INTRODUCTION After infancy the child enters the childhood stage.

The childhood stage of human development is broadly divided into early and middle childhood. Early childhood of human life span is considerer to cover the age group of 2 to 6 years. This period is also called as preschool period, as it is considered as transition period of child from home to school. Preschool children are making development progress and express an interest in the world around them. They are enthusiastic to learn and gain inner control. They learn by experiencing and by doing. They are more independent than toddlers. They can express their needs through meaningful language. In this practicum activity you need to deal with the preschool children so to understand their stage better. You will assess the physical and motor development, cognitive and language development and social and emotional development of child in early childhood stage. OBJECTIVES: After undertaking this practical, you would be able to: y Examine the physical and motor development during early childhood years: y Understand the cognitive and language development during early childhood years: and y Explain social and emotional development during early childhood years. PHYSICAL AND MOTOR DEVELOPMENT Physical and motor development rate slows down in the early childhood years as compared to infancy. At this stage the body proportion starts changing