3, 4, 5

YEAR OLD
GROW AND DEVELOP
WHAT DO THREE-,
FOUR-, AND FIVE-
YEAR OLD LOOKS
LIKE?
WHAT DO THREE-, FOUR-, AND
FIVE- YEAR OLD LOOKS LIKE?
• Three-, four-, and five-year-olds come in different shapes
and sizes. They grow and develop in many ways. They
are physically changing, growing taller, and often losing
many "baby-like" features.

• By three years of age, children are transitioning out of the

toddler stage. Their language and vocabulary is rapidly
expanding.
WHAT DO THREE-, FOUR-, AND
FIVE- YEAR OLD LOOKS LIKE?

• Three-, four-, and five-year-olds are extremely curious

about their world and surroundings, but the way in which
they express their curiosity differs significantly.
• Typically, four- and five-year-olds enjoy being
with other children. At the same time, they are
still developing important social skills, such as
sharing and cooperation. Four-and
five-year-olds love to laugh, giggle, run, and
play.
 PHYSICAL
DEVELOPMENT
 THREE-YEAR-OLDS ARE LEARNING
TO RUN WITH MORE DEXTERITY AND
COORDINATION, AS THEY TRANSITION
FROM SLOW, STIFF RUNNING TO A MORE
PLAYFUL PACE. THREE-YEAR-OLDS
MOUNT SMALL TRICYCLES, BUT ARE
LEARNING HOW TO COORDINATE
PEDALING AND WILL OFTEN USE THEIR
FEET TO MOVE.
 FOUR-YEAR-OLDS FINE MOTOR SKILL
ARE ADVANCING. THEY CAN STACK BLOCKS 10
HIGH AND STRING BEADS. COMPLETING A
SIMPLE 10-PIECE PUZZLE IS NO LONGER A
FRUSTRATION BUT A VICTORY. COLORING,
PAINTING, AND TEARING AND FOLDING PAPER
INTRIGUES CHILDREN AT THIS AGE AS THEY
DEVELOP INCREASING CONTROL OVER THEIR
FINE MUSCLES.
 FIVE-YEAR-OLDS HAVE AS
MUCH ENERGY AS
FOUR-YEAR-OLDS, BUT BOTH THEIR
FINE AND GROSS MOTOR SKILLS
ARE BEGINNING TO BE MORE
DIRECTED AND FOCUSED IN THEIR
ACTIONS (BERK, 1997).
 EMOTIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
• Three-year-olds experience emotions in extremes.
When three-year-olds are angry, they often express
their emotions through temper tantrums or some
physical display.

• At the beginning of three-years' age, children also

begin to have fears that they can identify.
• Four-year-olds begin to understand that the
expression of extreme emotions can have an effect
on others around them.
• Five-year-olds are beginning to regulate their
emotions and express their feeling in more socially
acceptable ways.
 LANGUAGE
DEVELOPMENT
Three-year-olds have acquired about
900 to 1,000 words and about 90% of
what they say is intelligible.
Three-year-olds begin to understand
and respond to a wide variety of
questions, such as "What are you
doing?" and "Why are you doing that?"
 At four years of age, children's language
development is exploding. Their vocabulary
consists of about 4,000 to 6,000 words, and
they are typically speaking in five to six-word
sentences. Four-year-olds are learning rules
for verb tense, plurals, and pronouns.
However, they have not yet incorporated the
exceptions to these rules into their language,
so "went" is "goed," "kept" is "keeped," and
"children" is "childs.
"Five-year-olds language continues
to grow, and their vocabularies are
ing to 5,000 to 8,000 words. Five
year-olds begin decreasing their use
of overextensions of rules for verbs
and plurals, frequently correcting
their own errors.
 COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT
 Three-year-olds and some young
four-year-olds are considered
pre-operational thinkers, which means that
they rely solely on the concrete appearance
of objects rather than ideas, they only focus
on one relationship at a time, and they often
see things from only one point of view---
their own. (Piaget, 1969)
• Four-year-olds are actively
manipulating their environment and
constructing meaning from their world.
At this age, children are very egocentric
in their thinking.

• Egocentrism is the tendency to be more

aware of their own point of view than
the others( Piaget, 1952).
• Five-year-olds think about things. They are
filled with questions about how things work,
how things are made, and where things
come from. At this age, children can begin to
understand that they can be happy when
others are not and begin to accept that
others do not have to play the exact game
they're playing. They are beginning to
understand other children's likes and
dislikes.
 SOCIAL
DEVELOPMENT
 • Three year olds grow showing interest in
other children and adults, but often prefer
being with one adult or playing alone in close
proximity to other children. Three year olds
still are developing interest in other children
but still prefer parallel play.
• Parallel play- is the act of playing near or next
to other children, often engaged in the same
activity or playing with the same toy, but not
involving the other child in play or relying on the
other child to play.
• Four year olds are beginning to make
distinctions between children they prefer to
play with and those who are they have no
interest in. (Rubin, Coplan, Nelson, &
Cheah, 1999)
• Five year olds are very social and frequently
prefer other children's company than adults.
They have developed some effective
cooperative skills and have learned, for the
most part, how to get along with others.
BEHAVIORAL
EXPECTATIONS
• For three-year-olds, stories need to be engaging
and finger plays can help motivate or keep
children's interest in activities
• In contrast, four- and five-year-olds can sit and
listen to a story or watch a science
demonstration that precedes a hands-on activity
for about 10 to 15 minutes.
• Three-year-old children can follow simple,
one-step directions.
• Four- and five year-olds can follow simple
two-step commands with success.
DEVELOPMENT
OF THE
CONCEPT OF
THE SELF
• Three-, four-, and
five-year-olds are
developing a sense of self.
Self concept is the mental
picture we have developed
about ourselves. They are
beginning to understand
things about themselves
that are unique to them.
• At three, children can correctly answer the
question "Are you a girl or a boy?". They
understand that girl and boy are different.

• Four-and Five-year-olds also understand that

gender is constant. If you are a boy today, you
will be a boy tomorrow At four- and five-years of
age, children still have difficulty understanding
what their “whole self “ is.
DEVELOPMENT OF
SELF EFFICACY
• Self-efficacy is one's perception of his
or her ability and competency to do
things.
• Three-, four-, and five-year-olds have
a genuine sense that they can do
anything.
• They are eager and motivated and
typically think that they are good at
any task set before them.
• Persistence and feeling that they are
competent contributes to the
development of self-efficacy.
• As three-, four-, and five-year-olds begin
to try more things on their own, they
develop a greater understanding of what
they can accomplish. In many cases,
children at this age are beginning to
assert their independence.
INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES
IN DEVELOPMENT
• In a mixed-age preschool class, children are
graphing their heights and shoe sizes.
• Three-, four-, and five-year-olds come in various
shapes and sizes and grow in all areas at different
rates.
• Some children are cutting out paper dolls with no
assistance at four years old. Others are only
struggling with this as they turn six.
• Some children are reading in kindergarten; others
are only beginning to identify letters. Teacher need
to be sensitive to the great variability in
development in three-four, and five-year-olds.
CULTURAL
DIVERSITY
• One of the important steps in helping schools meet
the needs of all children is to help teachers
understand how culture affects development.
• In some African cultures it is disrespectful for
children to make eye contact with adults. In the
majority culture in the United States, not making
eye contact can be interpreted a of disrespect.
Similarly, in many Spanish cultures, independence
in young children is not considered an important
part of early development.
• Because of this, three-, four-, and five-year-olds are
not typically asked to do things for themselves. This
is very different from typical American
kindergartens that foster independence in young
children. Not understanding the expectations and
values of other cultures can result in
misinterpretation of behaviors.
• Teachers need to be sensitive to the language
barriers and make sure that they try to
communicate to these children through alternative
means.
CHILDREN WITH
SPECIAL NEEDS
• Since Public Law 99-457, the Federal Preschool
Program and Early Intervention Program Act of
1986, which extended rights and services to
infants, toddlers, and preschoolers with disabilities
and their families, the opportunities for three-,
four-and five-year-olds to come to school have
significantly increased. Teachers working with
special needs children need to provide the
least-restrictive environment that supports
children's learning.
• In order to do this, teachers need to consider the
following factors related to development in order to
effectively integrate children with special needs into
the classroom. One important factor to consider is
that although children with special needs are often
delayed in development or follow an atypical
developmental path, they grow and change like all
children. Teachers need to understand the skills
and abilities that children with special needs bring
to the classroom. Given the child's current skills.