During development, children undergo developmental stages from birth to adulthood to become mature people (Casper, 2009). Children who successfully complete these stages show talent and outstanding capabilities. Physical development is the most important aspect among the major domains of early childhood development. It is determined by the ability for children to relate, understand, communicate and live with other people in the society properly. Curriculum planning for children should be properly developed to suit the five shelves of development. Physical planning covers only the early stages of childhood developmental domain and is interrelated with all the five shelves of development (Torkildsen, 2009).
Physical
Physical exercise helps children to learn how to move and balance the body without falling during the early stages of childhood development. During this stage, lines that provide support should be provided for children to use for exercising. Also, at this stage, children develop large motor skills using balls. They start by holding and throwing balls or stones as well as doing somersaults independently. This stage leads to the physical growth of children especially when supplemented with good nutrition. Planning at this stage should involve teaching the importance of eating a balanced diet, cooking food and the life cycle of an individual (Torkildsen, 2009).
Social
Social development is the ability and extent to which children associate amongst themselves and other people. Usually, conflicts develop among themselves and other people and this helps to learn conflict resolution skills. At this stage, children prefer association with others and this helps to develope team playing abilities with others (Casper, 2009). Through physical development, children are able to distinguish between reality and fun but they will always prefer fun playing. Here children should be taught how to coexist with others, understanding gender issues and family ethnic matters to be mentally healthy. Emotionally healthy children will appreciate other people’s feelings in society.
Cognitive
Physical development helps children to grow the mental thinking ability. At this stage, children are involved in sorting items according to their sizes or color. At times, the blue and green colors are difficult to differentiate. Children then become very inquisitive to learn alphabetical letters and numerals that make it possible to tell truth from lies. Here, they should be taught real life experiences to be able to make informed decisions independently (Torkildsen, 2009).
Communicative
Growth helps to develop children ability to understand and express issues by word of mouth correctly. Communication starts by using single words and advances to short sentences (Torkildsen, 2009). In the initial stages, only those who are close will understand but later on they develop communication skills to be understood by strangers. At completion of this stage, children will reply immediately to any question posed to them. Curriculum planning at this stage should involve teaching more new words to understand the language fluently. Other languages should also be introduced apart from the first language that was taught.
Adaptive
Daily routine tasks give children skills required for day to day basic activities like putting on clothes, cleaning, feeding and using toilets. Children are able to dress up properly without any assistance, feed properly especially liquid foods, use the toilet properly and button up again independently. Planning here should enable children to be given an opportunity to try out things alone and be corrected if wrong (Casper, 2009).
References
Casper, V. (2009). Introduction to early childhood education: Learning together. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Torkildsen, G. (2009). Leisure and recreation management. New York: Oxford University press.