1. An Overview of the Areas of Child Development
Three to Seven Years

2. Five Areas Of Development
Physical
Cognitive
Language
Emotional / Social

3. Aged 3 – 5 years AGE 3 to 5 years PHYSICAL COGNITIVE LANGUAGE
SOCIAL / EMOTIONAL
Can hop
Good sense of past, present, future
Wide range of vocabulary and use it appropriately
Most will have developed a stable self concept
Use a variety of play equipment – swing, slides, climbing frames
Becoming literate – recognise and write own name, responds to books and interested in reading
Sentences usually correctly constructed, although incorrect grammar may be used
This is based on their own inner understanding and knowledge about who they are
Plays ball games well
Understand one-to-one principles and counts reliably to 10
Questions and discussions are for enquiry and information
Those who see themselves as likeable will not change their view of themselves if another child says that they don’t like them
Walk along a balancing beam
Concentration skills developing – up to 10 minutes at an appropriate task
Will offer opinions in discussions
Draw a person with head, trunk, legs, eyes, nose, mouth
Thinking increasingly coordinated and able to hold more than one point of view
Learning to understand ambiguities and subtleties such as irony and metaphor.
Good control of pencils and paintbrushes
Can sew large stitches

4. Aged 5 – 7 years AGE 5 to 7 years PHYSICAL COGNITIVE LANGUAGE
SOCIAL / EMOTIONAL
Can climb and balance well on apparatus
Able to conserve number (number of objects remains the same however they are presented)
Use, practise, adapt and refine language knowledge and skills
Much of the child’s personality and sense of self is established.
Hops easily on either foot, well balanced
May conserve mass and capacity
Use language for a wide range of purposes –
self maintaining (Stop it! I’m thirsty),
directing (You push the car around the track)
reporting (We walked to the bus stop then caught the bus)
towards logical reasoning (I didn’t want to go because I hadn’t finished my drawing)
predicting (The wheel will fall off if you don’t stick it on properly)
projecting (I wouldn’t like to be a rabbit and live in a cage, would you?)
imaging (Hello, I am Dr James, how can I help you?)
Established personal identity, social and cultural identity, gender role, attitudes to life, and skills for independence.
Rides two wheeled bicycle
Can perform simple addition and subtraction mentally
Catch ball with one hand
May tell time from clock or watch
Holds pencil similar to adults
Developing ability to reason and understand cause and effect
Writes well
Begin to read independently
Draw a person with increasing detail (hairstyle, eyebrows etc)
Concentrate for longer periods of time
Can sew neatly with large needle