| Between ages two and five, most physical | | | | Most young children practice their gross motor skills |
| developments occur rapidly. The most obvious physical | | | | wherever they are, whether at school climbing on the |
| developments are changes in body size and shape. | | | | slide, sandboxes, or strolling sidewalk curbs for |
| More crucial changes involve the maturation of the | | | | balancing. Gross motor skills are clearly important to |
| brain and central nervous system. This maturation | | | | develop in the five year old, because they encourage |
| allows the mastery of motor skills that sets the five | | | | him/her to be focused, adventurous, and playful. |
| year old apart from a toddler. | | | | Fine motor skills, involving small body movements, of |
| During the preschool year children become slimmer as | | | | hands and fingers, are a little more challenging for a |
| the lower body grows and some of the fat from | | | | five year old to master than gross motor skills. Such |
| infancy is burned off. The five year old child no longer | | | | skills would include pouring juice from a pitcher into a |
| has the sharp stomach, round face and short limbs. | | | | glass without spilling or cutting food with a knife and |
| Major changes are taking place in their small bodies | | | | fork. Five year old children spend hours trying to tie a |
| and the astute teacher must he aware of them to | | | | how with their shoelaces The reason many five year |
| enhance, communicate, and target their lessons | | | | olds experience this difficulty is due to the fact that |
| toward the individual child. | | | | they have not developed the muscular control |
| At age five, according to the book Early Childhood by | | | | patience, and judgment needed for the exercise of |
| Doreen Knight, children are experiencing different | | | | fine motor skills. |
| physical and developmental profiles and growth | | | | What I have discovered about five year old children's |
| patterns. These include increases in height and weight | | | | physical development is that their energy level and |
| and changes in body proportions. Interestingly as well, | | | | readiness to move contributes to a a willingness to |
| the changes in body portions from age two through | | | | participate in aerobic type teaching activities. Knowing |
| five in well fed children, shows a gain of three inches | | | | this informs me that one must not just lecture to |
| and about four pounds per year! By age five,the | | | | children in rote words, but to also utilize modeling and |
| average child in a developed nation weighs about forty | | | | scaffolding with bright bold pictures and words. |
| six pounds and measures forty six inches tall. | | | | Some five year olds can run, climb, jump, and throw. A |
| The diet during the five year olds' years should be a | | | | teacher could even teach the famous school lunch |
| healthy one. One of the most common deficiencies | | | | nutrition pyramid with hand/eye coordinated |
| taking place in developed countries is iron deficiency | | | | moves.When teaching to five year olds, one must |
| anemia, a chief symptom of chronic fatigue. This | | | | utilize the knowledge that they must use their hands, |
| problem occurs from an insufficiency of quality meats, | | | | and work and play with a wide variety of objects. |
| whole grains and dark-green vegetables. | | | | Lightweight balls, beads, and other fine motor |
| Gross motor skills, involving large body movements | | | | manipulative objects can enhance student learning |
| such as running, climbing, jumping, and throwing, | | | | because it makes sense to the students' cognitive and |
| improve substantially during the five year olds' year. | | | | physical development at this crucial age. |