The sensation of painting a vibrant line of colour across a clean white page is something most children enjoy. But where do you go from there? Cover up with overalls, put down plenty of newspaper and get down to it.

How your child is developing

In the first years of primary school, your child becomes an ever more confident communicator, artist, scientist, mathematician, reader and writer. If they experience problems in any of these areas, they’ll be offered help and possibly professional guidance and support

They have the understanding to recognise when they can use strategies – including cheating – to manipulate the outcomes and results of games. You may see the first strong signs of any competitive nature.

What you can do

Give your child plenty of opportunities to develop independence and take responsibilities. Organising their belongings and tidying up can be made into a game if you time it right. It can even support early maths, which starts with ordering items and sorting them into categories.

Many children of this age prefer friends of their own gender – part of a growing realisation that humans are male or female, and they’re one or the other

Don’t insist on formal learning too heavily. Some schools may give ‘homework’ as early as five or six (prescriptive reading tasks, for instance) and if your child resists or seems too tired to comply, remember there are other ways to learn through play, conversation and observation.
When your child wants to find something out, or asks a question you can’t answer, help him or her use the internet as a research tool