Physical development in babies and

children
By Kidspot team |

Theres one thing for sure babies and kids will grow. But physical development is about more than just hitting the
right percentiles on a height chart.
All babies grow in the same order but at completely different rates. One seven-month-old might be crawling around
and chattering madly. Another might be playing silently on his playmat. One five-year-old can look like hes still only
four, while another can look like he belongs with the seven-year-olds.
Developmental achievements are often called milestones and there are certain physical milestones.
Gross motor skills involve the coordination and control of large muscles and skills like walking, sitting and running.
Fine motor skills (or manipulation) involve the coordination and control of small muscles, and skills like holding a
rattle, picking up crumbs and scribbling with a pencil.
Vision is the ability to see near and far, and to interpret whats seen.
Hearing is the ability to hear, listen to and interpret sounds, whereas speech is the ability to produce sounds that form
words. Language is something different again, but also important.
Emotional and social behaviour and understanding is your childs ability to learn and interact with others, including
skills for play and communicating with other people and children.
What parents need to know about physical development
Physical development provides children with the abilities they need to explore and interact with the world around
them. A young child's physical growth first begins as muscles gain strength and children gradually develop
coordination. The development of muscular control is the first step in this process.
Think about the words physical development. They encompass so many different tasks and abilities. The term motor
development refers to physical growth, or growth in the ability of children to use their bodies and physical skills.
Motor development often has been defined as the process by which a child acquires movement patterns and skills.
Genetics, size at birth, body build, nutrition and culture can all influence motor and physical development.
Gross motor skills versus fine motor skills
Gross motor development
This is the area of physical development that most parents think of first - the child's general ability to move around
and use the various parts of his body. Activities like rolling over, crawling, walking, running and jumping are gross
motor skills. These skills usually involve using the entire body or several parts of the body at one time.
Some of the areas that are considered when evaluating the area of gross motor development are:
Muscle tone: How tightly or loosely do the muscles work for your child? If a child's body has high tone, then his
movements might be jerky or disconnected. If a child's body is too loose - or low tone - then her movements might be
slow and lack strength.

Muscle strength: How strong is your child? How much pressure can he apply with his hands and legs? How much
pressure can his body withstand?

Quality of movements: Are the movements smooth or does she seem to jerk her limbs? Does she seem to move
either particularly slow or fast? Does it take effort for her to move around?

Range of movement: An important area in physical development is a child's ability to make movements that span
the entire length of her body. A significant milestone is the ability to make movements that go from one side of the
body to the other, referred to as "crossing the midline". This skill is necessary for a child to do tasks such throwing a
ball or passing an object from one hand to another. This concept is also important for the area of fine motor
development.
What to expect of physical development
Physical development by six months
He will show basic distinctions in vision, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching, temperature and perceiving pain. He
will also lift his head when on his stomach and possibly show squeals of delight as well as grasp objects and roll over.
Physical development by 12 months
He can control his torso and hands, sit without support, crawl and has growing control of legs and feet. He may stand
or creep across the floor.
Physical development by 18 months
Can creep or crawl up stairs, possibly walk, draw lines on paper with crayon and will show growing physical
independence.
Physical development by age two
He can go up and down steps, run, sit self on chair, use a spoon and fork, turn single pages in a book, kick a ball,
attempt to dress himself, build a tower of six blocks, kick a ball and has bowel and bladder control (though he may not
care to show it and be toilet trained!).
Physical development by age three
He can run well, march, stand on one foot briefly, ride a tricycle, feed himself (with a bit of mess), put on his own
shoes and socks (though not tie laces!), unbutton and button.
Physical development by age four
He can skip on one foot, cut with scissors, wash and dry his own face, dress himself, throw a ball overhand and other
skills to show growing independence.
Physical development by age five
He can hop and skip, dress without help, has good balance and smoother muscle action, skate or ride a scooter, print
and write simple letters, establish whether he is left or right handed. Girls' fine motor skill development is likely to be
about one year ahead of boys.
Physical development by age seven
He can stand on one foot with eyes closed for three seconds, walk on a line in heel-toe fashion, skip on both feet,
possibly ride a bicycle without training wheels, jump rope, catch and bounce a tennis ball and tie shoelaces.
Physical development by age nine
He has the capability to roll, bat, kick and throw a ball, which makes him able to play organised sports such as soccer,
cricket and basketball. His strength and coordination will continue to develop with practice.
Physical development by age 12
Puberty can start to appear at this age, which is why youll see kids developing at different rates between the ages of
eight and 18. With growth spurts come clumsiness and a lack of coordination. If your child is not athletic, help him
find a sport or physical activity he enjoys. At this age, kids who dont excel athletically are tempted to avoid all
physical activity.
What parents can do to boost physical development
Australias Department of Health and Ageing has two recommendations for parents to encourage optimal physical
development.
1. Children and young people should participate in at least 60 minutes (and up to several hours) of moderate- to
vigorous-intensity physical activity every day.
2. Children and young people should not spend more than two hours a day using electronic media for entertainment
(e.g. computer games, Internet, TV), particularly during daylight hours.
Encouraging physical activity in school-aged children can:
Build strong bones and muscles
Improve balance and develop skills
Maintain and develop flexibility
Achieve and maintain a healthy weight
Improve cardiovascular fitness
Help relaxation
Provide opportunities to make friends and improve social and emotional development
Improve self-esteem








Cognitive development in babies
and children
By Kidspot team |

Children change more quickly than wed like. It seems you can blink and your child has grown, evolved,developed or
reached a key milestone. One minute they are throwing board books in the toy box, the next they are flipping through
the pages of story books and as they grow older, they start reading and enjoying books they choose themselves.
Some of the changes in our kids are not so easy to spot, particularly cognitive changes. Childrens brains develop as
they have new experiences. You cannot see the brain developing, but you can see what new things the child can do.
Stages of cognitive development
Piaget was a major theorist and psychologist who developed stages to understand cognitive development. There are
four major periods of cognitive development in children:
First cognitive development stage: Sensory motor period (0 - 24 months)
The following points outline the progressive nature of cognitive development and how physical actions aid the brains
development as babies grow.
Reflexive Stage (up to two months): Simple reflex activity such as grasping, sucking.
Primary Circular Reactions (two to four months) Reflexive behaviors occur in stereotyped repetition such as opening
and closing fingers repetitively.
Secondary Circular Reactions (four to eight months) Repetition of actions to reproduce interesting consequences such
as kicking feet to move a mobile.
Coordination of Secondary Reactions (eight to12 months) Responses become coordinated into more complex
sequences. Actions take on an "intentional" character such as baby reaches behind a box to grab a favourite toy.
Tertiary Circular Reactions (12-18 months) Discovery of new ways to produce the same goal, such as toddlers pulling
a ball toward him so he can roll it.
Invention of New Means Through Mental Combination (18-24 months) Evidence the toddler can problem-solve a
sequence of events before actually responding. For example, can take the ball out of a cupboard if its not in sight and
play with it.
Second cognitive development stage: The preoperational period (two to
seven years)
Preoperational Phase (two to four years)
Increased use of verbal representation, but speech is egocentric. The beginnings of symbolic rather than simple motor
play. Transductive reasoning. Can think about something without the object being in front of them by using language
to describe it.
Intuitive Phase (four to seven years)
Speech becomes more social, less egocentric. The child has an intuitive grasp of logical concepts but these are crude
and irreversible. At this stage, kids believe in magical increases and decreases their sense of reality is not firm and it
is their perceptions of the world that dominate their judgments. In moral-ethical realm, the child is not able to show
principles underlying best behaviour. For example, they cant understand the reasoning behind the rules of a game,
but can understand simple do's and don'ts imposed by authority.
Third cognitive development stage: Concrete operations (seven to 12 years)
There is now evidence for organised, logical thought. There is the ability to classify many tasks, order objects in a
logical sequence, and comprehend the principle of conservation. Thinking becomes less egocentric. The child is
capable of concrete problem-solving.
Fourth cognitive development stage: Formal operations (12 years+)
Thought becomes more abstract, incorporating the principles of formal logic. The ability to generate abstract
propositions, multiple hypotheses and their possible outcomes is evident. Thinking becomes less tied to concrete
reality.
The benefits of understanding cognitive development
Whether you believe or agree with Piagets complex theories of cognitive development, they at least allow parents to
understand what is normal and appropriate for general age groups.
Toys , games, and activities are easier to choose if you understand the stages of a childs cognitive development. If you
know that most children do some things at a certain age, you will know that you dont need to change that behaviour.
You will understand that it is not your fault your child is doing something annoying.
By understanding normal development, you can tell when a childs development may be lagging behind their peers. In
most cases, its fine, but there are some red flags in childrens development that may be worth raising with a doctor or
specialist.
How to aid their cognitive development
Use unplanned events to help children learn
Children may blow bubbles in their drink. You can ask them why they think milk bubbles last so long but water
bubbles do not. You can compare them to water bubbles that disappear almost immediately. You can talk with your
kids about what happens when they put different foods or objects in milk.
Encourage childrens thinking even if its annoying!
Plenty of mothers worry about the mess their toddlers and small children make while eating. But sometimes this mess
is the key to unlocking the next stage of your childs cognitive development. For example, a toddler starts dropping
peas on the floorone by oneat dinner time. Wow, thats quite a cognitive skill hes developing there: picking up
small objects one by one, understanding the power of gravity and seeing the results of his hard work.
Children use hands-on experience to learn
Children use concrete, hands-on experiences to help them understand the world around them. That toddler dropping
peas on the floor may be trying to understand, If I drop this, what happens next? Be happy to know your child is
learning, even if you will need to pick up the peas!