Physical and

motor
development
Early Childhood (2 to 6 y.o.)
Late Childhood (6 to 12 y.o.)
Puberty and Adolescence
(12 to 18 y.o.)
 Early
childhood
Characteristics:
 1. A problem/ troublesome
age
• due to behavior problems
• children demand an independence
which they are incapable of
doing/handling
 2. Toy age

• playing with toys

 3. Preschool age

• time for preparation

 4. pre-gang age

• children learn the foundations of

social behavior
 5. Exploratory age

• gaining control over the

environment
• discovery
period
6. Questioning age

• exploring is by asking
questions
 7. Imitative age

• imitate speech and actions of

others
 8. Creative age

• creativity in their play

 Physical development
(early childhood)
- 2 to 6 years old
- growth proceeds at a slow
rate
- a time of relatively even
growth
 Physiological
habits

- children learn to eat

meals at regular times
- develop marked food
likes/dislikes
ex. favorite foods
- bowel control is
established
 Skills of
early
childhood

- ideal age to learn skills

REASONS: Young children…
1. enjoy repetition
2. are adventuresome
3. learn easily/quickly
 “teachable moment”
• learning of skills
will depend on
maturational
readiness but
mainly on
opportunities
given and
guidance
received in
mastering skills
 Sex differences
BOYS GIRLS
• learn play skills that are • learn skills in homemaking
culturally approved (skills
in ball play)
 2 major
categories of
common skills
1. HAND skills
2.LEG skills
ambidextrous
-able to use both
hands equally well
 handedness
-tendency to use one hand in
preference to the other
- established between 3 and 6 y.o.
- learning skills with one dominant
hand and the other as auxiliary/helping
hand
Late
childhood
Characteristics:
 1. Troublesome age
• children are no longer willing to do
what they are told to do
 2. Sloppy age

• careless about their

appearance
 3. Quarrelsome age

• family fights
(sibling name-
calling/physical
attacks)
 4. Elementary school age
• start of
formal
schooling
• acquiring
knowledge
and learn
essential skills
 5. Critical period

• formation of achievement drive

 6. Gang age

• major
concern is
acceptance
by their age
mates
• membership
in a gang
 7. Age of conformity
• conform to group-approved standards in
terms of appearance, speech, and behavior
8. Creative
age
• to determine
whether
children will
be
conformists/
producers of
new and
original work
 9. Play age
• breadth of
play interests
and activities
 Physical development
(LATE childhood)
- 6 to 12 years old
- children are in a state of
disequilibrium (emotionally
disturbed)
 Physical development
(LATE childhood)
- period of slow and
relatively uniform growth
until puberty
- developing skills in school
and social groups
Types of body build in
children
Important factors in child’s
growth and development
Skills of late childhood
1.)
Skills of late childhood
2.) relate to helping others
Skills of late childhood
3.) School skills
Skills of late childhood
4.) Play skills – skills in
connection with play
 puberty
Characteristics:
 1. An overlapping period
• closing years of
childhood and the
beginning years of
adolescence
PUBESCENT – until
one is sexually
mature
ADOLESCENT –
after one becomes
sexually mature
 2. A short period

• lasts for 2 to 4 years

• girls mature more rapidly than
boys
 3. Divided into stages
a. PRE-PUBESCENT – secondary sex
characteristics begin to appear but
reproductive organs are not yet fully
develped
b. PUBESCENT – sexual maturity appears
menarche – for girls
spermarche – for boys; first nocturnal
emissions/ejaculation of semen
c. POST-PUBESCENT – secondary sex
characteristics are well developed and sex
organs begin to function/well matured
4. A time of rapid growth and
change
• adolescent growth spurt
 5. A negative phase
• having an “anti”
attitude towards
life
• losing some of
the good
qualities
previously
developed
 6. Occurs at a variable age
• variations in
the amount of
time needed to
complete the
transformation
process
 Criteria of puberty:
❖Menarche – 1st
menstruation; onset of sexual
maturity among girls
 Criteria of puberty:
❖Nocturnal emissions – during sleep in
boys, the penis becomes erect, and
semen/fluid containing sperm cells, is
released
 Causes of puberty:
❖Pituitary gland – located at the base
of the brain

Gonads – sex glands

Male: testes
Female: ovaries
 Causes of puberty:
❖2 Hormones produced by the Pituitary
gland:
a) Growth hormone – influential in
determining the individual’s size
b) Gonadotropic hormone – stimulates
the gonads to increased activity
- initiates puberty changes
 Causes of puberty:
❖ Interaction between gonadotropic
hormone and the gonads continues
throughout the individual’s
reproductive life
❖ decreases as women approach
MENOPAUSE and men approach the
CLIMACTERIC
 Causes of early onset of
puberty:
❖ better health
❖ better prenatal
health/postnatal/medical care
❖ better nutrition
adolescence
Characteristics:
 1. An important period
• immediate effect on attitudes and behavior
 2. A transitional period

• passage from
one stage of
development
to another
3. A period of change
 4. A problem age

• difficulty in coping
 5. A time of search for
identity
• identity crisis
 6. A dreaded age
• negative
stereo-
types
 7. A time of unrealism

• unrealistic aspirations lead to

disappointments/disillusionment
 8. Threshold of adult

•dressing and acting like

adults