Child development involves physical, mental/intellectual, emotional, and social areas of development. Children progress through stages in each area at their own pace, influenced by both heredity and environment. The physical area includes gross motor skills like walking and fine motor skills like coloring. Mental/intellectual development involves information processing and cognitive abilities. Emotional development is learning to understand and deal with emotions. Social development relates to understanding social norms and interacting with others.

1. Areas of
Development

2. Bell Work
Directions: On a blank piece of paper answer the following
questions referencing the pictures on this slide. Answer in full
sentences and try to think past the obvious!
– “What do these children have in common?”
– “What makes these children unique?”
– “Why should you learn about how children develop?”

3. What is Child Development?
• The study of how children master new skills
• Children go through the same stages of
development at about the same time but
each child is unique

4. What influences development?
• Heredity
– Children inherit certain characteristics from
parents
• Environment
– Opportunities
– Experiences

5. Activity
• Directions:
– Use the booklet given to you and label the pages like the
samples as follows (you will use both front and back sides of
the pages starting with the cover)
• Cover – “Areas of Development” and your Name
• Page #1 – “Physical”
• Page #2 – “Gross Motor Skills”
• Page #3 – “Fine Motor Skills”
• Page #4 – “Mental/Intellectual”
• Page #5 – “Emotional”
• Page #6 – “Social”
– Each page should have the header, definition, example, and
a picture showing the area of development
• Use the following slides to help you get this information

6. Areas of Development
• Physical
• Mental/Intellectual
• Emotional
• Social

7. Physical
• Physical Development:
– The physical growth and development of both
gross and fine motor control of the body.
– Examples: Weight, height

8. Physical
• Gross Motor Skills: large muscle movements
• Examples: rolling, sitting, crawling, standing
and walking.
• Fine Motor Skills: small muscle movements
• Examples: Using scissors, beading, threading
a needle, coloring

9. Mental/Intellectual
• Also known as “cognitive” development
• Information processing
– Examples:
• Remembering their address
• Counting
• Puts a puzzle together
• What could be other examples?

10. Emotional
• Development of a full range of emotions
and learning to deal with them
appropriately
– Examples: sad, happy, angry, temper
tantrums

11. Social
• Linked to emotional
• Incorporates public concerns in
developing social policy
• Moral
– Examples: what is right and
wrong