Development at 42 Months
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Activity 1
Age Appropriate Social Development
Again After Failing Once
 It can be very frustrating if I keep failing after many tries. The important thing here is that I continue to try again at least 1 time after I have failed. It is always good to provide reassurance when I am unable to do something and encourage me to try again. I will try at least once after I fail between 42 and 46 months (3 year 6 months and 3 year 10 months). |
Steps
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Observe your child in a natural setting. E.g. when your child is involved in a task like gluing macaroni onto a piece of artwork.
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Observe: a. Is your child easily frustrated/discouraged when he has difficulty? ; b. Will he try again when you motivate him to do so? ; c. Does he try another way of doing it? ; d. Does he give up and insist on trying a new activity altogether?
Feedback
Your child is developing his sense of confidence at this stage. Your encouragement and understanding of what he can and cannot do helps him to feel safe enough to try again. With your encouragement, your child is unafraid of failing and is confident enough to try again and not give up.
REMEMBER: Whenever your child feels MOTIVATED, SUCCESSFUL and is NOT DISTRACTED by the things around him, he will have the ability to attend and persist on task. Look at our suggestions below to help him grow up to be a confident child who tries, persists and feels that he is able to master little challenges that come along his way.
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Always demonstrate to your child first how to do something before expecting him to do it on his own.
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List all the steps needed in a new or challenging activity/task. Help your child to achieve each step before going to the next step.
E.g. To brush his teeth successfully, the steps may be:
- Uncover the toothpaste
- Place the toothpaste on the toothbrush
- Brush teeth with your help
- Brush teeth without your help
- Rinse with water
- Towel dry his mouth
After you have listed the steps down, teach him one step at a time. You may do so sequentially from STEP 1 to STEP 5 (psychologists and educationalists call this teaching method "forward chaining") and reward him for each step forward he makes. Alternatively, you can teach him using a method call "backward chaining" where you do every STEP from 1-4 and leave the last step for him to do himself. Praise him on doing that step. Go backwards to the previous step once he achieve the last step.
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Plan developmentally appropriate activities/tasks for your child (i.e. activities/tasks that are within his level of abilities). E.g. if your child is having difficulty coloring within the lines in a picture, then try to engage him in coloring within the lines, instead of requiring him to copy square and triangles. His finger control has not developed to such as extent yet to draw deliberate shapes and lines.
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Create a distraction free corner for your child in his room. This can be the habitual place where he sits down, does and completes his own work.
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Allow short breaks between activities, instead of giving him a string of activities at one go.
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 Always reinforce your child's efforts in trying to complete a task, whether these efforts are successful according to your expectation or not. This creates positive motivation for him in learning. Remember your child at this age wants to please you more than anything in the world. So do praise your child specifically. Frequent critical, disapproving and negative personal comments can create a lack of self-confidence in your child.
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Teach your child to try a particularly difficult task in a different way if he is stuck doing it his own way.
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Activity 2
Age Appropriate Cognitive Development
Identifies Same Objects Or Pictures Based On Functions
 I can identify the same objects or pictures that are used for the same purpose. When you show me a picture (e.g. of a shirt), I can pick out from a row of 4 other pictures the one (pair of pants) that goes together with your picture because of the way they are similarly used. Watch me do this between 40 and 71 months (3 year 4 months to 5 year 11 months). |
Steps
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Get 5 picture cards, which 2 cards have picture of objects used for the same purpose, e.g. a shirt and pants (for wearing), or a fork and a spoon (for eating). Premium members : You can login and print out the pictures under the "Tools" section.
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Place the 4 pictures in a row in front of your child.
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Take another picture in your hand. Show your picture to the child.
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Ask your child to label your picture and say what the picture is used for.
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When he is successful, ask your child, "Which one of these" (point to the row of cards in front of the child) "is the same as this one" (show him your picture).
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Ask him how those 2 pictures are the same.
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Note his response.
Feedback
Your child is learning to identify the objects/pictures according to their respective functions in this activity. This requires conceptual understanding beyond the items' physical attributes and is a significant development milestone in the levels of discrimination and classification skill. He will need to be able to compare their similarities and differences based on how each of these items are used and not only their physical appearance. The ability to identify similar objects/pictures in terms of functions usually develops between 3 year 4 months to 5 year 11 months.
Look at the suggestions for ideas to develop and use this skill.
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Make use of any naturally occurring situations that will help teach your child about categorizing, e.g. when you are folding clothes, keeping the forks and spoons or even sorting his toys, you can say, "This is a sock, we wear them on our feet. This is a shirt, we can wear them on our bodies." These are great opportunities to facilitate his categorical understanding.
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Teach your child all about one category when you are at a specific place with him, e.g. discuss what he can find in the playground. You can point out that slides, swings and monkey bars are the same because we can play on them. They are also the same because they are found in the playground.
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Play a sorting game with baskets. Place 2 baskets in front of him. Sort 2 groups of objects/pictures based on their functions or categories (animals, clothes) together with him. Label each one and highlight its function and category as you keep each picture.
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