Understanding two and Understanding two and three year oldsthree year olds

Ms. PerezMs. Perez

Bell ringer• Which of these drawings was made by

a two year old?

Physical Development of a two year old

• Top heavy

• Center of gravity is focused downwards

• Can usually run and jump without falling

Gross motor development of two year olds

• Can sit on a riding toy and push by moving their feet

• Enjoying playing with balls – Can kick without falling– Sometimes they fall when they throw them

Fine motor development• Hand preference is a new concept

– Will eat with right but play with left

• Rapidly developing – Can insert keys into locks – Turn book pages one at a time

Fine motor development• Children will scribble at this age

• Build about six-seven block tall towers

Self Help Skills • Can drink from a cup or a glass

• Use spoon to feed themselves – However they may spill often – Can revert back to using hands

• Begin to cooperate in dressing – Snap pants okay

Cognitive Development • Language comprehension

– Understanding of language – Can usually identify six body parts– Can provide appropriate answers to yes and no

questions– Can answer “where” and “what is this” questions

– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzWtMNZzCjo&feature=related

Cognitive Development• Expressive language

– Ability to produce language forms– Express thoughts to another – Speech usually involves simple sentences

• “Bobby hurt” • “I go home”

• At your table create an example of expressive language a two year old would say.

How to aid in expressive language

• Feeding in– Strategy where you provide the child’s

language – “You are playing with the blocks”– Kind of like narrating their life

How to aid in expressive language

• Expansion– Adding to their vocabulary by reframing

what they say– If they say “cars” you say “that is a blue

car”

• At your table create an example using expansion

Expressive language

• Around 27-30 months children may start to use prepositions “Cookies in jar”

• Average vocabulary is 50-200 words– Often they use words without fully understanding

them– Girls generally develop language skills faster then

boys

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2EertzeHjM

What else was this parent doing??

Math Readiness Skills• Developed as children interact with each

other and objects• Begin to sort by color and shape• Understand size concepts

– “big vs. small”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fjquqXZvos

Social development of a two year old

• parallel play– Play next to each other

• Like instant gratification– What does that mean?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbsgXKvTGCQ

• Physical in their responses– May hit, push, or bite a child who approaches

their child

• Possessive– Use body language to let people know how they

feel about their possessions

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbsgXKvTGCQ

– What is being demonstrated during this video?

• Affectionate towards adults– Need to receive in return

• Enjoying helping adults

Emotional development of two year olds

• Like to control their surroundings

• Trying to do a task that is to difficult may frustrate them and cause anger

• Anger not usually directed at one person or object

• Fear is common• Often are scared of getting hurt• Some fear has to do with their imagination

– Even imagined fears are REAL to toddlers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5WB2tbNxMQ

• Need to build trust and security– Routines help develop this

Teaching two-year olds • When guiding be firm but gentle

• “No” is their favorite word– May say “no” but mean “yes”

• They are egocentric– They think everyone thinks, feels, and

thinks like them

• Need lots of transition time

• High noise levels

• Gross motor activity is their favorite

• Like to act out of life experience or imitating– What area of pre-school is best for this?

• Routines are important– Story time daily

Watch• “Not-so-terrible-twos”

Bell ringer: • Put these three year old milestones in order:• Hold crayon between thumb and finger • Magical Thinking occurs• Imaginary friend• Aware of differences between themselves

and others

Imaginary friend 3 years

Aware of differences between

themselves and others 3 1/4 years

Magical Thinking occurs 3 1/2 years

Hold crayon between thumb and finger

3 3/4 years

Three Year Olds • Physical Development• Much better at body coordination

– Less top heavy– The are more streamlined– Walking appears more natural because they can

walk without their legs spread apart

Gross Motor Development• Better coordination

• They can throw, jump, and hop without any difficulty

• They now can climb

• Can ride tricycles

Fine Motor Development• Block towers are nine to ten blocks high• Can draw simple shapes

– Demo

• Cutting skills become more refined– Can cut across paper, but not follow lines

Self help skills• Turn on water facet by themselves• Can transfer water to a pitcher• MOST should be potty trained • Better at dressing themselves

– Open buckles, put on shoes that do not tie– Still not able to do small buttons and hooks– Have issues telling the front of clothing from the

back

• Don’t fully understand time concepts

• Solve simple problems– Ex. Put an object under a cup and nothing

under another cup the child will be able to tell you which object the cup is under

Cognitive Development

Language comprehension skills

• Begin to understand pronouns – You, they

• Can remember three part instructions– Go to the bathroom, wash your hands, and

dry them on the towel

• Understand words like up, down, apart,

Who, whose, why, how

-Understand ideas like around, in front of, in back of, next to

• Construct a sentence using the vocabulary words that three year olds would understand

Expressive language skills

• Know 900 words

• Make a sentence of 4-5 words

• May even put a sentence together using a conjunction

– “I went to the store and bought candy.”

Create a sentence that a three year old would say using a conjugation

• Understand possessive nouns– My toy, Mommy’s car

• Understand the difference between past and present tense – Daddy walked, Mommy went,

• Understand negatives – Can’t, don’t, nothing– I can’t go outside

• Start to question things– Why does the dog bark

• Constantly talk out loud to themselves– “Susie is taking a walk, I see a dog, I am

tired, lets go home”– Narrate their lives

Math readiness skills• Counting skills begin at this age

– A lot of the songs have to do with counting

• Understand the concept of full, more, less then, empty, largest (by month 42)– Like to compare objects asking if things

are bigger or smaller

• Can distinguish between one and many – Pick out one piece of candy

Social Development • Like to help others

• Learning positive ways to get attention

• Adjust to new people more easily

• Not as possessive

Start to learn gender roles• What behavior is expected of boys and

girls

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWc1e3Nbc2g

Emotional development• Strong and visible emotions

– When they are happy, you can tell– When they are upset you can tell– However they are beginning to understand

ways to control emotions• Won’t hit as music as two-year olds, will use

words to tell them that is their toy or to stop it

• Self concept is developed• Affectionate and seek affection in return• Still scared of imagined fears, not scared of

things they know– The dark

• Likely to become angry when things do not go their way– However they direct their anger at objects, not

people

Teaching three-year olds• Happy, social agreeable

• Easy to please

• Enjoy playing alone and with others

• Becoming independent “I can do it” – Need to show them you value their

independence

Create a venn diagram of two and three year old’s

• Include at least five things that are different about each age

• Include at least four things that are similar

• This is an individual assignment

• When done, discuss similarities and differences at your table.

• At your table come up with a scenario describing a way a two year olds would act in pre-school and the way a three year old would act

• We will share and guess which is which as a class.

Example:• Jeremy get’s angry when Ladonna is

playing with a toy, he walks over and grabs the toy from her. Is Jeremy two or three?

• Which category of development does this fall under?

Example:• Cindy is done with her art project, she

walks over to the sink to turn it on and wash her hands. Is Cindy two or three?

• What area of development does this fall under?