Developmental after school programs

As a child matures into adult, many aspects of his physical, emotional and mental self require growth. To assist a child gain his maximum potential, there is a need to recognize the child's developmental demands and abilities. For maximum effectiveness, after school programs need to help children on chores they need to finish during each stage of development.

A child's growth curve can be divided into three main parts: 1) Young child (ages 3-5) 2) Middle school (ages 6-8) 3) Older school (ages 9-12)

The four important domains of development are: The Physical Domain, the Social Domain, the Emotional Domain and the Intellectual Domain. Each of these domains has to be separately addressed during the various phases of a child's growth. After school programs need to focus on developing each domain as relevant to the age of the child. While the children engaging in these programs may have same developmental demands and age, don’t anticipate development to be consistent. Children will grow only when they are prepare.

Physical Domain: Young children like to hone and control the skills that they had learnt. Various movements such as jumping, catching and throwing often delight them. On the other hand, the middle school child, desire to learn more complex skills and be involved in team sports. It’s also the best time to learn about rules and discipline in sport. Older child is ready for more adult-like activities which require greater structure and discipline, like dancing, gymnastics, music classes etc.

Social Domain: Young children observing others will likely be interested in games if they act out the roles of family members. They produce short-term friendships and call for an adult's presence to assure them. The middle school child is intrigued by society and will love trips to factories, public buildings etc. They want to know the 'how' and 'why' of things. The older school child is ready to learn about different cultures, food and customs. They are willing to perform some amount of social work too.

Intellectual Domain: Young school children will practice what they are learning. Middle school children want to learn more skills and will show interest in reading, drama and problem solving. The older school children are ready to research and probe. They enjoy getting a puzzle and pondering over it.

Any after school program has to understand the interests of the child base on the category he belongs to. Knowing the children in your program and taking account their demands and concerns will help staff to design and structure programs that are most useful to that group.

<Back To After School Activities Next Previous