PSY 104 - 5.2
The Physical Development Activities Paper
Charia Holmes
PSY 104 Child Adolescent and Development
Instructor: Jennifer Marshall
August 24, 2020
The Physical Development Activities Paper
Children in any given stage of life experience different needs when it comes to growth. The primary example is an infant is solely dependent on a parent for everything. An adolescent needs the parent but not for the simple things like being spoon-fed. The activities that the children are subjected to as they grow up are very fundamental. Growth and development of a healthy child highly depend on the events that the child undertakes as they grow. A preschooler will play with boxes; it will be fundamental for their development. Still, an adolescent playing with the same will do nothing for their development; they need a different type of development for a different type of activity to take place. The paper is going to discuss different activities one will find in a center for different age groups.
Infants
When a baby comes home from the hospital on the first day, they are unable to do much, and all they do is cry, sleep and eat. The parent should be prepared because from day one; the child has started their development journey (Shin, 2019). A parent has a responsibility to make sure that activities undertaken by the infant promote their growth. The following are the activities:
1. Looking at colored things and patterns
The vision of the child is the first thing that needs to be developed. Giving the child a lot of things to look at will help grow their imagination. The activity compromises of many things like looking in the mirror or going through a colorful family photo album are good for growth.
1. Gross motor activities
An infant between the age of one month and seven month needs to learn how to move. Tummy time is one of the essential activities. Rolling over, head control should be encouraged as they lead to crawling.
Battling with toys
A child can learn about coordination by playing with toys. Hide and seek game is suitable for brain development in the coordination sector.
Early Childhood
After seven months, a child can do way more, and the movement is much more with the help of the mother (Figueroa & An, 2017). Some of the following activities can be undertaken in the development of a preschooler in their early childhood:
1. Hide and seek
The child motor skills have developed and are more defined in comparison to that of an infant. The child at age three can barely sit down, and the movement is good for development as well as a show of development.
1. Painting and coloring
Now that the strength of children has been realized at age four and even age three, a coloring book will develop the concentration part of the brain and will teach them different colors. A child concentration span must be built up slowly, and painting will help, significantly.
1. Feeding activities
The child at age four and five are running around peddling tricycles because they are fully developed. A parent should establish their social perspective by introducing mannerism and feels of independence. The child can be trusted to feed themselves, and that will help develop a sense of freedom. Training of the use of spoon, folk and even knife can start at this age.
Adolescents
Many times, adolescents are referred to young adults, but that does not mean they should be left all alone on everything (Lumen candela, 2020). The decisions that an adolescent make are not fully responsible because their brains have not completed maturation up until the age of twenty-one years of age. There are activities that parents ought to engage the adolescents, so they fully develop:
1. Nutrition activities
Unfortunately, parents sometimes forget or overlook the vital idea of healthy eating when it comes to adolescents. Many American adolescents are already battling with obesity because of the unhealthy foods consumed. For the healthy growth of a child, a healthy diet is paramount. The parent should involve the child in picking foods and take them to the glossary and talk to them about what is healthy and what is not.
1. Hiking, biking, and camping
Hiking helps with staying fit, and it encourages the adolescent to remain active. The internet and video games take away the childhood from the children, and they never get to enjoy nature. Importance of the lessons that nature can teach should not be undermined. Camping will help develop life skills, like taking charge and health risks that ought to be made.
1. Social participation activities
Adolescents need to get involved with other children, apart from going to school. Organized street cleanup activities and things like tree planting help develop a sense of responsibility to the adolescent. So many adults are lacking in the skills of handling people, and the social participation activities would have helped them in their teens.
References
Figueroa, R., & An, R. (2017). Motor skill competence and physical activity in preschoolers: A review. Maternal and child health journal, 21(1), 136-146.
Lumen candela, 2020. Physical development adolescents. Retrieved from https://courses.lumenlearning.com/atd-fscj-childpsychology/chapter/physical-development-during-adolescence/
Shin, M. (2019). Exploring multisensory experiences in infants’ learning and development in the childcare classrooms. Early Child Development and Care, 1-12.