Module 12: EARLY CHILDHOOD

INTRODUCTION
Physical Development involves many different factors: height, weight, appearance,
nvisual, hearing and motor abilities. Primary school children undergo many different changes as
they go through this stage of development. This could be caused by different factors, both natural
and environmental.
Jean Piaget is the foremost theorist on Cognitive Development. According to him,
intelligence is the basic mechanism of ensuring balance in the relations between the person and
the environment. Everything that a person experiences is a continuous process of assimilations
and accommodations. Piaget described four main periods in cognitive development. For Piaget,
intellectual ability is not the same at different stages.
The developmental theorist, Erik Erikson, formulated eight stages of man’s psychosocial
development. Each stage is regarded as a “psychosocial crisis” which arises and demands
resolution before the next stage can be achieved.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

In this module, challenge yourself to:

 Describe the different physical, cognitive, and social-emotional characteristics of
early school-aged children in your own words.
 Enumerate ideas on how you can apply the concepts in this module in the teaching-
learning process.
 Discuss several ways on how to encourage an age- appropriate active physical,
cognitive, and social-emotional lifestyle to primary school children.

LEARNING CONTENT
Physical Development
Physical growth during the primary school years is slow but steady. During this stage, physical
development involves:
(1)having good muscle control and coordination,
(2) developing eye-hand coordination
 (3) having good personal hygiene and
(4) being aware of good safety habits.

In this developmental stage, children will have started their elementary grades, specifically their
primary years- Grades 1 to 3.
These children are extremely active. Because most of the activities in traditional schools are
sedentary , they often release their unusual amount of energy in some forms of nervous habits
including fidgeting, nail biting and pencil chewing.
Primary- school age children get fatigued most easily because of physical and mental exertions
both at home and in school. Hence, activities should be alternated between strenuous one and
relaxing or quiet activities (example: storytelling time after the Math period).

Height and Weight

This period of gradual and steady growth will give children time to get used to the
changes in their bodies. An average increase in height of a little over two inches in a year in both
boys and girls will introduce them to many different activities that they can now do with greater
accuracy.
Weight gain averages about 6.5 pounds a year. Most children will have slimmer appearance
compared to their preschool years because of the shifts in accumulation and location of their
body fat, although girls tend to develop additional fat cells relative to muscle cells. A child’s legs
are longer and more proportioned to the body than they were before.
A number of factors could indicate how much a child grows, or how much changes in the body
will take place:
 Genes
 Food
 Climate
 Exercise
 Medical conditions
 Diseases/ Illnesses
Bones and Muscles
Childhood years are the peak bone- producing years- bones grow longer and broader.
This is the best time for parents and teachers to educate children of good dietary and exercise
habits to help them have strong. Healthy bones throughout their lives. Replacement of primary
teeth, also known as baby teeth , with permanent teeth occur around ages 6 to 7 years and up
until age 12 , most children will have all their primary teeth replaced. Many lifestyle factors, like
nutrition and physical activity, can substantially influence the increase of bone mass during
childhood.
Because children’s bones have proportionately more water and protein- like materials and
fewer minerals and fewer minerals than adults, ensuring adequate calcium intake will greatly
help them in strengthening bones and muscles.
Large muscles control is at bigger play over fine motor. Some may still have difficulty
holding a pencil properly or putting color inside the lines. We have to limit writing time, since
children may develop a negative attitude towards writing.
Bone and muscle growth are still not complete during this stage. Most activities which
use heavy pressure will be very difficult for growing bones, muscles and ligaments. If students
are engaging in too much strenuous activities to test their strengths, teachers may suggest or
provide more coordinated physical activities or competition or rotate players during sports or
games.

MOTOR DEVELOPMENT
Young school-aged children are gaining control over the major muscles of their bodies.
Most children have a good sense of balance. They like testing their muscle strength and skills.
They enjoy doing real-life tasks and activities. They pretend and fantasize less often because
they are more in tune with everything that is happening around them.
Children during this stage love to move a lot- they run skip, hop, jump, tumble, roll and
dance. Because their gross motor skills are already developed, they can now performed activities
like catching a ball with one hand and tying their shoelaces. They can manage zippers and
buttons.
Performing unimanual (requiring the use of one hand) and bi-manual (requiring the use
of two hands) activities becomes easier. Children’s graphic activities, such as writing and
drawing, are now more controlled but are still developing. They can print their names and copy
sample designs, letters and shapes. They hold pencils, crayons, utensils correctly with
supervision.
Motor development skills include coordination, balance, speed, agility and power. Let us
look into the definitions of the different motor skills. Coordination is a series movements
organized and timed to occur in a particular way to bring about a particular result (Strickland,
2000). The more complex the movement is, the greater coordination is required. Children
develop eye- hand and eye – foot coordination when they play games and sports. Balance is the
child’s ability to maintain the equilibrium or stability of his/her body in different positions.
Balance is a basic skill needed especially in this stage, when children are very active. During
this time, children have improved balancing skills. Static balance is the ability to maintain
equilibrium in a fixed position, like balancing on one foot.
 Dynamic Balance is the ability to maintain equilibrium while moving. Speed is the
ability to cover a great distance in the shortest possible time while agility is one’s ability to
quickly change or shift the direction of the body. These skills are extremely important in most
sports. Power is the ability to perform a maximum effort in the shortest possible period. All these
motor skills are vital in performing different activities, games and sports. Development of these
skills may spell the difference success and failure in future endeavours of the child.
Large scale body movement is the key in this stage. Most of the time, boys develop
motor skills slightly faster than girls except for skills involving balance and precise movements.

Here are some motor milestones of primary school-age children: (Bergin and Bergin, Child and
Adolescent Development in Your Classroom, Third Edition: 2018, Boston, MA, USA)
Fine Motor Skills Gross Motor Skills
 Zip zippers and lace shoes  Hop
 Able to learn piano or violin  Skip on altering feet
 Control pencil with the finger and  Jump rope
thumb. Movement comes from the  Walk on a balance beam
elbow  Throwing, catching, and kicking
 Write & draw with more control, but become smoother
writing looks choppy and uneven.  Begin to participate in organized
Letters are getting smaller. Uppercase games (e.g. hopscotch) and sports (e.g.
letters are somewhat mastered, but basketball)
lowercase letters continue to be  Skate, ski, bike and other specialized
challenging through 3rd Grade, skills with training
especially letters with slants and
curves.

Some Issues Affecting Physical Development

1. OBESITY
This is becoming a major concern for parents and health care providers, since it seems its
becoming a trend. According to the World Health Organization-Western Pacific Region, “the
Philippines is not spared from this scenario, and the results of national nutrition surveys are
showing slow but increasing childhood overweight among children 5-10 years old has risen from
5.8% in 2003 to 9.1% in 2013”.
Childhood obesity may be linked to a number of health-related consequences. Evidence
also shows that overweight and obese children are likely to stay obese well into their adulthood
and are more prone to develop non- communicable diseases like diabetes and some
cardiovascular diseases at a much younger age.

2. CHILDHOOD NUTRITION
 Malnutrition remains a major health issue in the Philippines. This has been proven to
have serious effect on the physical and mental development of children. For most Filipino
children, poverty is the chief reason why they do not get the nutrients and energy required for
their age.
School-age children’s diet should include a good supply of vitamins, minerals and
protein found in most fruits and vegetables to combat the trend of eating out and eating too much
which puts children at risk of increased consumption of soft drinks , sugary and salty snacks like
crackers and chips.

3. SLEEP
Primary school-age children need 9 to 11 hours of sleep every day (including daytime
naps). Sometimes, due to their schedule in school, midday naps or siesta is not possible anymore.
Because of this, children may need to go to bed earlier rather than nap.
Children’s increased sports affiliation, extra-curricular activities, TV, internet, computers
and sometimes, intake of caffeinated products could result to difficulty in falling asleep,
disruptions in their sleep and sometimes even nightmares.
Poor and inadequate sleep may result to mood swings, behavioural problems such as
hyperactivity and cognitive problems which may impact their ability to concentrate in school.
4. IMPLICATIONS TO CHILD CARE, EDUCATION & PARENTING
Two major ways to help primary school-age children to be physically healthy:
(1) provide them with good nutrition; and
(2) involve them in coordinated and age-appropriate physical activities.

Specifically, health – care providers, teachers and parents must do the following:
 Encourage children to join or enrol them in related programs during summer or their free
time, if children show interest in a particular activity or sport.
 Advocate better nutrition in foods provided in the school canteen by providing healthier
options and accessible healthier products.
 Provide a balance between rigorous physical play activity and quiet activities in
designing classrooms activities.
 Create an exercise plan for children. Not only does it promote motor skills but also
improves strength and endurance, builds healthy bones and muscles, and increases
positive emotions.
 Maintain a daily sleep schedule and consistent bedtime routine.
 Make children’s bedroom conducive for a peaceful sleep. If possible, keep computers and
TV out of the bedroom.
 ACTIVITY
ACTIVITY #1
Paste a picture of yourself when you were an early- school age child (around Grade 1-3). Write a
description on the given areas.

Height

Weight

Body Shape

Activities you
could do

Based on the observations you have made, what can you conclude on the general physical
characteristics of children in their primary school years?
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What do you think are the necessary skills that will help them to be physically ready for primary
schooling?
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ACTIVITY #2
1. Answer the following questions with a learning partner and write your product of
collaboration on the provided space.

a. What are the general physical characteristics of children in the primary school-
age?

b. What are the factors affecting physical development?

b. Compare the motor skills of a pre-school child with a primary school- age child.

Preschool Child Primary School-Age

Child
Fine motor skills
Gross motor skills

ACTIVITY #3
In Erikson’s psychosocial stages of development, primary schoolers are in the fourth stage. This
involves industry versus inferiority.
1. Read on how Erik Erikson defined these two terms. Write them down below.
a. Industry -
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b. Inferiority-
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2. Observe primary- schoolers during their play time (recess or lunch break) . Search online.
Take note of their:
a. Behavior during
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b. Communication with their
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c. Facial expressions, gestures and body language.
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3. Paste some pictures of your observations. Discuss important points and observations.
SELF-ASSESSMENT
1. Observe a primary school classroom and take down notes on the following areas of
cognitive development.
a. Language and speech
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b. Reasoning
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b. Creativity
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 Study the situations given below. If you were the teacher, how will you help these learners
cope with their socio-emotional difficulties?

Dear Teacher,
I am really heart –broken. My 8 year old daughter is feeling lonely, isolated and friendless. It
seems that she has felt this way for quite a while. She says that she mostly spends time alone- that she
has no friends because no one wants to play with her.
he tags along, but is usually left out eventually. She can become angry if things don’t always
go her way and also teary. I don’t know where to turn to help her the thought that she finds school so
painful is heart breaking.

Sincerely,

Worried Mother

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REFERENCE

Corpuz, B. (n.d.). The Child and Adolescent Learners and Learning Principles.