Each child develops and matures at a different rate. Knowing the developmental stages of your child's age group however, can aid you in finding a volunteer opportunity that meets his emotional, intellectual, physical and experiential needs.

Preschool Age Children - Age 5-7

Preschool age children around ages 5-7 are at a stage where they are mastering fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. They enjoy interacting with a small group of their peers, usually playing with two or three "best" friends. Although preschool children are a bundle of energy, they still maintain a relatively short attention span. They can understand concrete experience, mainly linked with the school and home environment that they are familiar with. Successful volunteer experiences should be tied into benefiting the populations and places that these preschool children are accustomed to; namely their school, home and immediate neighborhood. They would enjoy projects that they know will directly benefit other children like themselves. Start a mitten drive to collect hats and gloves for children who do not have these necessary items to keep warm this winter.

Cleaning up a park is a good idea. This activity can take advantage of preschoolers energy and need for activity, and would also be a project that would be fun to do with other children or families. Children could count the number of pieces of trash that they picked up, or practice sorting skills by placing different types of trash, such as paper or plastics, into different bags. Discuss how we all have a responsibility to take care of our earth and our neighborhood. How is this similar to the things that we do to take care of our own home? How do our world and we all contribute to make the place that we live a better place to be?

Simple art projects such as making holiday cards, small gifts and crafts or paper flowers take advantage of a preschools love of art and encourage creativity and fine motor and hand-eye coordination. After making your crafts, visit a local nursing home to present your creations to the "grandmas and grandpas" who live at the home. Spend some time making conversation or playing simple games with the residents. This activity will develop your child's communication skills and enable him to feel more comfortable speaking and meeting new adults and being in new settings.

Getting children started at an early age in offering service to our society can lead to a lifetime of community involvement and contribution.

Devorah Vineburg is the lead staff professional at the Volunteer Center of Brown County, Green Bay, WI, in the areas of training, consultation and technical assistance to nonprofit agencies. Her website Crafty Community Connections located at www.craftycommunityconnection.com is an excellent resource of ideas for craft and volunteer service projects that can be donated to local people, agencies and charities as a community service. It is a great resource for crafters, kids, teachers, scouts, youth groups, Sunday Schools, parents and friends. The website is updated each month. Subscribe to our free newsletter. On our Shop for Charity page, buy a featured item, and an identical item or its wholesale value will be donated to your favorite registered charity. www.craftycommunityconnection.com

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