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CHILDREN'S MINISTRY
Understanding Early Childhood:
Infants–Four-Year-Olds
by Robbin Mundy
Understanding Early Childhood: Infants – Four-Year-Olds
When do children begin to learn? What can be taught in the church setting? What is appropriate? How do we teach young children effectively? This chapter is written for those who teach very young children (birth through pre-kindergarten four-year-olds).
In order to answer these questions, we must begin with children. Much has been written and said about the needs of children in today's society. Children need to be loved and to know they are acceptable. They need to feel secure in every setting, be it at church, at day care, or at home. They also need to feel and develop some sense of control. Young children need to develop self-respect. They need to be able to be dependent and to grow into independence. Above all, young children need loving guidance.
From the time a child enters the breathing world, the child is a learner. Learners need to be taught by loving, caring, and knowledgeable teachers. Teachers for this age need to have a good understanding of the children they teach and take advantage of every teachable moment.
A good teacher will recognize an opportunity to teach when he or she realizes that children have made a discovery or experienced an "ah-ha" moment. This may mean that a child has finally gotten her toe to her mouth or been able to shake the rattle to make sounds. It may mean that she sees a bug crawling on the floor. Recently, there was a group of three-year-olds walking from their classroom to the outside playground. Andre usually wound up at the end of the line - slowly moving along - no need to hurry. The teacher usually had to remind him to keep up with the group. On this particular day, Andre not only was behind, he had come to a complete stop. What would you do in this situation? There he stood! The rest of the class was all the way down the sidewalk ready to enter the playground. The children started calling him, "Come on, Andre!" When the frustrated but wise teacher approached him, he said, "Ms. Cindy, can you feel the sunshine on your skin too?" A teachable moment! How does the sun feel? What happens if you stay out in the sun too long? Who made the sun? Why do you think God made it? How does the sun help the flowers? The wise teacher captures the moment and uses it to expand the child’s knowledge and understanding. The wisest teachers I know are wise because they have listened, paid attention, and learned from their children.
Young children are growing spiritual beings that start with the development of trust, at home and at church, to form a basic and foundation and understanding of God and spiritual values. They develop this understanding primarily through play, which teaches them through such things as stimulation and planned activities like imitation, active experimentation, repetition, sensory activities, and relationships with others.
Let us take a closer look at young learners:
The First Two Years
Babies up to three months old are capable of grasping an item when placed in their hand and are beginning to focus and have some eye control. They respond to stimulating activities such as hearing, seeing, and touching. Infants have different thresholds for stimulation. Over-stimulation may cause crying or fussiness. They know when their teacher is comfortable holding them and their greatest need is to be loved and properly cared for - most babies enjoy and need a lot of holding and touching. Teachers need to spend most of their time letting these children know they are loved in this place by the way they talk to them, hold them, sing to them, and enjoy new experiences with them. Constructive experiences for children this age may include listening to chimes, dancing to music, feeling fabric textures, looking at a shining light, and hearing a teacher softly sing while being rocked.
Four to six month old babies are capable of responding to others with cooing sounds. Their vision and eye-hand coordination skills have improved and their mobility is rapidly improving. During this time, young children enjoy faces of every kind and respond very well to voices, especially when the voice is in response to a sound they have made. Good activities for this age group include reaching for toys, playing peek-a-boo, listening to music, watching bubbles, looking in the mirror, manipulating toys, and squeezing and gumming soft fabric toys. Teachers need to be aware of their new abilities and protect these children from hurting themselves - when a child is able to grab the mobile, take it down.
Seven to nine month old babies expand their territory. Many can sit up alone and begin to wiggle, squirm, scoot, and even crawl around. They especially enjoy toys that have handles or some sort of part to grab, and like to dump things out of containers and investigate them. Close observation will reveal that they are beginning to play their own games. Their verbal abilities are heard in babbling, which is the beginning of language. They now communicate happy and sad feelings through facial expression and crying, with babbling beginning to fill in the blanks. Some good activities to use with this age group include singing movement songs, visiting other people (do a lot of this to help the child through the "being afraid of strangers" stage), listening and identifying different sounds, Clapping games, dumping and filling games, looking at picture books, and dancing to music.
At ten to twelve months, children are often interested in cause and effect. They may be trying to decide what they can do with an object to make something else happen. "If I turn my bowl over, my food will spill out. If I push this toy, I can hear music." Their vocabulary is rapidly increasing as they begin to use proper vowel sounds and consonants. Social skills have increased to the point that they may be comfortable and can be calmed by several familiar adults other than their parents. At the same time, ironically, separation anxiety reaches an all-new high for many children this age. Parents need to be assured that this is common for the age and that the best thing they can do is smile at their children, tell them they will see them in a little while, and leave. Many of these children will not trust the teacher for comfort as long as the parent is visible, but they will usually calm down in a few minutes if the parent is gone. Children of this age also prefer to be where the action is. Many are now "social butterflies," able to pull up, steady themselves, and perhaps take a step. Many of these children will develop walking and toddling over the next three months Good activities for this age group include dumping and filling, sorting toys, pull toys, floating and sinking activities, feeling cold objects, feeling textures, pop-up toys, stepping games, and listening for sounds they can make with rhythm instruments or shakers.
Thirteen to fifteen month old children often have developed their use of language to the point that there are probably a dozen recognizable words. They can respond to many simple commands because they understand more words than they can verbalize. For a few months, many of them will not be "people persons" at all. They may prefer to take a cracker off the plate as opposed to taking it from the hand of an adult or another child. Their behavior becomes more assertive - they may grasp things with both hands, charge into eating, touch everything in sight and in reach, and do a lot of things in a little bit of time. Attention spans, likewise, can be very short. Good activities to use with this age group include looking at a picture book together and letting the child point to the items called out, or say "dog" for the dog picture, drawing with a crayon on a blank piece of paper, sorting and shaping, moving to music, making music by using rhythm instruments, and taking nature walks or wagon rides.
By sixteen to eighteen months, many children are steady on their feet and may be able to run, start and stop without falling. They may run around the room randomly engaging in activity rather than planning to rock in the boat for a while and build with the blocks. While children at this age may grab anything they want no matter if someone else was playing with it or not, they are not intending to be mean, they just are not ready to think past their own wants to the feelings of others. Socially, these children may be becoming less interested in other people in their world. If they become a threat to them, they may react by biting. Teachers need to prevent biting by intervening. Good activities for this age child include taking a listening walk, playing with play-dough, working simple puzzles, responding to movement songs, playing instruments, pounding a toy workbench, playing in water or sand, stacking cardboard boxes or blocks, and cleaning with a damp sponge.
By nineteen to twenty one months, children's verbal skills continue to develop rapidly now but are used most often in discussions with themselves. These children much more interested in what they have to say than what anyone else has to say. At this age, many children are not really interested in other people except for the fact that the adults in their world are there to meet their needs, wants, and wishes. This should not be interpreted negatively - it will change - but right now the most important person in the world is "ME." If someone interferes with one of these children, a physical struggle may ensue. A toy that is offered to one child who says "no-no" may be offered to another. If the other child accepts the toy then undoubtedly the first child decides that they want it after all. Suggested activities that appeal to this age are sand and water play, shape and sort games, finger painting, drawing, movement songs, squirt bottles, washing plastic dishes, trying on hats, building with blocks, playing with balls, hiding, and planting.
Children at twenty two to twenty four months can walk, squat, go up and down stairs while holding on, and kick a ball. Many have increased their vocabulary to approximately twenty to twenty-five words and can follow simple directions. They enjoy books and music, can work puzzles, and can show people how frustrated they become when something will not work as they planned. Patient teachers - a real necessity at this age - resist the temptation of fixing the problem, but guide these children to correct the problem for themselves. These children may especially enjoy climbing and swinging activities. Good learning activities for this age group include crawling or running through a cardboard box, playing with trucks and cars, building with blocks, looking at books with bright and colorful pictures, playing dress-up, and easel painting.
Two-Year-Olds
Despite the horror stories, this is actually a calmer stage than one might expect. The first half of the year may be a satisfying time for these children because they can say much of what they want to say, accomplish much of what they wish to accomplish, and are generally happy. Twos "absorb" their world - nothing passes them by. These children frequently reach the "parallel play" stage, meaning there may be two or three children playing side-by-side, independent of each other. All of this is a part of their social development. They may hit, punch, or struggle with another child - not to be mean but to get what they want. Some twos are more aggressive than others, but in a few months behavior tends to balance out and aggression becomes more evenly matched. Fights are more likely to take place as children approach age three. "Time-out" - making sure children understand what they did wrong and allowing a few minutes to sit and think - usually works well for this age group. You should always let children be a part of the solution or guide them toward an appropriate solution Just sitting may only be punishment and it is better to strive to help children develop self-control than to punish them.
Toilet training occurs when the child is developmentally ready for it. Institutions who require children to be out of diapers by age two may be a bit insensitive to children’s needs. The natural time for a child to be completely toilet trained is somewhere between 24 and 36 months. You can ease the parents' minds by expecting the child "not" to be trained. When twos are grouped with threes, there seems to be an unspoken expectation of toilet trained twos.
Twos like to do things themselves. They try and then become easily frustrated, but usually just need your encouragement and some guidance rather than for you to take over the task. Sharing is not in their vocabulary or inclination. They need to be able to move freely around the room and will tend to move from activity to activity in an unorganized manner They are like sponges, however, and are taking in an enormous amount of information in spite of their business and activity. Good activities for twos include sorting by shape and color, hammering, building with blocks, working puzzles, looking at books, playing dress-up, molding and shaping play-dough, finger and easel painting, moving to movement records and singing simple songs.
Three-Year-Olds
While threes, like twos, begin the year happy, friendly, and calm, the second half of the year often becomes the opposite. These children desire a lot of attention from their parents and are often greatly pleased if parents give up something in order to spend time with them. They love new words and respond with great delight to the suggestion of a "surprise" or "new." These pleasant children may be energetic and eager to please at first, but at three-and-a-half, these children often move from conforming to rebelling. Their very secure behaviors now become quite insecure, and friends, even imaginary ones, become extremely important. Threes are doers who tend to need plenty of opportunity to become actively involved in learning situations. Their attention span has increased slightly and they are capable of sitting for a short period of time with classmates to hear an interesting story, sing a song, play a game, or engage in a group activity. Activities to offer threes include painting, painting and painting! Also include: building with blocks, sand play, planting seeds, singing, clapping, marching, constructing, cooking, cleaning, pretending, and playing games.
Four-Year-Olds
These children are often cheerful, lively, energetic, ridiculous, and ready for anything. They may exhibit a rather bossy or argumentative behavior as they enter this stage of self-expression - it has been said that a four-year-old would argue with a stop sign! Fours have discovered that adults really are not all-powerful, and that they possess quite a bit of power themselves. They may, therefore, be highly sure of themselves, which is quite an improvement over the way the three-and-a-half-year-old felt. Fours love new things, new people, new places, new toys, and new activities Parents are still very important to this age child and any change in parental looks or habits can become bothersome to them.
Fours can be called "speedy" because everything they do, they do quickly. They also have a very healthy imagination, which can be seen in their love of costumes and their artwork. Ask fours to draw a picture on a blank piece of paper and it will often change as they draw. Fours usually respond well to verbal restraints, "Walk to the door and stop to wait for the rest of the class,' but tend to live life just on the other side of the limits set for them. They also tend to become self-motivated and will respond to suggestion during an activity.
Fours love to hear stories about their parents and teachers and often accept stories, including imaginary or symbolic ones, as factual. They can accept the fact that God loves them and is everywhere, and that may become very important to them when they become frightened at bedtime. Fours usually pray to God with openness and honesty, often delighting in telling God about all the people they love. Pleasing activities for this age child include drama, cooking, cutting and gluing, taping and stapling, singing, dancing, active group games, and storytelling.
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