CHAPTER

6
Learning Activity
Subtopics: -
1.1 Personality, Socioeconomic and Spiritual Development
 Model 1: Age 0-6 month
 Model 2: Age 6-12 month
 Model 3: Age 1-2-year old
 Model 4: Age 2-3-year old
 Model 5: Age 3-4-year old
 Model 6: Age 4

1.1 Personality, Socioeconomic and Spiritual Development

Children's play preferences reflect the values that they're being raised in. Children from a
more individualistic culture may prefer to spend time alone. They may prefer to spend time
doing competitive activities. The unique cultural influences children respond to from birth,
including customs and beliefs around food, artistic expression, language, and religion,
affect the way they develop emotionally, socially, physically, and linguistically.

 Model 1: Age 0-6 month

A baby tends to get startled a lot, but learns to self-soothe and is relatively responsive to
their caregiver. At six months old, an infant can recognise familiar faces. Therefore, it might
be visible that they upset when being with a stranger. They use different cries to

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communicate their needs to them caregiver. Including social and emotional, language
development, and cognitive (learning, problem-solving, and thinking skills.) To help your
little one along their way, you can choose from an endless array of activities for babies to
stimulate your lovebug's curiosity and progress. Here are eight activities to try with your
baby. And remember, the most important thing you can do is shower your baby with lots of
love.

 Singing

Singing is a beautiful way to explore emotions with your baby. By using vocal range and
rhyming songs, you can show your baby how to find comfort in soft songs or how to express
excitement and happiness with fast-paced and bouncy melodies.

 Talking

Babies might not know how to talk yet, but the more you talk to them, the faster they pick
up verbal cues. Parents who spend time talking to their babies show their little ones that
conversing means taking turns talking. Babies also begin to learn appropriate voice levels
and tone. And sure, it will be a while before they practice these details, but they pick it up
and store it away for future use. When babies begin to babble, try talking back and
practice taking turns.

 Mirror Games

Babies and narcissists have something in common: They love mirrors. They get a kick out of
seeing their faces and playing with their reflections. This is something you can build upon
with mirror games. Clap together, make silly faces, play peek-a-boo, and ask your child,
"who is that?" to help them learn about reflections and emotions.

 Sitting up, Kicking and Wiggling

Just like tummy time, movement time is essential for developing muscles and gross motor
skills. If your baby has begun to master holding up their head, try holding their hands and
gently pulling them from the supine to the sitting up position. This movement engages their
core body muscles as well as their hand grip.

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  Model 2: Age 6 – 12 months

Developmental milestones provide a guide so parents and health professionals can track
children's abilities and identify potential concerns. But remember: all children develop at
their own pace. Some master skills quickly while others may need a little more time. Try not
to compare your babe to other children, even siblings. Let your child develop on his or her
own timeline, and discuss any concerns with your paediatrician. Here are some of the child
development milestones your little may hit in their first year.

 Gross Motor Skill

Gross motor skills are things your baby does with their large muscles, including those in the
legs, arms, torso, and neck. Some things your 6-month-old through 12-month-old baby
would be doing include:

a) Sits independently.
b) Reaches for feet and toes.
c) Sits up from tummy time.
d) Stands with support.
e) Walks sideways while holding onto furniture ("cruising").
f) Stands briefly without support.
g) Takes steps while holding your hand.

 Fine Motor Skill

Fine motor skills use the small muscles in the hands and fingers. These include things like:

a) Picks up small objects using hands and fingers.

b) Bangs two items together.
c) Transfers toys and objects between hands.
d) Points using the index finger.
e) Explores and examines toys by pulling, poking, tearing, etc.
f) Drops objects into containers.

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  Self-Help Skills

Children at this age can learn skills that help them reach independence, such as:

a) Locate objects after watching them disappear.

b) Look at picture books.
c) Use objects as tools after you model how.
d) React to cause and effect toys that light up or play music.

 Speech Skills

Identifiable speech and communication skills usually come closer to 12 months. By their first
birthday, babies can usually:

a) Respond to the word "no".

b) Follow simple directions like "Go find daddy".
c) Say mama and dada.
d) Use gestures, such as pointing, nodding head, or waving "bye-bye".

 Cognitive Skills

Cognitive skills relate to the mental processes of perception, memory, judgment, and
reasoning. Between 6 and 12 months, this can include:

a) Locate objects after watching them disappear.

b) Look at picture books.
c) Use objects as tools after you model how.
d) React to cause and effect toys that light up or play music.

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  Model 3: 1 – 2 years old

Toddlers that are in the 1-2-year-old age group are starting to gain better control of their
body parts and movements. They may be starting to walk and fascinated by the world and
new things around them. To help them learn and grow. Some of the main areas we can
focus on when engaging in learning activities for this age group are sensory play, fine motor
activities, gross motor activities, and arts/crafts.

 Why sensory play?

Sensory play is a toddler’s best friend. You can accomplish so much through a sensory
activity from simply exposing your little one to a new experience, to building vocabulary, to
pretend play opportunities. Often times when we hear sensory play we think “messy.” It
doesn’t have to be this way! You’ll find a couple of ideas here that can be just as fun,
without too much mess. But- making a mess is okay, too. Lay a towel down and embrace
it.

 Why arts and crafts?

One word: creativity. Have you ever heard of anything negative happening from letting a
child be creative? In the right context that is. ;) When doing arts and crafts, you are exposing
children to a new experience, allowing them to create, and usually building fine motor skills,
vocabulary, and maybe even providing some sensory play ALL AT THE SAME TIME.

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  Model 4: 2 – 3 years old

Children at this age will try to exert their independence, but in reality, they are still very much
dependent on their parents and teachers. They are now able to "feel" the emotion of others
and learn how to care about others using imitating how they are cared for. They are also
improving the expression of emotions, but still not able to put a word to the emotion that
they are feeling.

a) Glue bits of paper. Tape the corners of a large piece of paper onto a surface. Then,
have your child take cut-up pieces of thick paper (even junk mail!) and glue them
onto the larger piece.
a) Play dough. The options are endless! Grab a rolling pin and flatten play dough pieces,
or take cookie cutters to cut out shapes. Roll them into long strings and balls, or show
him how to pinch pieces off with his fingers. Describe the colours, and combine them
to make new ones.
b) Finger painting. This was a hit at our home! I bought three bottles of the primary
colours—red, blue, and yellow—and let my kids mix and paint. Dress him down to
diapers or cover him with a smock for easier clean-up.
c) Stickers on cards. Practice fine motor skills and have him peel and apply stickers on
thick card stock paper that’s folded in half to make a card. You can then use the
card for letter writing or gifts (especially if the stickers have a theme).
d) Sidewalk chalk. Combine outdoor time with creative activities! Perfect to take to the
park, too. If you have to stay indoors, drawing on a chalkboard works as well.
e) Boxes of all sizes. Save all those cardboard boxes you get shipped to your home and
see what he can turn them into. One might be a house for stuffed animals, another
a dance floor to tap his feet on, and another a toy airplane.

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  Model 5: 3 – 4 years old

Children at this stage have a relatively good repertoire of words and can be quite chatty.
They are now able to play better with other children and can solve conflicts with some help
from an adult.

a) Magnets. One of the best ways I kept my kids occupied was with magnets of letters
and numbers on the kitchen fridge. That kept them occupied while I cooked and
prepared food.
b) Puzzle pieces. Now that your little one is in the two to three-year-old range, challenge
her with a more difficult puzzle, like a 48-piece set. Encourage problem solving skills
and don’t save her from every struggle or difficult puzzle.
c) Board games. Play simple board games (I especially like cooperative board games
where players work together). Even board games for older kids can be played to her
level if you follow her lead.
d) Matching games. Use matching card games, or make some of your own! Cut out
circles, squares, triangles, and rectangles in various colours. Have her match the
pieces by shape, then by colour.
e) Learn new songs. Create a playlist of children’s music and sing along to them. Dance
along, especially to those with physical routines like Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes.
And expose her to live music, from musicians at farmers markets to summer or winter
concerts.

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  Model 6: 4 years old

Children at this stage are now able to use sentences with more than five words. At this stage,
friends become quite important to them, and they find ways to please their friends. They
are better at controlling their emotions, provided that they are taught how to express their
emotions appropriately.

a) Shape it with Playdough: Playing with playdough and moulding it is one of the best
sensory activities for 4-year olds. In this activity, kids learn about different shapes by
moulding the shapes using playdough. Give kids a sheet with images of different
shapes like – circle, triangle, rectangle, square, rhombus, pentagon, hexagon, etc.
b) Sorting Blocks: Building blocks are amazing for teaching little kids something new or
even practicing something they already know. These blocks come in different
shapes, sizes and vibrant colours. In this activity, your child learns to recognize
different colours and sort them. You can also ask the child to sort the blocks
according to their size.
c) Trace on Sand: Beach visits can be turned into good learning experiences for your
kids with activities like these. Ask your child to trace the letters of the alphabet,
numbers and even words on the sand. You can also turn this into a shape learning
game by making kids trace and identify different shapes.
d) Outdoor Walks: The best activity to engage 4-year olds is to take them for a walk.
Take them to a park or a place where they can play with sand, trees, animals and
interact with other children. They will learn to respect nature and become
compassionate towards the environment and the animals around. Most importantly,
they will develop social skills.

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