Early Childhood: The Importance Of Child Development

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Early childhood is the most rapid stage of development in the human life cycle and the years from birth to eight years of age are critical to ensure the complete healthy cognitive, social, physical and emotional development of children. Hence, early childhood is when the environment actually has an important impact on determining how a child grows and develops, as Cook and Cook (2005) suggest:

“Piaget believed that extensive interaction with the environment is absolutely essential for each person s cognitive development. Though Piaget acknowledged that biological maturation sets the limits within which cognitive development occurs, he placed much more emphasis on the role of the environment (Cook and Cook, 2005: 6). “

Hart and Moore (cited …show more content…

Thus, acting in space is what supports a child to build up his or her knowledge of that spatial environment and its qualities. Understanding the various stages of child development and how they relate to the environment of the child is essential in creating spaces that meet the needs of children because this can have a direct impact on the architectural …show more content…

Children learn about their environments through the use of all of their senses and their perceptual system grows more and more competent during the period of infancy. Piaget (cited in Weinstein & David, 1987) described the first period of intellectual development as the stage within which infants deal with experience primarily through their senses and the capacity to move their bodies through space. It is assumed then that environments for children under three years of age should encourage complete movement of all limbs (Plate 3.9) and these experiences can be enhanced if the environments are sensorially rich and

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