Development of children 3-4 years old: features, norms, programs and methods

Day after day, the baby is becoming more intelligent. He knows a lot and knows how. After a year, thanks to walking skills, the surrounding world for the child becomes more accessible and interesting. In two years, a child can already help mom, eat independently, put on some things and much more. What happens next? What is the development of children 3-4 years old?

Three year old little adult

At this age, the child is ready to master skills that require good coordination of movements. For example, you can teach him to ride a tricycle, skiing and ice skating, learn to swim, play football. The mental development of children 3 years old requires complicated tasks and as much information as possible accessible to age.

Peculiarities of the development of 3-year-old children are associated with mother’s going to work and visiting kindergarten, as well as with the “three-year crisis”. However, this is the time of the birth of fantasies and self-awareness. The child wants to show himself to adults and very zealously defends his opinion. Distinctive features are stubbornness, self-will and negation. The kid refuses to eat, sleep, clean up after himself, tantrums often arise. The child is still unable to control the manifestation of emotions, and therefore he himself suffers from their excessive manifestations.

Kindergarten also affects the development of children 3 years old. The child is forced to adapt to the requirements of educators, observe a more stringent regime, and also establish relationships with other children. Therefore, the task of parents is to find a “middle ground” in communication and in the upbringing of their child, taking into account the complex psychological load.

Children at 4 years old

Based on the average indicators of what a child should be able to do at this age, the following skills can be distinguished:

1. Name geometric shapes and compare them with surrounding objects.
2. Give names to objects and define them in groups (furniture, animals, vehicles and others).
3. Know the features of some professions.
4. To be able to navigate in space (distinguish between "right", "left", "front" and so on).
5. To be able to compare objects by parameter values.
6. Be able to color drawings without going beyond the lines.
7. Identify a missing item.
8. The development of the speech of children 4 years old already allows retelling the content of fairy tales.
9. Determine the seasons, days, and also distinguish weather phenomena.
10. Be able to write a description of an item from several sentences.

The listed knowledge and skills are averaged. Some children have these skills already before the age of four, someone a little later, but all these are normal options.

Educational activities at home

The development of 3 years old children is accompanied by exercises to improve fine and large motor skills. Thanks to this kind of occupation , the successful formation of the brain occurs. An ideal example of exercise is modeling. By teaching a child to make balls and sausages, you can create several different objects on any topic. For example, to mold vegetables and fruits, which will help consolidate knowledge about them, as well as develop fingers. A child at 3 years old will be happy to drop objects in containers or find them in a scattering of grains, pasta, seeds.

If the child already speaks well, then you can take his description of the images in books and magazines. This technique is successfully used for a walk. For example, periodically asking: “What is uncle doing?”, “What is in the hands of the aunt? Where is she going?" The child is happy to participate in role-playing games. For example, she will happily put a bear to sleep, become a builder and build a tower or turn into a hairdresser and make a doll hairstyle. The development of the speech of children of 3 years is proceeding at its own pace, but parents are able to accelerate it.

Developing activities at home with a four-year-old child

The modeling and drawing techniques are becoming more complicated. You can teach a child to draw figures, draw around the outline of a picture, and work with a stencil. In addition to clay, clay is used, from which compositions on various topics are created. For the application, the baby can already cut out the necessary shapes himself.

The development of a child at 4 years old is accompanied by simple mathematical actions - addition and subtraction. For better assimilation, they use matches, sticks, fingers, that is, all available means. The development of speech in children 4 years old is accompanied by exercises for memorizing syllables.

3-4-year-old child development program

Some parents prefer to work with their children according to plan rather than free style. The standard program of developmental classes for this age period contains the following items:

1. Exercises for the development of sound culture of speech.
2. Reading skills.
3. Acquaintance with the outside world.
4. Creativity (drawing, modeling, applications).
5. Mathematical actions.
6. Musical development.

Let us dwell on each item in more detail.

Sound culture

In this area, the child is shown how to pronounce certain sounds correctly. Closer to 4 years, they teach writing the letters that designate them in a notebook. Of course, the recordings will be fuzzy, but such exercises contribute to the development of fine motor skills and the work of the brush. Articulatory tasks are involved in the process, which become much more complicated. Children memorize a lot of poems, nursery rhymes, songs, thereby replenishing the vocabulary and strengthening the ability of speech.

Exploring the world

The exercises are aimed at the study of natural phenomena, the assimilation of the difference in the seasons and environmental features. For example, when observing migratory birds in the fall, the child is pointed out to this feature of their flight to warmer climes as one of the signs of the season. At the same time they introduce the names of birds that fly to warmer climes, and those that remain to winter. When observing the weather, different adjectives and verbs are used, thereby enriching the child's speech. For example, on the street it can be rainy, sunny, windy, and rain can drizzle, knock, pour. Taking a walk, pay attention to the trees and bushes, their appearance, names. Various crafts are made from natural material. By the age of 4, the child should already name the primary colors and some shades, find them in the surrounding objects. It will be useful to pay attention to the rules of the road. The development of children 3-4 years old is proceeding rapidly. The child well learns interesting information, especially if it is supported by examples in the surrounding world.

Math education

At the age of three years, the child successfully masters geometric shapes and different shapes. By the age of 4, classes become more complicated, the child is able to group objects according to various external signs (by color, size). The child learns the concepts of "less", "more", "equal" to improvised means. Counts well to three. The mathematical development of a child at 4 years of age is manifested in the ability to perform elementary counting actions. The basic spatial directions are easy to learn in the game, for example, hiding a toy and giving certain clues (“Go ahead, turn left ...”). By four years, the child can determine what begins earlier, what later. For example, morning comes first, after it day, then evening and night.

Speech development

A child at 3 years old is able to remember small poems, sing along. Parents teach the alphabet, prepare their hand for writing. Closer to four years, you can begin to learn syllables, try to read the first simple books. By this age, the child remembers riddles, proverbs and sayings.

The normal development of speech of children 4 years is manifested in the compilation of phrases of 5-6 words. A child often asks questions: “Why?”, “Where?” He is interested in everything and needs to know everything. For the speech development of children aged 3-4 years to go at a fast pace, parents need to answer all the questions of the child, but in a language that is accessible to him.

Development through creativity and musical instruments

By the age of four, a child can draw with many tools. If a three-year-old baby does not clearly feel the border of the picture, then the oldest in age already tries not to go beyond and uses many colors. Figures for applications a child at 4 years old is already able to cut himself, gluing them into volumetric compositions. In three years, a child sculpts balls and sausages, and a year later it is able to connect sticks into a ring, create bizarre shapes that resemble heroes of fairy tales. From the age of three, fantasy begins to manifest itself actively, by the age of four it is already embodied in drawings and in games with plasticine.

As for musical development, it is important to teach listening to music and describe its character (sad or funny, fast or slow). It is necessary to support the desire of the child to sing and dance. You can familiarize yourself with musical instruments and the sounds they make, as well as the difference in the sound of notes.

Child Development Techniques

There are various author’s scripts for accelerated development classes. Many parents doubt the benefits of using developmental exercises, motivating them to be harmful, they will still be taught this in the garden and at school. But any knowledge, especially acquired unobtrusively, during the game, will not be superfluous. Consider the most commonly used methods for the development of children:

1. Nikitins program. The basic rule of work on this technique is, firstly, freedom in the classroom. Children are allowed to play indefinitely with their favorite subject or game, combining different activities. Secondly, the apartment should have a sports environment, special attention is paid to hardening. Thirdly, parents should participate in children's games, and most importantly, in the life of the child. You can not put pressure on the kids, but you should focus on their desire and well-being. Teachers focused on “advancing” development conditions.
2. Methodology of Maria Montessori. The main postulate of the teacher is to arouse the child's interest in actions with the subject, and not to force. The basis of the program is laid in an individual approach to the child. When planning classes, they focus on what the baby likes and what doesn't. The child performs the exercises on his own, occasionally resorting to the help of a teacher.
3. The technique of Glenn Doman. The teacher gives an important role to the physical improvement of the child, without which, in his opinion, “there will be no developed intelligence”. The speech development of children 3-4 years old begins with showing a set of cards on which the words are written entirely. For a short time the child is shown a set of cards, naming what is written. The baby also acquires the skills of counting with the help of cards, which depict a different number of points. In this case, you need to name the number of points, quickly changing maps. In the same way, the child is introduced to knowledge in the fields of art, history, music, and so on.

The choice of methodology remains with the parents. The development of children 3-4 years old is always accompanied by a huge number of questions and curiosity. Parents may not adhere to a specific plan in the classroom. The main thing is to be an open source of information for the child, as well as actively participate in his life.