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Children move through a developmental progression in the acquisition of motor skills. There are four phases of motor development: the reflexive movement phase, the rudimentary movement phase, the fundamental movement phase, and the specialized movement phase. The fundamental movement phase occurs between the ages of 2 and 7 as children gain control over their gross motor and fine motor skills.
The formal operational stage is the last of four stages proposed by Jean Piaget to describe the cognitive development of infants, children, and adolescents. The formal operational stage occurs with children from 12 years into adulthood. Emerging abstract thought and hypothetical reasoning mark this stage of cognitive development.
Emotional development refers to the ability to recognize, express, and manage feelings at different stages of life and to have empathy for the feelings of others. Emotional development is largely affected by relationships with parents, siblings, and peers.
Peer pressure occurs when an individual experiences persuasion to participate in the same activities as those in their peer group, or to adopt similar values, beliefs, and goals as the group. For a child, their peer group is usually, but not always, of the same age group.
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Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi was a social and educational reformer and writer in Europe during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He believed that society could best be changed by education and that reform began with assisting the individual students to help themselves.
Friedrich Froebel was truly a pioneer in early childhood education. He established a new type of school for three and four year old children in 1837, which he called a child's garden or kindergarten. Prior to this there had been no educational training for children under the age of seven.
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Erik Erikson was a renowned psychoanalyst who proposed that children were products of society’s expectations, prejudices, and prohibitions. His best known work is his theory that each stage of life is associated with a specific psychological struggle, which contributes to a major aspect of personality.
Comprising 34 biographies of men and women, the Robert W. Crawford Recreation and Park Hall of Fame, Profiles in Leadership honors "some of the forgotten giants in this field who have paved the way for today's leaders." In doing so, Profiles in Leadership also provides a history of the public recreation and park movement in America.
Checkers is a popular board game played by children and adults alike. The game is played on a checkerboard of two colors, usually black and red, with the most popular size in America being 64 squares on an 8x8 board. The board game is played around the world and is known as draughts (pronounced "drafts") in Europe.
A Certified Playground Safety Inspector has passed the National Recreation and Park Association National Playground Safety Institute's examination. The ASTM International and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission are the safety standards used for this test.
Commonly known as Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), this condition has the "official" clinical name of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). It is estimated that between 3 and 5 percent of children in the United States meet the criteria of Attention Deficit Disorder.