Materials:
None
Instructions:
1. Five is a fun and enjoyable age. Five-year-olds are cheerful, cooperative, and
uninhibited in displaying emotions. They have hearts full of hugs!
2. Learning language is an important stage of development for five-year-olds.
Before they can read and write, children must have a large vocabulary, which
they add to every day. They practice by chatting during activities and are
experts at listening to adults and acting out what they see and hear.
Phonemic awareness (listening to sounds that are the same and different) is
normally developed at this time.
3. Children become moe independent at age five. An exciting environment that
they can explore usually supersedes separation from their family. They do
worry about when they will be picked up and mention it from time to time,
but as long as they are given an answer, they move forward in play.
4. Schedules are essential to a five-year-old. They will be the first ones to tell
you what happened yesterday at this time and remind you to keep to the
same plan. A combination of teacher-chosen and independent selections
makes for a good balance in activities. Mentally engrossing activities should
be followed by free play in about twenty minute periods.
5. Five-year-olds can be clumsy and often run into things. Large motor activities
such as running, climbing, hopping, riding, and reaching help them develop
more coordination.
6. Singing, painting, listening, and movement are the multi-sensory ways in
which five-year-olds learn. They love to imitate the doctor’s office, riding on
a school bus, and activities with which they are familiar. By mimicking these
experiences, they are able to make them their own.
7. Writing comes at many different developmental levels at the age of five.
Wavy lines, writing imitation, letter practice, and legible words are some
examples. Keep pencils and paper at learning centers as well as books, so the
children can write recipes, notes, building plans, and letters. Usually the
children’s names are the first words they can write. They delight in learning to
write the names of their family members and the children that are around them.
8. This is an age where children develop social interaction. Anger may be
followed shortly by laughter and friendliness. Children’s emotions are fleeting
and they get over things in a short time.
9. Above all, five is fun! Talking, climbing, writing, singing, and listening are
ways that they make friends and discover their environment in their venture
to independence.
