Psychosocial Development Activities

Psychosocial Development Activities

PSY 104

Psychosocial Development Activities

The activities that have been created to promote psychosocial development are floor mirror for the infant room, emotion charades for the early childhood room, and debate for the adolescent room. These activities are not only fun but focus on development through emotion, social interaction, independence, and moral development. Once the children have completed these activities, they will have a better understanding of psychosocial development and how important it is in the maturation process. All children are different, and they develop at different speeds; that’s why it is essential to plan age-appropriate activities to help in their development.

Infant Room Psychosocial Activity: Floor mirror

In this activity, the child is placed on their belly in front of a mirror. The child can then look into the mirror and imitate different faces. At this stage of life, an infant is fascinated by just about everything they encounter, including their reflections. “Erikson maintained that personality develops in a predetermined order through eight stages of psychosocial development, from infancy to adulthood” (McLeod, 2018, para. 1). Erickson’s developmental stages begin with trust and mistrust. This stage of development is focused mainly on the child’s certainty of the world around them. I believe this activity will give the child a sense of understanding of things around them. Floor mirror helps with psychosocial development through emotional and social interaction.

Early Childhood Psychosocial Activity: Emotion Charades

In this activity, the teacher has to whisper one emotion into the child’s ear and ask them to act it out in front of their peers. The children will then be able to call out answers until they get the emotion correct. This activity is an excellent form of social skills development. “Teachers can encourage social skills development through activities that introduce concepts such as verbal communication, negotiation, active listening, non-verbal communication, and social conventions” (Seehorn, n.d. para. 7). This activity helps the child learn about different emotions. Learning about emotions teaches the child that expressing how you feel is right and a great form of communication. This allows the teacher to be able to acknowledge how the child is feeling and act accordingly. Emotion Charades helps with psychosocial development because it focuses on emotions and independence.

Adolescence Psychosocial Activity: Debate

Debating is a way for people to express their own opinions on a topic. During the adolescence stage, it’s crucial for the child to have a voice and stand up for things they believe to be true. In this activity, the children are given a topic, and each side of the room will have the opportunity to address the topic and present their ideas and opinions. The stage of development that best suits this activity would be stage five: Identity vs. Role Confusion. “During this stage, adolescents search for a sense of self and personal identity, through an intense exploration of personal values, beliefs, and goals” (McLeod, 2018, para. 32). At this age, we, as educators, want children to have their own beliefs and personal values. This activity will give them the ability to speak their minds and protect what they believe. The debate activity helps with psychosocial development because it focuses on emotions and moral development.

Today’s activities were not only fun; they showed the different forms of development that aid in psychosocial development. My main focus was on Erickson’s psychosocial development theory because of the eight stages. These stages mapped out what a child could be experiencing at different stages in their lives. “According to Erikson, each developmental period is marked by a psychosocial conflict that can have either a favorable or an unfavorable outcome” (Mossler, 2014, se. 12.1, para. 2). The stages start with trust vs. mistrust and goes on to autonomy vs. shame and doubt, initiative vs. guilt, industry vs. inferiority, identity vs. role confusion, intimacy vs. isolation, generativity vs. stagnation, and Ego integrity vs. despair. Each stage has its own unique form of psychosocial development.

References

McLeod, S. (2018). Erik Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development. Retrieved from https://www.simplypsychology.org/Erik-Erikson.html

Mossler, R. A. (2014). Child and adolescent development (2nd ed). Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/

Seehorn, A. (n.d.) Psychosocial Development Activities for Early Childhood. Retrieved from https://classroom.synonym.com/psychosocial-development-activities-early-childhood-7866954.html