Development at 51 Months
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Activity 1
Age Appropriate Fine Motor Development
Copies A Picture of A Stick Figure
 I am learning to copy the picture of a stick figure! Sit beside me at the table with the picture of a stick figure, a pencil and blank paper. Observe if I am able to copy the picture of the stick figure on the blank paper. I usually develop the ability to copy the picture of a stick figure between 48 and 60 months (4 years and 5 years). |
Steps
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Sit beside your child at the table with the picture of a stick figure, a pencil and blank paper. Premium members : You can login and print out the pictures under the "Tools" section.
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Observe if your child is able to copy the picture of the stick figure on the blank paper.
Feedback
Your child has developed good visual perception and visual-motor integration skills for this activity. These are essential foundation skills for good writing and copying abilities. He is also developing a very good sense of body awareness and spatial relationships, which are extremely important learning skills. You may look at the suggested activities for more ideas with this task.
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Challenge your child further by getting him to draw stick figures of different heights and sizes.
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You may also get him to fill in details such as eyes, nose, ears etc. within the stick figure. This will help strengthen his spatial planning skills.
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 If you child has some difficulties in this activity, you may try to help by get him to trace over dotted lines of a picture of a stick figure. Gradually decrease the dotted lines as he improves and finally get him to copy the picture on a blank sheet of paper.
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You may break up the various parts of a stick figure for your child, i.e. draw one part at a time (a circle first for the head, followed by a straight line down for the body etc.) and get your child to imitate your steps.
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You may also put up some paper on the wall or use a chalkboard to motivate your child to copy the picture of a stick figure, or have him draw the picture in sand or grains with his fingers to make it more interesting.
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Discuss the body parts of a person and the relationships between the various parts whenever possible. This will help strengthen your child's body awareness.
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Incorporate the learning of various body parts with rhymes and action songs such as "head and shoulders, knees and toes" or " two little feet go tap tap tap" etc.
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Activity 2
Age Appropriate Speech, Language And Communication Development
Uses 'Have'/'Has' To Form Past Tense
 I can now use ‘have/has/had’ to indicate past tense when speaking. For example, I might say, 'Look at the red car! I have that!'. I usually develop the ability to do this when I am between 49 and 54 months old. (4 year 1 month and 4 year 6 months). |
Steps
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Present a simple comic strip to your child. Make sure that the comic strip does not contain too much information in the drawings. One or two details are fine.
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Ask your child if he is able to tell you what happened in the comic strip.
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Observe if your child is able to respond using 'have' to form past tense.
Feedback
It is important to remember that when asking your child questions, you don't need to provide direct prompts to imitate. Only prompt when necessary. Do not fret if he is still not using these words yet, remember that a child usually develops the ability to use 'have/has/had' to indicate past tense when speaking when he is between 49 and 54 months. He is growing and learning to hone his language skills. Gently correct your child by repeating what he said in the correct form. That way, he can learn in a non-threatening way.
You may look the suggested activities for more ideas to help him learn to use these words.
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Play shopping- set up a fun obstacle course to get to the 'shop' and have your child ask the 'shop keeper' (a.k.a. mummy/daddy),'Have you any...?'.
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Play simple card games like 'Happy Families'. It involves asking for cards. 'Do you have Miss Taylor, do you have Master Thread' etc.
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Spread out 3-5 cards in front of your child. Ask him to identify the right card based on the clues you give. E.g. She has a red ribbon. You may start with less obvious clues so that your child has to ask for more clues and get to hear more of your models. Once he guesses correctly, it's his turn!
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