Helping Children Develop Intellectually

Three- and four-year-old children learn from play: they develop skills, use language, and learn about self-control from the many activities you plan for them.

Three Year Old Children

• can communicate their needs, ideas, and questions.
• can participate in group activities because their attention span is a little longer.
• learn best by doing.
• need a balance between active and quiet play.

Activities For Three Year Olds

• Help them to dress and undress themselves by allowing them to do it themselves. Assist when necessary.
• Let them help with household chores such as setting and clearing the table or watering plants.
• Read stories to them. Ask for their ideas and comments. Show them the pictures and encourage them to talk about what they see and think.
• Encourage them to count objects as you pass them out.
• With the children, look for answers to their questions in reference books.

Four Year Old Children

• are very talkative.
• enjoy serious discussions.
• ask lots of questions, including "how" and "why" questions.
• are developing their classification skills and reasoning ability.
• understand some basic concepts such as numbers, size, weight, color, texture, distance, time, and position.

Activities For Four Year Olds

• Take preschoolers outside to play.
• Visit places that are of interest to them, for example, the fire station or the story or music hour at the library.
• Help them plant seeds and care for the plants.
• Make paper bag puppets, and then have a puppet show with the children. Children often express their feelings through this type of play.

Reproduced with the permission of CCSS National Network for Childcare