Middle Childhood Developmental Fact Sheet (6-11 Years)

According to (Groark, 2014), around 6-8, the physical development includes individual

activities like riding a bike, swimming, or dance. The language development includes increased

vocabulary and language understanding of most words. The cognitive development increasingly

improves and becomes more developed at this age. Children enter sports and like to play more

games with rules and competition. Children have better attention spans and selective attention,

both of which can help them tune out distractions. The social development of middle childhood,

according to the (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2018), is that “children at this age

have more adolescent feelings. Children become more independent and confident with

achievements”.

Now progress has surely made a way into later middle childhood. (Mossler, 2014)

includes that “The physical development that occurs for most children is puberty for boys and

girls. They will have growth spurts in heights and facial features will change. Their external sex

parts will change to differentiate male from female. They show outstanding coordination and

great body control Fatal injuries increase through middle childhood and then accelerate rapidly

into adolescence. Children have higher rates of playground injuries in middle childhood”. Self-

Regulation development in this area involves children understanding the emotions of others and

themselves. They also understand the behaviors that they produce and how others react to them.

According to (Bojczyk, Shriner, & Shriner, 2012), the cognitive influence in this area is “the

amount of assistance from teachers or more experienced peers during the early stages of learning

diminishes gradually as students master skills and develop more sophisticated cognitive

abilities”. The social influence in this area according to (Mossler, 2014) is the “peer

relationships during elementary and middle school years are critical because being rejected is a
precursor for other problems to develop such as bullying and depression”. Developmental red

flags would include obesity, isolation, drop in grades, less social. Parental tips would include

spending time with family, being involved in school functions, and teaching responsibility and

self-awareness. Two play-based strategies that can be done at home or in a childcare setting

would include emotional charades. This activity includes putting different emotions on index

cards and the students will act out the emotions while others try to decipher what they are.

Another is called telephone. Within this activity you will have children sit in a circle and the

whisper a word or sentence in the ear of the first children and they pass on the phrase until it gets

to the end. Whoever is at the end says the phrase out loud, and the adult will see if the phrase

was repeated correctly. This activity will develop listening comprehension skills, and social

interaction amongst peers.

This Photo by Unknown Author is

References
Bojczyk, K. E., Shriner, B. M., & Shriner, M. (2012). Supporting Children's Socialization: A
Developmental Approach. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc. Retrieved from
content.ashford.edu
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2018, August 31). Developmental Milestone
Checklist. Department of Health and Human Services. Retrieved from
http://www.cdc.gov/actearly
Groark, C. M. (2014). Early child development: From theory to practice. Retrieved from
https://content.ashford.edu?
Mossler, R. (2014). Child and Adolescent Development. (2nd ed.). San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint
Education. Retrieved from http://content.ashford.edu/