450-900 words (total), double-spaced, 1-inch margins, font size 12

Writing Assignment Instructions:

Parents have many opportunities to help promote their child's physical, cognitive and social/emotional development. In addition to the activities and times when parents purposely plan to teach their child something that will enhance their development, there are also times when parents spontaneously realize that they are able to enhance their child's development. Sometimes this can happen when the parent and child are just trying to accomplish a necessary task of everyday life (e.g., housework or errands). And sometimes it occurs when the parent thought an activity would be beneficial for just one domain of development (e.g., physical development), but the parent realizes that with a little bit more effort they can enhance additional domains of their child's development (e.g., cognitive and social/emotional).

Sometimes these are called ‘teachable moments' and sometimes they can be called playful learning (if kids think they are playing the whole time). Please watch this short video to show you one example that discusses how time at the park can be used to help children's cognitive development (counting, shapes etc...) in addition to the obvious physical development that one would usually associate with time at the park: http://video.about.com/singleparents/Teachable-Moments-at-the-Park.htm

For this assignment I want you to come up with your own original example that you would do with your child.

Make sure to fully address all the following elements in your example:

1. Explain in detail where you and your child are and what you are doing.

2. How old and in what developmental stage is your hypothetical child in this example? (You've learned about parenting children in infancy, early childhood, elementary school and early adolescence now, so feel free to choose any of these developmental stages, but make sure to make the skills/lessons are appropriate for their age.)

3. Discuss in detail at least 5 skills/lessons that you would teach/practice with your child during this activity. Remember that I want you to teach/practice skills/lessons that may not be obvious when you first think about the activity (e.g., the mathematical skill of counting is not automatically associated with playing at the park).

a) Explain exactly how you would teach/practice each of these 5 skills/lessons with your child.

b) Identify which domain each of these 5 skills/lessons belong to: physical, cognitive, or social/emotional.

You must include lessons in at least two of the three domains of development.