Stacie Stewart & Katrina Pickett 4/9/2013 ECE 200 Final Project

Final Project
In this paper we will discuss developmentally appropriate activities for children in the areas of physical and literacy development. For each of the two development areas, we will discuss one activity for toddlers, one activity for preschool-aged children and one activity for primary-aged children. For our first physical development activity, we decided to make it for toddlers around the age of 24 months. Our activity is rolling/throwing a ball back and forth to another child or an adult. The people in this activity can be sitting or standing so there is not an absolute need for the child to be able to walk. If they cannot walk or just prefer to sit, they can do so. This activity is appropriate for twenty-four month olds because children at this age range learn to jump, tiptoe, march, throw and kick a ball (Copple and Bredekamp, eds, 2009, p.66). It is also an important activity because some children need to explore objects by acting on them; they must throw, swing, bang or bend them to fully understand their properties (Trawick-Smith, 2010, p. 197). A ball is a perfect object to be thrown! Our second physical development activity is for preschool children at the age of four. The activity is making necklaces with string and beads or pasta. We would provide each child with a piece of string and several containers full of beads and pasta. They

could design it however they pleased. This activity is appropriate for four year olds because they are at the age where they require hands-on activities (Copple and Bredekamp, eds, 2009, p.114). Hands-on activities like this help children to develop their hand muscles and fine-motor skills ( Copple and Bredekamp, eds, 2009, p.117). Table 10-2 in Early Childhood Development says that by the end of the preschool years, children usually can coordinate hand and arm movements with vision, hearing, touch and other senses (Trawick-Smith, 2010, p. 208). This activity is a perfect example of this. The children have to coordinate their hand movements with vision because they have to get the string through the small hole on the bead or piece of pasta. Our last physical development activity is for children in their primary years at the age of eight. Our activity is doing an easy coordinated line-dance, an example of this would be the Hokey Pokey or Cupid Shuffle. Adults can join in on these dances as well! The Developmentally Appropriate Practice text states that children in their primary years have greater coordination of their bodies in space, such as with balance tasks, and learn to sequence a series of movement skills; for example,... or learn the steps to a relatively simple dance ((Copple and Bredekamp, eds, 2009, p.262). This is also backed up in our Early Childhood Development text. It says that children in this age group can coordinate their movements (Trawick-Smith, 2010, p. 336). A line-dance is a great way to teach children how to coordinate their movements while doing a sequence of movements. Some line-dances also help with balance like in the Hokey Pokey when you shake your foot all about. All of these activities can be changed to suit different children. Because toddlers

develop at different rates or could have a disability, some may not be able to walk. This is why there is an option to sit or stand. For the preschool activity, you can vary the size of the string and beads so children that have difficulties with their fine -motor movements are able to participate as well. For the primary-aged activity, you can start out with simple line-dances and gradually work your way up to more advanced dances as the children improve. If you have children from different cultures in your classroom, you could ask their parents if they have any coordinated dances that you could learn and teach it to the class. This would help all children feel included in the classroom activities. Now we will discuss the developmentally appropriate activities for literacy. For literacy the three activities we came up with are preschool age four they would scribble or write the best they could a story, and then draw a picture about their story. Childrens earliest writing looks like scribbling. (Trawick-Smith, 2010, p 283) This helps the child to learn how to write and also use their imagination, as well as reading what they wrote. Teachers can do many things to enrich and extend childrens inherent interest in language, whether through attentive listening and good, extended conversations; reading books aloud and discussing them; or providing literacy materials, such as books and writing materials. (Copple, Bredekamp, 2009, p 144) This shows that by using this activity in the classrooms is giving the children writing materials to write their own stories. The more children practice writing and drawing the better they will get writing and drawing. Not every child learns in the same way as another, so by having the children complete this activity it gives the children a chance to think for themselves. They can be creative in their own ways, and at the same time learning to becoming a better writer.

The activity for elementary age eight is writing a story and then acting it out. Their writing, which may be composed of scribbles or isolated letters, looks very different from adult text. (Trawick-Smith, 2010, p 409) Since this is an older age group this gives the child a different way of expressing themselves then the preschool age activity. Children at this age will also still have some scribbles but will be writing with letters. Children at this age can be in different stages of writing Prephonemic stage, Phonemic stage, Transitional stage, and Conventional stage. By acting out the story it gives the children a fun way to make their story come alive, along with strengthening their writing skills. Creating varied opportunities for sub stained practice, such as in individual, partner, and group activities. (Copple. Bredekamp, 2009, p 286) This is saying that by having the children acting out their stories whether it be in a group, individual, or with a partner helps them develop literacy better. The activity for infants age two is having a child read a story to you, even though they probably wont know the words very well. Just by letting the infants read to you and listening to how they read is good for the infant. Even if the adult reads to the infant it will be able to listen and learn a lot from listening to the adult read. From infancy on, children learn from the adults around them that listening and talking are enjoyable activities that often help them in getting what they need (Copple, Bredekamp, 2009, p 206) Babbling stage is good the infant is on the right track and learning. Babbling- is a repetitive vocalization that babies perform during much of the first year of life. (Trawick Smith, 2010, p 151) Each activity has a different age group assigned to it because at every age where going through different developmental phases.