils, and

computer keyboards.
Language Skills and Objectives
Spoken or Expressive Language: speaking
Receptive Language: listening and understanding another
individual.
Vocabulary Development: developing word meaning.
Articulation or Phonology: speech sounds or pronunciation.
Grammar or Syntax: refers to verb endings, pronouns,
plurals, and sentence structure.
Conversation Skills: engaging in verbal interactions, taking
turns speaking, speaking to socialize, telling stories,
etc
Rhyme: recognizing rhyme, lack of rhyme, or making up
rhymes.
Auditory Discrimination: may refer to discrimination of
speech sounds, or discriminating which sounds are
intended for the self, such as looking up when called,
especially when there are many other sounds present.
Story Awareness: Refers to the awareness and/or use of a
story that has a plot with a beginning and an end,
characters, and location. Children may be able to
repeat an actual occurrence, repeat a story read to
them, or make up fantasy stories.
Written Language: children progress from scribble writing
to symbolize the written word to writing words as they
sound, to spelling and printing words.
Invented Spelling: spelling words by writing them just as
they sound, a stage in early writing.

Cognitive
Cognitive refers to the mental process of knowing,
including perception, awareness, reasoning, and judgment.
Cognition includes literacy, science, and math knowledge as
well as problem-solving ability. For preschool children,
knowledge in these areas emerges through hands-on
experiences, thus children are in the process of gaining the
skills that are needed for future academic learning. In the
classroom children explore while the teachers stimulate
thought and conversation. Math knowledge is supported as
children sort, classify, compare, and count materials, and
solve problems in sharing and block building using these
techniques. Science learning is supported through hands on
experiments and exposure to plants, insects, reptiles, and
other aspects of nature, as curiosity and the drive to seek
out more information are nurtured. Language learning is
closely linked with cognitive development, and children
sometimes show creativity in the uniqueness of their
problem-solving strategies, illustrating how their
developmental areas are interdependent.
Cognitive Skills/Objectives
General
Bodily-kinesthetic Intelligence: ability to use the body for
athletics, dance, dramatics, sensing and fixing.
Musical Intelligence: sensitivity to musical properties of
melody, pitch, rhythm, and poetry.
Spatial Intelligence: ability in perception of the world and
translating it into new forms such as through art,
maps, photos.
Logical-mathematical Intelligence: conceptual thought
patterns that allow for long chains of reasoning and
pattern recognition.
Linguistic Intelligence: ability with oral and or written
language.

Interpersonal Intelligence: ability with people and groups;

often a leader.
Intra personal Intelligence: ability to understand and be
sensitive to the inner self.
Naturalist Intelligence: interest in the natural environment.
Memory: ability to store and retrieve visual, oral, olfactory,
and mental experiences.
Creative Thinking: creating new ideas or behavior.
Reasoning: using information to form conclusions, such as
in what if statements.
Planning and Strategizing: creating a plan or strategy for
play or for figuring out an answer.
Problem Solving: creating strategies for solving a problem.

Emergent Literacy
Language Skills: include oral language abilities like
vocabulary and conversation, as well as written
language abilities like printing and spelling words.
Symbol Use and Knowledge: preschool children use
symbolic language, as in using the word cat to
represent the real animal in speech. They also begin
to experiment with scribble drawing which symbolizes
grown up writing, experiment with letters which
symbolize sounds, and finally spell words which
represent real things.
Visual Discrimination: perceiving differences in shapes of
objects, geometric shapes, puzzle pieces, and letters.

Auditory Discrimination: perceiving differences in sounds,

such as in p and b sounds.
Left to Right Orientation: in the English language, the
written word follows a pattern from left to right and
from top to bottom. Children learn this through
experience with print and storybooks.
Science
Noticing a Problem: noticing something is unusual or that
there is a problem.
Hypothesizing: thinking and suggesting a cause or solution.
Experimenting: testing the hypothesis; trying out
something new.
Discussing the Results: telling others about the problem,
experiments, and answers.
Learning Basic Concepts of Scientific Life: such as plants
need water to grow, or fish live in water.
Math
Matching or 1-1 Correspondence: matching one thing to
another that is the same, similar, or different.
Number and Counting: having a general understanding that
numbers have meaning.
Sets and Classifying: putting objects together, using a
classification system to group objects.
Comparing: describing objects in comparison terms, such as
big/little, long/short.

Ordering and Seriating: putting things in order using

criteria of size, shape, length, color, number, time, etc.