Early Childhood

Early childhood extends from

two to six years. Thus early childhood
begins at the conclusion of babyhood—
the age when dependency is
practically a thing of the past and is
being replaced by growing
independence—and ends at about the
time the child enters first grade in
school.
It is also referred to as preschool
age.
 CHARACTERISTICS OF EARLY
CHILDHOOD
• NAMES USED BY PARENTS
Most parents consider early
childhood a problem age or a
troublesome age.
Parents often refer early
childhood as the toy age because
young children spend much of
their waking time playing with toys.
NAMES USED BY EDUCATORS
Educators refer to the early
childhood years as the preschool
age.
Early childhood years are time
of preparation
• NAMES USED BY PSYCHOLOGISTS

 Pregang age

 Exploratory age

 Questioning age

 Imitative age

Creative age
 DEVELOPMENTAL TASKS OF
EARLY CHILDHOOD
According to Havighurst, a developmental task is
a "task which arises at or about a certain period in
the life of an individual, successful achievement of
which leads 'to his happiness and to success with
later tasks, 'While failure leads to unhappiness in the
individual, disapproval by the society, and difficulty
with later tasks."
 The preschool child is expected to develop
the following developmental self-help
skills:

 Control of elimination
 Self-feeding, self-dressing and doing something’s
without much help
 Development of motor skills that allow him to
explore and do things to satisfy his curiosity
 Acquisition of adequate vocabulary to
communicate his thoughts and feelings with those
around him. His greater self-identity and self-
control help his management of a social
relationship.
 PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT IN
EARLY CHILDHOOD
 Height- The average annual increase in
height is three inches. By the age of six, the
average child measures 46.6 inches.

 Weight-The average annual increase in

weight is 3 to 5 pounds.
At age six, children should weigh
approximately seven times as much as
they did at birth.
 Body Proportion-Body proportion change
markedly, and the “baby look” disappears.
 Body Build
 Bones and muscles-The muscles become larger,
stronger, and heavier, with the result that children
look thinner as early childhood progresses, even
though they weigh more.

 Teeth
The primary teeth in the upper jaw are:
• Central incisors
• Lateral incisors
• Canines or cuspids
• First molars
• Second molars
 The primary teeth in the lower jaw are:
• Central incisors
• Lateral incisors
• Canines
• First molars
• Second molars

 Fat-Endomorphy have more adipose than

muscular tissue
 Mesomorphy have more muscular than adipose
tissue
 Ectomorphic build have both small muscles and
little adipose tissue.
 PHYSIOLOGICAL HABITS

 During early childhood, the physiological

habits whose foundation where laid in
babyhood become well established.
 By the time the Child is three or four years
old, bladder control at night should be
achieved.
 By the time the child is ready to enter
school, bladder control should be so
complete that even fatigue and emotional
tension will not interfere with it.
 SKILLS OF EARLY CHILDHOOD
 Early childhood is the ideal age to learn skills.
 First, young children enjoy repetition and are,
therefore, willing to repeat an activity until they have
acquired the ability to do it well.
 Second, young children are adventuresome and, as a
result, are not held back by fear of hurting themselves
or of being ridiculed by peers, as older children often
are.
 Third, young children learn easily and quickly because
their bodies are still very pliable and because they
have acquired so few skills that they do not interfere
with the acquisition of new ones.
 Early childhood may be regarded as the “teachable
moment “for acquiring skills.
 Typical skills of early childhood

 Hand skills
Self-feeding and dressing skills
 Leg skills
Once young children have learned to walk, the turn their
attention to learning other movements requiring the use of their legs.

 HANDEDNESS
 Is established between ages 3 to 6 years.
 Approximately 1o to 13 percent of population is left handed.
 People who can use both hands equally are ambidextrous.
 IMPROVEMENTS OF SPEECH IN EARLY
CHILDHOOD

Improvement in comprehension

Improvement in speech

Content of speech
 7 CONTENTS OF SPEECH

 Intelligence
 Type of discipline
 Ordinal Position
 Family Size
 Racial Status
 Bilingualism
 Sex-role typing
 EMOTIONS OF EARLY CHILDHOOD

 Early childhood is characterized by heightened

emotionality.
 Emotions like love, fear, joy, and anger are
experienced by the child just like adult.
 Children’s emotions last only for a few minutes
unlike the adults which may drag on for hours or
days.
 Children are easily stimulated to experience love,
joy, jealousy, fear and anger.
 SOCIALIZATION IN EARLY
CHILDHOOD
 Socialization, is a process by which children
become participating and functioning members of
the society.
 They interact with others, share the group’s
symbols, norms and values or culture.
 During the preschool years, children find social
contacts with members of their own sex more
pleasurable than those with members of the
opposite sex.
 By the time the child is four years old he has a
fairly well-defined concept of what he is.
 PATTERN OF EARLY CHILDHOOD

Between the ages of two and three years, children show

a decided interest in watching other children and they
attempt to make social contacts with them.
 Parallel play, play in which young children play
independently beside other children rather than with
them.
 Associative play, in which children engage in similar, if
not identical, activities with other children.
 Cooperative play, in which they are a part of the group
and interact with group members.
 Onlooker, means watching other children at play but
making no attempt to plat with them.
Social and Unsocial Behavior Patterns

SOCIAL PATTERNS
IMMITATION
RIVALRY
COOPERATION
SYMPATHY
EMPATHY
SOCIAL APPROVAL
SHARING
ATTACHMENT BEHAVIOR
Social and Unsocial Behavior Patterns

Unsocial Patterns
NEGATISM
AGGRESSIVENESS
ASCENDENT BEHAVIOR
SELFISHNESS
EGOCENTRISM
DESTRUCTIVENESS
SEX ANTAGONISM
PREJUDICE
COMPANIONS IN EARLY CHILDHOOD

 In early childhood, companions are mainly

associates and playmates.
 During of two of early childhood, when contacts
with others are mainly in parallel or associative
play, children companions become their playmates.
 In the selections of companions, children prefer
other children of their own ages and leves of
developments who can do what they are able to do.
 SUBSTITUTE COMPANIONS

 Most young children, at some time or

other, have pets –dogs, cats, hamsters,
white rats, gold fish, birds, etc. but the
ones that meet their needs for
companionship best are dogs and cats,
because they can play with this animals
as if they were people.
 Less common substitute, are imaginary
playmates- children who are a product of
a child imaginations.
 PLAY IN EARLY CHILDHOOD
 Early childhood is often called the toy stage
 As early childhood draws to close, children
no longer endow their toys with the
qualities associated with the people,
animals, or other objects they represent.
 Bruner, contends that play in childhood is
"serious business" that makes important
contributions to development during the
early years of childhood.
 Variation in play interests
• Highly intelligent children,
• Creative childen
• Well-developed motor skills encourage children to
engage in games and construction.
• Motor skills encourage them to devote their play time
to amusements.
Play patterns in early childhood
• To play
• Dramatization
• Construction
• Games
• Reading
• Movies, Radio and Television
DEVELOPMENT OF UNDERSTANDING

This increase in understnding comes from new

meanings being associated with meanings
learned during babayhood. During early
childhood, their understanding is limited to where
babies come from and how they are
manufactured by people.
 SEX-ROLE TYPING OF EARLY
CHILDHOOD
Two important aspects of sex – role typing
are expected to be mastered:

 learning how to play the appropriate sex – role

and accepting the fact that they must adopt
 conform to the approved sex – role stereotype.
 FAMILY RELATIONSHIP IN EARLY
CHILDHOOD
 The family remains the most important
socializing influence
 These close family relationships exert a greater
influence over the child than do any other social
influences
 Siblings relationship can be and often are
important aids to the young child’s personal and
social development. Other siblings serve as a
role models to imitate and, by so doing, young
children learn not only the socially approved
behavior patterns of the group with which they
are identified but also those which are
considered appropriate for their sex.
 PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT

Personality means the multitudes of emotions,

attitudes and behaviors that form the
characteristics of each person. These traits go
together to distinguish persons as individuals.
Both nature and nurture combine in the process
of a child’s personality development.
 HAZARDS OF EARLY CHILDHOOD

2 Types of Hazards

Physical Hazards

Psychological Hazards
 PHYSICAL HAZARD:

 Mortality
 Illness
 Accidents
 Unattractiveness
 Awkwardness
 Obesity
 Left handedness
PSYCHOLOGICAL HAZARD:

 Speech Hazards
 Emotional Hazards
 Play Hazards
 Sex role typing
 Family Relationships Hazards
 Personality Hazards
 HAPPINESS IN EARLY
CHILDHOOD
 Early childhood can and should be a happy
period in life, and it is important that it be so.
Otherwise, the habit of being unhappy can
readily develop. Once it does, it will be hard to
change.
 As is true of every age, happiness in early
childhood depends partly on what happens to
children – such as the loss of friends and the
break – up of the family – and partly on
conditions within themselves, such as physical
defects that prevent them from doing what their
age – mates do or the failure to reach goals they
set for themselves
 3 A’s of Happiness

Acceptance
Affection
Achievements
“Early Childhood Education is The
Key to the Betterment of Society”
-Maria Montessori
THANK YOU!!!