Children's Book Academy

  • Home
  • Writing
    • Writing Children's Picture Books
    • Middle Grade Mastery
    • How to Self Publish with Crowd Funding Now
    • The Chapter Book Alchemist
    • Writing for Love and Money
    • Writing Character-Driven Stories
    • Rules To Break To Make Your Picture Book Workshop
    • Developing Your Writer's and Character's Voices
    • Workshop Intensives
    • FAQs
  • Art & Illustration
    • Illustrating Children's Books
    • The Hero's Art Journey
  • Software
    • Fun with Photoshop for Kids Book Creatives
    • Rock Your Writing with Scrivener
    • Awesome Author/Illustrator Websites with Weebly
  • About Us
    • Why Us?
    • Meet the Faculty
    • Testimonials
    • Books by Students
    • As Seen In
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact Us
  • Blogfish
  • Community
    • Resources >
      • Bookshoppe >
        • Faculty Books
        • Blogger's Books
        • Picture Books >
          • Picture Books P.2
          • Picture Books P.3
        • Chapter Books >
          • Chapter Book P. 2
          • Chapter Book P. 3
          • Chapter Book P. 4
          • Chapter Book P. 5
      • Other Resoures
    • Course Scholarships >
      • Yuyi Morales Picture Book Scholarship
      • Andrea Davis Pinkney MG CB Mastery Scholarship
      • Rafael Lopez Pat Cummings Illustrating Picture Books Scholarship
      • Kathryn Otoshi Scholarship
  • Home
  • Writing
    • Writing Children's Picture Books
    • Middle Grade Mastery
    • How to Self Publish with Crowd Funding Now
    • The Chapter Book Alchemist
    • Writing for Love and Money
    • Writing Character-Driven Stories
    • Rules To Break To Make Your Picture Book Workshop
    • Developing Your Writer's and Character's Voices
    • Workshop Intensives
    • FAQs
  • Art & Illustration
    • Illustrating Children's Books
    • The Hero's Art Journey
  • Software
    • Fun with Photoshop for Kids Book Creatives
    • Rock Your Writing with Scrivener
    • Awesome Author/Illustrator Websites with Weebly
  • About Us
    • Why Us?
    • Meet the Faculty
    • Testimonials
    • Books by Students
    • As Seen In
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact Us
  • Blogfish
  • Community
    • Resources >
      • Bookshoppe >
        • Faculty Books
        • Blogger's Books
        • Picture Books >
          • Picture Books P.2
          • Picture Books P.3
        • Chapter Books >
          • Chapter Book P. 2
          • Chapter Book P. 3
          • Chapter Book P. 4
          • Chapter Book P. 5
      • Other Resoures
    • Course Scholarships >
      • Yuyi Morales Picture Book Scholarship
      • Andrea Davis Pinkney MG CB Mastery Scholarship
      • Rafael Lopez Pat Cummings Illustrating Picture Books Scholarship
      • Kathryn Otoshi Scholarship

Children's Developmental Stages with Mira

6/21/2013

4 Comments

 
Learning about different developmental stages can be very helpful for authors  and illustrators to know about age appropriate subject matter and styles that what might appeal to kids at different ages. These notes are primarily from my twin sister Leonie Reisberg who is a children’s development expert and an art therapist. I’ve dragged her into the 21st century with her Facebook page, so if you’re feeling generous, please “like” her page here https://www.facebook.com/pages/KidsLink/318898001530875?fref=ts. Also, if you want to run a child development question by her on the page, I’m sure she’d be happy to answer it for you.

Now before we start, just a quick disclaimer, developmental stages are different for all kids. Albert Einstein didn’t start talking until he was 3, so please take these as general benchmarks. Also kids are developing at a much faster rate these days so that is another factor to consider. But here they are:

Ages 0-1
  • The oral phase –

  • Physical mastery begins – grabbing fingers, sucking on them

  • 4 months begin teeth, 3 teeth by 1 year old

  • 6 months, sit up, 9 months, crawl back and forth

  • 1 year standing up, 15 months walking and running by 2 years backward and forward

  • Babies introduced to shapes and faces and feelings (before they’re mobile)

  • Absorbing everything around them – read and name things with pictures

  • Simpler concrete ideas and black and white or high contrast images work best 
with geometric or graphic shapes with high contrast.

  • Important to read and name things with pictures

  • Board Books, tactile books, repetition, one syllable words

Ages 2-3

  • Becoming mobile

  • Discovering movement, moving toward the desire for greater independence – 
some separation

  • Major leap in acquisition of language phase.

  • Curious about everything

  • Conscious awareness of new friendships, esp. parallel play

  • Toddler’s early beginnings of learning right from wrong-very beginning of learning 
guilt.

  • Concrete simple human play on language, rhythm, rhyme and repetition

  • Often follow along page to page pointing to various pictures. Very verbal young ones will begin describing, elephants, for example, pointing and saying “what’s happening to the elephant,” I like the elephant or bad elephant

  • Toilet training, language acquisition

  • By 2 years, children know approximately 20 words, by 3 years, 20-30 words & 
short sentences

  • “I don’t want that.” “Give me that” “Go away”

  • Aware of gender and who’s in family

  • By age 3, start reciting numbers. Most kids love counting

  • By age 3, gender identity becomes important. Toilet training usually happens 
between ages 2-3. Interest in self-control over body, e.g. Everybody Poops 4-5

  • Pre-School

  • Begin differentiating between kids and naming behaviors they like or don’t like

  • Start independently choosing their friends and consciously choosing this over 
that to get the messages they want.

  • Repetition in books, pre-school very creative, very process oriented rather than 
product. It’s more important for them to create rather than how it looks.

  • Sensory exploration

  • Finger-painting, drawing, play-doh, etc.

  • Learning fine motor skills and gross motor skills, monkey bars, slides etc

Liking more plot with age appropriate plot driven stories that are a little bit scary “Where the Wild Things Are”, “I’m Going on a Bear Hunt” “Three Little Pigs” up to age 6

Latency Phase 5-11 years

  • Begins with starting school around age 5

  • Already able to use scissors

  • Developmentally they enter school still maintaining an egocentric point of view 
and slowly develop an awareness that they are group members as well as 
individuals. They want to be valued for both sides.

  • They are asked to take on more responsibility and put some of their own 
individual needs aside. Structure, rules, and routines are introduced as a way of explaining that everyone must follow these so that groups can coexist without chaos

  • Latency is learning to belong to a group

  • Trade off giving up some of the selfishness

  • Beginnings of letting go of some of the self-orientation for the good of the group

  • Either family, community or school

  • More complex plots than before. Start learning about societal expectations.

  • Start playing board games where there are rules and structure with winners and 
losers and consequences if you cheat

  • Asked to take turns, share, follow directions, start having homework competition 
and growing awareness of difference and social ranking and own qualities

  • Start becoming more aware in general e.g. “Teacher’s Pet”

  • Around age 7 start addition, writing sentences, learning about holidays, making cards for everything, begin to read

  • 7 & 8 year olds become much more aware of who’s fitting in and who isn’t – You’re smart, you’re good at sports – everyone is trying to find what they’re good 
at for positive recognition. This is when kids join sports teams, boy or girl scouts, 
etc.

  • Become aware of popularity – who is, who isn’t

  • E.g. Enid Blyton Secret Seven, Famous Four, Diary of a Wimpy Kid (7,8 & 9)

  • Start becoming more conformist, more stereotypical, goes on until about 10

  • Age 10 kids are getting bigger, earlier physical development, girls getting 
periods, etc.

  • Body awareness, Girly Magazines, Girl Friendship

  • 9 onward – Same sex groups – very important.

  • Starting to look at teenagers as role models

  • Changing bodies, mimicking, posturing 
For more information, visit this virtual treasure trove of children’s developmental information http://www.kidspot.com.au/discoverycentre/section+506+0—1-years.htm

  • 
To find out even more specific information about children’s developmental stages, Google these terms:
    Biological development in children
    Psychosocial development in children
    Cognitive development in children
    Language development in children
    Motor development in children
    Artistic development in children

4 Comments
Robyn Campbell link
6/21/2013 12:21:30 am

Great overview. We have home-schooled our kidlets. (We have 6 boys and one girl) They do develop at much different rates, within these age groups. The girls developing at a quicker rate. *Especially these days)

But this is an excellent indication of child behavior. And it is key in constructing our stories. Thanks Mira!

Reply
Mira link
6/21/2013 08:31:39 am

Thank you for the comment Robyn. Always a pleasure to get :)

Reply
Pamela Courtney
7/1/2013 04:06:56 pm

Thank you Mira. I work with infants and toddlers and I also facilitate a literacy and music program for early learners. In the past I've had trouble finding really good books for Tods & Infants. Then I realized it was a combination of my poor presentation of the material to that age group and the type of material I was introducing to them. Something I wanted to add is that when I sing to the infants, I noticed in the beginning they would only stare. Their stare however seemed very intentional. Now, the infants engage in my singing with their "Ahhhhhhhhh!" I love it! Once I introduced, I"m a Laughing Echo, song. I had one infant to repeat my ha-ha-ha-ha-ha. I couldn't believe it. Right on cue. At first I thought it was a coincidence. It wasn't. I LOVE WORKING with this age group. Thanks so much for sharing this!

Reply
Mira link
7/11/2013 04:42:20 pm

Thank you Pamela. I loved reading about your sing-a-long infant.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Meet the Friday Blogonauts

    First Fridays will feature Bryan Patrick Avery, published writer , man of mystery, and professional magician among other things.

    Second Fridays will feature  awesome multi-award winning author Marsha Diane Arnold who will be writing about character-driven and/or nature-based books and/or anything she likes :)

    Third Fridays
    will feature independent Aladdin/Simon & Shuster editor Emma Sector who has helped bring many books into the world.

    Fourth Fridays will feature the great Christine Taylor-Butler who has published over 70 award-winning fiction and non-fiction and nonfiction books including the acclaimed new middle grade series - The Lost Tribes.

    Fifth Fridays will feature the fabulous Carl Angel award-winning multi-published Illustrator and graphic designer.


    Join our Tribe

    and receive 7 Steps to Creative Happiness, access to free webinars, and lots more!

    Your email addresses are always safe and respected with us.
     
     

    Follow our Blog!

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

    Archives

    January 2019
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013

    Categories

    All
    Art Technique
    Authorartist
    Author Platform
    Author Visits
    Bitsy Kemper
    Book Marketing
    Books For Children
    COPPA
    Creative Flow
    Digital Books
    Diversity In Children's Books
    First Voice Multicultural Children's Books
    Illustrating Your Own Story
    Independent Publishing
    Magic In Books
    Marketing
    Maya Gonzalez
    Middle Grade Novels
    Picture Books
    Picture Books And Death
    Print-on-demand
    School Visits
    Self-publishing
    Understory
    Writer Platform
    Writing
    Writing Exercise
    Writing For Children

    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
Picture
Discover
Why Us?
Courses
Blogs
Book Shoppe
About Us
Meet the Academy Faculty
Community
Contact Us

Privacy Policy
Join Us
Follow Us
Join our Tribe and receive 7 Steps to Creative Happiness, free webinars, contests, and more!

Find us on Twitter 
Like us on Facebook 
Join our interactive Facebook Group  
Play on Pinterest? 
Link on LinkedIn
© 2012-2017  All of Mira Reisberg's content on this website is copyrighted. Sorry, all courses are non-refundable.
✕