Child development at 4 years old (what should be able to)
Parents are always interested in how their child develops. I would like to find out in which areas he particularly succeeded, and which should be paid closer attention. What should a modern four-year-old child know and be able to:
- find and recognize a square, circle, oval, triangle;
- understand the meaning of generalizing words - utensils, furniture, vehicles, toys, clothes;
- know several professions, names of trees, animals;
- show objects on the left, right, top, bottom;
- compare objects in size - length, height, width;
- Understand where one subject, and where many;
- accurately paint without leaving the line;
- string beads, buttons;
- determine which of 4-5-6 items has disappeared;
- retell the content of the tale;
- distinguish between weather phenomena, seasons, days;
- call habitual household appliances, recognize them by color, shape, purpose;
- Know the detailed home address, names of mom, dad, grandfathers, grandmothers;
- consider a picture, a toy, an object and compile its description from three to four sentences.
These are average indicators. Your child may as well be ahead of them, and not reach. You should not be upset, it is better to devote more time to its development. It is possible to attract specialists to help.
Childcare at 4 years old
At 4 years old, the child is quite independent and performs many daily procedures without the help of adults. It is only necessary to remind him occasionally whether he forgot to wash, wash his hands, brush his teeth or rinse his mouth after eating. If the child is not yet accustomed to wash his neck, ears, and mouth care in the morning, he must be taught this. He should have his own towel, comb, toothbrush and a glass. To make the morning hygiene ceremony more interesting, you need to buy bright hygiene products and other accessories for your children.
After each walk in the summer, it is imperative to wash your feet, rinse your child in the evening in the shower, and bathe more carefully at least once a week. The child needs to instill intolerance to dirt and sloppiness. He will quickly get used to cleanliness and accuracy if parents show this by example. It must be trained so that all its accessories at the end of hygiene procedures need to be put in place: put soap in a soap dish, rinse a toothbrush and put in a glass, hang a towel on a hook.
Adults should monitor the cleanliness of children's hygiene items: periodically wash a comb with soap and a toothbrush (brush after 1.5-2 months is replaced with a new one), change towels on time. Keep the wash basin, bathtub and mirror in perfect cleanliness. It is best for a child to cut their nails after bathing while they are soft. They are usually thin in him and form sharp corners when circumcised. So that it does not get scratched, sharp edges can be filed with a file.
Child nutrition at 4 years
The nutrition of children of four years should be varied and balanced. The child grows at a fast pace, so his body needs to be supplied with useful substances daily. Even adults know that the more useful the product, the less tasty it is. And the children understood this a long time ago. Therefore, it is sometimes so difficult to get them to have a full dinner. They already have their favorite dishes, which they are ready to eat from morning to evening. Soup, porridge or vegetable salad are unlikely to be on this list. Parents sometimes need to be cunning and ingenious in order to feed the baby with healthy food. Arrange home concerts with the involvement of all family members to entertain the child, of course not worth it. But you need to talk to him as an adult. Explain that from healthy food he will grow faster, like dad, go to school, will be strong.
Alternatively, you can serve the most ordinary dishes in a new way. If the child does not eat fried or stewed zucchini, delicious pancakes can be made from them. From unloved vegetables and fruits, cut out figures and decorate a plate. Children are very fond of "octopuses." Sausage or sausage must be pierced with dry long pasta along the entire length in several places, then boil together. Boiled pasta will soften and will resemble tentacles or rays of the sun. This is how the child begins to fantasize. And laying out a baked pumpkin on a plate, we can mention in passing that this is the same pumpkin that turned into a carriage for Cinderella.
Every day in the diet of children 4 years old should include half a liter of milk, not necessarily in pure form. This is taking into account kefir and other fermented milk products, as well as milk used for making cereals. It is better to give heavy, high-protein food in the first half of the day so that it can be digested, and after lunch, lighter - carbohydrate, milk-vegetable. The child moves a lot, so it loses moisture, especially in the summer. Make sure that dehydration does not occur. In order not to interrupt the appetite, instead of sweet compotes and juices during the day, it is better to drink it with freshly boiled water, mineral water without gas or low-brewed tea.
The regimen of the day of the child at 4 years
If a child has a certain daily routine, he has already become in the habit of doing basic things at a certain time. He has enough time to play and relax, he is less capricious, he does not postpone the time of sleep and lunch, he becomes more collected and organized. His meal, as before, was divided into breakfast with lunch and afternoon tea with dinner. With intervals between doses of 3.5-4 hours. But the need for sleep has decreased. Now he needs 12 hours to sleep. Of which 10 hours are allotted for night rest, 2 hours for daylight rest. To make his sleep more healthy and beneficial, the room must first be ventilated. In the warm season, if possible, it is better to move daytime rest to fresh air - to equip a place on the veranda, balcony, in the garden.
Lessons with a child at 4 years old (how to develop)
At four years old, children are very mobile, active, inquisitive. They are interested in literally everything, so you need to support their interest in time and take up developing games together. For example, modeling, drawing. They sculpted and painted at an earlier age, only the technique was quite primitive. Now you can show them how to hold a brush or felt-tip pen in your hand, and show how to draw shapes correctly. You can circle the pictures, or draw using a stencil. Be sure to buy a child’s coloring so that he fills black and white pictures with color. In addition to developing fantasy, fine motor skills develop in this way.
Using clay, clay, you can no longer just crumple a piece in your hand or sculpt simple figures. At the age of 4, you can already make out a whole thematic composition - the underwater or forest kingdom, the New Year's one, on the theme of animals. Taking a walk in the park, it is advisable to collect acorns, tree leaves, chestnuts in advance, and then use them for crafts. Different buttons, beads, matches or toothpicks are also useful.
If previously a child made an application from finished parts, then at 4 years old he can be given scissors in his hands so that he cut out the figures himself. No need to demand to cut out something complicated. Draw large circles, squares, triangles on colored paper, and let him cut out. You can not only glue paper, but also sprinkle paste with beads, cereals (semolina, buckwheat, millet) or colored sand.
If the child has not yet mastered the score, it's time to catch up. Walking along the street with him, count the trees, steps, cars, people, houses, birds. You can try to explain simple mathematical actions - addition and subtraction. For convenience, using fingers, matches or counting sticks. You can start teaching your child to read by memorizing ready-made syllables. It is very convenient to have ready-made cubes with syllables or to buy a magnetic board with letters. If he has difficulties or begins to act up, do not insist, postpone classes until later.
Games and toys for children in 4 years (how to entertain)
Four years - the age is quite suitable for taking a son or daughter for the first time to a circus or theater for a children's performance. Do not immediately buy tickets in the front rows. You do not know how your child will react to loud cries of clowns, pops, roars of animals. Therefore, it is better to take other places, from about the tenth row and above.
Children at 4 years old can well entertain themselves by assembling a constructor, mosaic, puzzles. Only tasks need to be complicated by adding more parts and reducing their size. The Lego constructor is very good, the sets of which are designed for different age categories of children. From it you can collect not only simple houses or cars, but also space or pirate ships, planes, castles, robots, bribing additional parts.
At this age, you can meet one or two friends, play together in the yard, or take children to visit each other. It will be interesting for them to play together, and their mothers will have some free time. Usually girls play with dolls, a hospital, family, boys play with cars or construct. Children can be taken for hours if you give them a box and ask them to build a house. Let them cut windows, paint walls, arrange furniture, populate toy residents.
Medical observation at 4 years old
Every year, the child undergoes a scheduled physical examination. He needs to be examined by such specialists as a dentist, orthopedic surgeon, otolaryngologist (ENT), neurologist, ophthalmologist. And also do once a year a general analysis of blood, urine, feces on worm eggs. It will not be superfluous to examine the internal organs by ultrasound and make an ECG. If the child is bothering or hurting something, you should contact your local pediatrician. He will appoint an in-depth examination and refer to narrower specialists.
Useful Tips for Parents
Until recently, you dreamed that your child would start talking faster. Now you want him to be silent at least sometimes. The time has come when your restless "little thing", absolutely everyone is interested: "Why is the dog barking and the cat meowing?", "Why is the grass green and the sky blue?", "Why are the stars visible only at night, and the sun is in the afternoon?" and many more different whys.
Children not only want to know this, but also to realize, i.e. understand why this is happening. Sometimes from these “why” parents go around spinning, especially when they ask one question several times and they need to explain everything again. The main thing here is to show patience and wisdom. To stop the pressure of your curious child a little, you can ask him how he thinks. You will give him the opportunity to reflect, listen to his reasoning, at the same time get a few minutes of rest.
Sometimes he can ask questions on rather sensitive issues. Do not try to shame or pull him. Indeed, for children there are no forbidden topics, they are only driven by curiosity. Better try to find the words suitable for his understanding and give an exhaustive answer so that he understands everything the first time, and does not return to these topics.
