Slide 1
Chapter 5- Early Childhood
(The Land of make-believe)
Body and Mind
Slide 2
Body Changes
Growth Patterns
• Children become slimmer as the lower
body lengthens.
• Each year from age 2 through 6, well-
nourished children add almost 3 inches in
height and gain about 4 1⁄2 pounds in
weight.
Slide 3
Body Changes
*Nutrition*
• Children need far fewer calories per pound of
body weight than infants do.
• Obesity (in the U.S.) is now epidemic and obesity
is increasing most dramatically in children.
• Children in low-income families are especially
vulnerable to obesity because their cultures still
guard against undernutrition and their parents may
rely on fast foods.
• Overfeeding is causing an epidemic of illnesses
associated with obesity, such as heart disease
and diabetes, even in children.
Slide 4
Body Changes
• Many children want foods that are high in
fat, salt, and sugar.
• Adults frequently give in, even rewarding
children with candy.
– Too much sugar and too little fiber rot the
teeth.
– Tooth decay is the most common disease of
young children in developed nations
Slide 5
Nutrition and Exercise
• What children eat affects their
skeletal growth, body shape and
susceptibility to disease.
• Exercise and physical activity
also are very important aspects of
young children’s lives.
Slide 6
OVERWEIGHT
YOUNG CHILDREN
Young children’s eating behaviour is
strongly influenced by their
caregiver’s behaviour.
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Slide 7
=SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR
HEALTHY EATING=
1. Eat with a predictable
schedule.
2. Model eating healthy food.
3. Make mealtime a pleasant
occasion.
4. Avoid, television, ipad, etc
during meal time.
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Slide 8
Brain Development
The Prefrontal Cortex
• Maturation of the prefrontal cortex gradually
enables children to focus attention and curb
impulsiveness (However it does not finish
maturing until the mid 20s).
• Before such maturation, many young children
jump from task to task; they cannot stay
quiet.
Slide 9
Brain Development
From ages 2 to 6, maturation of the
prefrontal cortex has several notable
benefits:
● Sleep becomes more regular.
●Emotions become more nuanced
(subtle difference) and responsive.
● Temper tantrums subside.
Slide 10
Thinking During Early Childhood
*Piaget: Preoperational Thought*
• Preoperational means ―before (pre)
logical operations (reasoning processes).‖
• The child’s verbal ability permits symbolic
thinking. Language frees the child from
the limits of sensorimotor experience.
Slide 11
Thinking During Early Childhood
*Characteristics of preoperational thought:
• Centration - A characteristic of
preoperational thought whereby a young child
focuses (centers) on one idea, excluding all
others.
• Egocentrism - Piaget’s term for young
children’s tendency to think about the world
entirely from their own personal perspective.
• Focus on appearance - A characteristic of
preoperational thought whereby a young child
ignores all attributes that are not apparent.
Slide 12
Thinking During Early Childhood
*Characteristics of preoperational thought:
• Static reasoning - A characteristic of preoperational
thought whereby a young child thinks that nothing
changes. Whatever is now has always been and
always will be.
• Irreversibility - A characteristic of preoperational
thought whereby a young child thinks that nothing can
be undone. A thing cannot be restored to the way it
was before a change occurred.
• Conservation - The principle that the amount of a
substance remains the same (i.e., is conserved) when
its appearance changes.
• Animism - The belief that natural objects and
phenomena are alive.
Slide 13
Thinking During Early Childhood
Slide 14
Thinking During Early Childhood
Vygotsky: Social Learning
• Every aspect of children’s cognitive
development is embedded in the social
context.
• Apprentice in thinking - Vygotsky’s term
for a person whose cognition is stimulated
and directed by older and more skilled
members of society.
Slide 15
Thinking During Early Childhood
Vygotsky: Social Learning
• Zone of proximal development (ZPD)-
Vygotsky’s term for the skills—cognitive as
well as physical—that a person can exercise
only with assistance, not yet independently.
• Scaffolding - Temporary support that is
tailored to a learner’s needs and abilities and
aimed at helping the learner master the next
task in a given learning process.
Slide 16
Thinking During Early Childhood
Vygotsky: Social Learning
• Private speech - The internal dialogue
that occurs when people talk to
themselves (either silently or out loud).
• Social mediation - Human interaction that
expands and advances understanding,
often through words that one person uses
to explain something to another.
Slide 17
Language
Vocabulary
• Language is pivotal to every kind of
cognition in early childhood.
• Early childhood is a sensitive period, the
best time to master vocabulary, grammar,
and pronunciation.
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Variations in Early Childhood
Education
1. Child Centered Kindergarten
= emphasis is on the process of
learning rather than what is
learned.
Slide 20
3 Principles
• Each child follows a
unique development pattern.
• Young children learn
best through first hand
experiences with people and
materials.
• Play is extremely
important in the child’s total
development.
Slide 21
2. Montessori Approach=
educational philosophy in which children
are given considerable freedom and
spontaneity on choosing activities (by
Maria Montessori). The Teacher must act
as a facilitator rather than a director.
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3. Development Appropriate Practice
= concern on activities that are age
appropriate and individual (unique)
appropriate.
Slide 25
Injuries and Maltreatment
Accidents
• Accidents are the leading cause of death
worldwide for people under age 40.
• Among 2- to 6-year-olds (in the United
States), four times more children die in
accidents than die of cancer, which is the
second most common cause of death.
• Injury control/harm reduction- Practices
that are aimed anticipating, controlling, and
preventing dangerous activities.
Slide 26
Injuries and Maltreatment
Maltreatment
• Child maltreatment
– Intentional harm to or avoidable endangerment of
anyone under 18 years of age.
• Child abuse
– Deliberate action that is harmful to a child’s
physical, emotional, or sexual well-being.
• Child neglect
– Failure to meet a child’s basic physical,
educational, or emotional needs.
Slide 27
Injuries and Maltreatment
Slide 28
Injuries and Maltreatment
Consequences of Maltreatment
• Severely maltreated children suffer
physiologically, academically, and socially in
every culture.
• The worst consequence is that maltreated
children come to consider other people to be
hostile and exploitative. That belief makes
them fearful, aggressive, and lonely.
• The earlier their abuse starts and the longer it
continues, the more trouble they have with
peers and adults.
Slide 29
Children’s Safety
=Children’s safety is
influenced not only by their
own skills and safety
behaviours but also by
characteristics of their family,
home, school, peers, etc..
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