A child’s development proceeds in phases. Development is an interesting process and gradually unfolds the possibilities that the child has within him. An infant, toddler, preschooler, school child and adolescent naturally approach life in completely different ways motorically, cognitively and socially-emotionally. At each stage of development, the child seeks a balance between the challenges offered by the environment and the skills it possesses.
Brain maturation
Based on maturation through which the central nervous system differentiates , children are continually given new opportunities to come into contact with their environment. Just after birth, nerve pathways are mainly unmyelinated . The myelination process takes place slowly from the head downwards. Increasing myelination means that the child is able to do more and more things, for example holding the head upright or crawling. As the child’s capabilities increase through increasing myelination, the child will also gain new experiences. The stages of development unfold through growth and myelination.
Myelination is the formation of a marrow covering around the nerves
The levels at which four skills arise
In the development of the brain, four levels are distinguished at an early stage, in which four skills also emerge:
- development of eye-hand coordination 2-4 months: motor skills of arms and hands become stronger. The child gains more control over this and is able to perform an action randomly. Through these first random actions, eye-hand coordination begins to emerge. The eye-hand coordination gives the child movement experiences through which he or she learns to think about the result in the movement performed. This gives the child the first insight into cause and effect. Between 7-8 months, actions can already take place based on cause and effect.
- development through hearing, seeing and feeling Continuing development in motor skills and perception means that children between 12-13 months are able to hold objects and look at them from all sides. They can also put objects somewhere. They also prefer to put the objects in their mouths. This way they get to know different shapes and objects (by looking) and different structures (by feeling). They also learn different sounds (by hearing).
- development of conscious thinking Information that children receive through moving, looking, feeling, listening, leads to symbol consciousness between 18-21 months: identifying objects and sounds and they learn that everything has a name. Conscious thinking starts now.
Development through play and play
Each phase must be fully experienced and experienced by the child ; this is of great importance for the maximum development of skills! When you are aware of the above phases, you will understand how important it is for a child to have space to play. You can also understand how important it is to offer a variety of play materials and toys. For example, something to put objects in, and something that makes a sound after doing a certain action. It is important to realize that one should not offer too many toys at once , and not put too many on the play mat or in the playpen. This actually hinders playing, and therefore development! The child cannot then make a choice and then becomes passive . So offer about three different pieces of play equipment and/or toys and swap them out after two days. Then the child is able to make a choice, take the initiative to play and gets busy.