What should a 4 year old child know and be able to do?

Every parent has at least once wondered what my baby should be able to do and know in order to develop harmoniously, keep up with his peers and not experience difficulties in the future when entering school. Especially when an example is given to a child who at 4 years old reads books on his own and plays the violin.

The criteria for developmental requirements for preschoolers are different. On the one hand, child psychologists strongly advise not to take away childhood from children. Fill it with fun, walks, games, creativity. It is recommended to start regular training sessions at the age of five.

On the other hand, the modern world of information and technology is so dynamic that parents fear that in the two years before school, the child will not have time to master the entire necessary amount of skills and knowledge or it will be very difficult for him.

IS THERE A MANDATORY STANDARD?

The state does not impose special requirements for the preparation of young children. The federal standard contains only general guidelines towards which preschool education should be directed. These are the simplest self-service skills, activity, the desire to imitate adults and peers, fluency in speech, and showing interest in culture and nature.

Another party that controls the development of a preschooler is a neurologist who monitors the baby from birth. The purpose of its monitoring is to track the manifestations of possible diseases, since even a slight delay in development can be their consequence.

Below is a list of characteristics that a child should have at 4 years old. It is compiled based on the general requirements that are usually presented to children of this age. Its points are a strong recommendation, but not at all a binding law. The main thing is to awaken the child’s interest in development and support his interests, giving them a constructive direction.

If it seems to you that your baby is lagging behind in some way and you want to “pull him up,” be patient and imaginative. The most reliable method for teaching a four-year-old is through play. It is advisable to teach all skills and abilities through play and creative exploration, using fun lessons, directing the child’s positive energy to cognitive activity.

Try to ensure that developmental programs do not limit the natural cognitive aspirations of a growing child and do not match the curriculum at school. If a child in the first grade is bored in class, this will kill interest in learning and further problems with academic performance will begin.

THINKING, MEMORY AND ATTENTION

At 4 years old, a child usually already goes to kindergarten or begins education at a developmental school. From this moment on, you need to prepare the baby for independence in actions and decisions.

Thinking, attention and memory of a four-year-old:

the baby must be well oriented in the space familiar to him, know the way home along the previously traveled route;
can concentrate his attention for 7 minutes without being distracted by extraneous matters;
remembers his full name, parents' names and address;
remembers events that happened to him in the near future, can retell the most memorable moments;
working with pictures, quickly finds similarities and differences, determines which group certain objects belong to;
is able to compose a short story based on one picture or a series of them;
assembles puzzles from large parts;
determines where left, right, top, bottom, front, back are;
quickly learns simple quatrains and rhymes;
remembers the name and plot line of a story, fairy tale or song and can remember and retell them by looking at the illustration;
repeats a simple combination of movements while exercising or dancing;
reproduces a simple chain of words by heart and can restore the order of the elements in the pyramid;
assembles a block constructor according to a given scheme or design.

Educational toys

To entertain and develop your preschooler, stock up on the following toys in advance:

simple puzzles with matching a piece to a hole;
construction kits with large parts;
cubes;
ball;
darts with Velcro balls;
clay;
plasticine:
figures of animals, people, cars;
interactive “talking” toys.

Important! Provide your child with a place to study and be creative. Minimum requirements: drawing table, high chair and personal toy storage box.

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

From the age of three, the baby’s appearance changes, he noticeably “grows up”, and his muscular system strengthens. At 4 years old, a child moves a lot, but, as a rule, it is too early to send him to a section. Most sports clubs accept children from 5 years old. Physical exercises should be aimed at general strengthening.

Physical formation of a baby at 4 years old:

at this age the child is active, he runs quickly and jumps well in height and length;
climbs up the Swedish stairs and descends without fear;
catches the ball with both hands and throws it at the target;
with the help of adults, pulls himself up on the bar;
overcomes a simple obstacle course (climbs a hill, crawls through a tunnel, jumps over “ravines”, etc.);
bends low from a standing position and forward while sitting.

It is very important to teach a child of this age a variety of active games (football, lapta, “zhigal”, etc.) and introduce him to new sports (skiing, skating, running, swimming, wrestling, athletics, etc.). This is important not only for the health, endurance, strength and flexibility of his body. Such activities perfectly develop his attention, thinking, develop useful habits, and generally have a positive effect on the development of his personality.

It has long been noted that physically active children who possess a variety of motor skills and engage in one or more sports are intellectually more developed than their peers. They study better and master the school curriculum faster, adapting to new conditions faster.

conclusions

So, 4 years is a period of discovery, both for the baby and for his parents. A four-year-old child actively learns about himself and the world, his abilities and talents manifest themselves. The skills acquired earlier continue to be improved. The child’s intensive physical, mental and personal development occurs: the baby learns to control his body and emotions, memory, attention, thinking, speech and imagination develop. Four-year-olds simply need to communicate with their peers, because the development of children occurs mainly in role-playing games.

SPEECH DEVELOPMENT

The speech apparatus is already quite well developed, but some sounds may still be difficult to achieve. Before the age of five, visiting a speech therapist is not necessary, but it is important to prevent problems with sound pronunciation with the help of articulatory gymnastics.

Speech development of a 4-year-old child:

the child pronounces all sounds well (slight difficulties in pronouncing hissing sounds and the letter “r” are still acceptable);
answers questions correctly;
can come up with a story consisting of several sentences;
recognizes intonation in conversations with adults, is able to change the intonation with which he speaks;
does not confuse masculine and feminine genders;
uses a large number of new words, constantly introduces new words and phrases into his vocabulary;
constructs complex syntactic structures in conversation;
distinguishes between singular and plural;
correctly uses gender, number and case, choosing the endings of words;
uses all parts of speech (nouns, adjectives, verbs, etc.) in communication;
easily selects various adjectives in the description of an object.

It is very important that a child at this age can actively communicate not only with his family, but also with other adults and children. If he still does not speak (or only those close to him understand him), parents should immediately contact a neurologist. The sooner the cause of the delay is identified, the faster and more effective the treatment will be. The development of a child as a whole will be more successful the sooner he learns to freely express his thoughts.

At this age, a preschooler is already able to distinguish his native speech from a foreign one, so he can begin learning English or another language.

English language

At preschool age, you can already start learning a foreign language. Kids easily remember words and do not have a psychological barrier that makes it difficult to pronounce the sounds of unfamiliar speech. Therefore, many parents take their children to English courses for preschoolers.

The main difficulty teachers of foreign languages for children face is the difficulty of pronunciation. Not all children even pronounce Russian words correctly, let alone English ones. Another problem is that children often confuse the words of their native and foreign languages.

Children aged four years learning English know the names of various household objects, animals, and primary colors. They are also familiar with the words “mom”, “dad”, “grandfather”, “grandmother”, “brother”, “sister”.

FINE MOTOR SKILLS

How developed should fine motor skills be in a 4-year-old child?

he can easily thread the cord through several holes;
strings beads of different sizes onto a thread;
is able to show combinations of fingers, combining them into groups;
tries to correctly grasp a spoon, pen, pencil, paintbrush, etc.;
circles several points with a pen, connecting them into the outline of an object;
colors the drawing without going beyond a fairly thick outline (it is quite acceptable if there are unpainted voids left);
can use a stencil;
molds from plasticine not only large, but also small parts, connects them together;
cuts evenly with scissors along a given contour.

In general, the development of fine motor skills contributes to the all-round development of the baby, so a variety of hand games and arts and crafts activities are still welcome.

At the same time, many psychologists note that you should not be upset if your baby does not know how to hold a pen correctly. You should teach him gently and patiently so that at the age of 5 he can hold a pen the way he needs to.

FEATURES OF RELATIONSHIPS OF A PRESCHOOL CHILDREN WITH PEERS AND “ALIANS” ADULTS

In order for a child to properly build relationships outside the family, he must have a positive example within the walls of his home. The way parents treat him and the other children, and each other, becomes the standard of behavior.

The feeling of “back”, the child’s awareness that he is supported and loved for who he is is the best incentive for development. At this age, the child separates from his parents and establishes stable contacts within his peer group. If he is sure that everything is in order in the family, he is accepted and loved, he will spend all his energy on communication and developmental activities.

At the same time, if he worries about unstable relationships at home, experiences fears about one thing or another, this will largely “take away” his energy and slow down his mental development.

At 4 years old, a child should already have an idea of:

that one should not cause pain or offend;
you need to be able to share, determine the turn of who should play or take an item;
you need to ask for forgiveness if you have done something bad for someone else.

If a child “keeps to himself” in a group of his peers, while everything is fine in the family, perhaps he is simply an introvert. If conflicts and disagreements constantly arise in the children's environment, this problem should be discussed with other participants in the “process”.

With other adults who surround the baby, he should:

show respect, say “you”;
show a certain degree of distrust (do not accept gifts without parental permission, do not leave with strangers, and so on);
follow the rules of conduct in a preschool institution, in particular, calling adults by their first and patronymic names.

Walks on tiptoes - what to do?

There are only 4 reasons why a four-year-old child walks on his toes:

Psychological - a completely healthy child walks on his toes because he imitates someone, tries to appear taller, or he simply does not like touching any surface with his sensitive feet (a scratchy rug, cold tiles).
Behavioral – If toe walking is only one aspect of the strange behavior, this may indicate the presence of autism.
Neurological – cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, impaired coordination of movements. In such conditions, the calf muscles are always tense, impossible to relax, and because of this the child cannot lower his heel.
Orthopedic – inflammation of the calcaneus, short calcaneal tendon, clubfoot. All these ailments are reflected by pain when lowering onto the heel.

Important! If you see that your child constantly walks on tiptoes, often stumbles and is generally poorly coordinated, consult a neurologist.

HOME RESPONSIBILITIES AND SELF-CARE SKILLS

At the age of four, children are very active. The kid tries to try everything in practice: prepare a drink, wash a toy, wash the dishes, shine dad’s shoes, etc. Adults should try to direct his energy to mastering new self-care skills (he should already be able to fasten/unfasten a zipper, buttons, hooks, Velcro, put on his own outerwear and shoes, wash himself and brush his teeth).

Parents should not limit their child’s activity in acquiring new skills. He should not be left unattended, but at the same time he should not be severely punished for broken dishes, spoiled food, clothes, etc. At this age, the child becomes involved in creative activities and his imagination quickly develops. If you strictly suppress his independent activity, this will lead to his indecisiveness and isolation, which will become a significant obstacle to his further development.

Even if some things were damaged (your knees got dirty during a walk, your jacket was torn, you found lunch in the kitchen with a significant amount of salt and mustard added, your dad washed his socks with your shampoo, etc.), you should sincerely praise the child for his resourcefulness and originality. solution. After this, it is worth showing him how best to act in this case. In this case, you can use the phrases: “I would be so happy if I took this for this work...”, “you know, you did great, but I think that you will achieve an even better result if you use this... ", "I like your work, what do you think: can I avoid these stains next time? Do you have ideas?"

At the age of 4 years, a child should already be able to easily navigate his surroundings in the house. Know where things that you cannot take are located and use common things (bathroom, toilet) independently.

Four years is the time when parents can expand the child’s range of household responsibilities. If earlier he had to take care of his clothes and put his toys away after playing, now he needs to be taught how to make his bed in the morning, take soiled clothes to the laundry, and prepare his things in advance.

New responsibilities may include working for the benefit of the whole family. For example, a child can monitor the order in the bathroom: make sure that there is always soap, shampoos and brushes are standing straight, the towel is hanging on the dryer or has been replaced with a clean one.

READING AND LITERACY

Some children can already read intuitively at the age of four, but this is the exception rather than the rule. The same rule applies to literacy as to mathematics: if the child shows interest, you should patiently teach him. You can't act forcefully! Moreover, compare with other children: “Petya is already reading, but what about you?”

It is believed that five years is the best age to start, since by 1st grade a child should already be able to read confidently. However, only the correct training techniques should be used.

If a child can read fluently at 4 years old, adults should not abuse this. Reading fairy tales and children's stories together before bed or during the day should continue to be a family ritual that unites the baby with his parents.

Psychological condition

Four-year-old children do not feel fear well - the task of parents is to tell their son or daughter about possible dangers: about potentially dangerous household appliances, about stray animals, about walking alone.

Normally, a psychologically developed child at the age of four should:

take into account the assessment of your behavior by significant adults: parents, educators;
be as independent as possible;
be able to serve yourself in accordance with your age.

KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE WORLD AROUND

The age of four is the peak of a child’s cognitive activity aimed at studying culture and nature. Parents should encourage his interest in every possible way, offering joint walks, trips to museums, travel, etc. Games of charades, riddles, studying thematic encyclopedias, games with a world map, etc. are able to activate a child’s interest in the world around him.

If previously gender differences were not so noticeable, now boys are trying to spend more time with their dad doing “male” activities, girls are beginning to be interested in their appearance, clothes, and jewelry.

Advice: The task of parents is to reveal in their child the qualities inherent in nature. If for boys it is: perseverance, willpower, leadership qualities, then for girls it is: gentleness, charm, caring, neatness, etc.

At this age, games become role-playing, the child tries to transform into one or another hero. Parents can use them to help their baby learn different social roles. In addition, a child’s desire to imitate is a great help when learning professions (playing doctor, cook, archaeologist, engineer, etc.). Such activities are very beneficial for his all-round development.

Whatever the development of a child at the age of four, parents should accept the baby as he is. There is no need to try to adjust it to high standards, and it is better to make adjustments without tension, in a playful way that pleases the baby. No success or achievements in life can replace the love and attention of parents, which a child needs more than anything else during this period.