While the neighbor’s kids are more into active play, you find your little one curled up with a book inside your house, looking at pictures and images of animals and plants. While his cousins are fond of painting and creating sculptures out of molding clay, you see that your kid would rather build creations with his child trains.

This doesn’t mean that your kid is antisocial or weird. And it certainly doesn’t that he’s fallen behind. Every child is unique, every child’s developmental progress and learning style is different from others. It is important to note your kid possesses his own talents and potentials which need to bloom and be honed.

But to make sure that all his developmental needs are addressed and that you don’t overlook an area of his overall progress, here are the seven crucial areas of development to give you an overview of which areas are weak that you and your kid should strengthen and which areas are strong and needs further reinforcement.

1. Physical Skills. This area which includes gross and fine motor skills, muscle coordination, muscle strength, speed, hand to eye and eye to foot coordination, grasp and release skills focus on bodily actions and movements. As a parent you should provide your kid with toys and activities that focus on strengthening these physical skills. Athletic games and sports like running, dancing, basketball, soccer and the like are good physical exercises while building and manipulating objects also help in enhancing his fine motor skills. For example, building wooden train or creating buildings out of wooden blocks are helpful in strengthening the muscles in his hands.

2. Verbal Development. This aspect focuses on communication and language specifically spelling, grammar, sentence construction, word association, vocabulary, listening and conversational skills. It is best cultivated and fostered through written and oral linguistic games and activities so be sure to allow your kid to play with word board games, engage in reading books, poetry reciting, crossword puzzles and much more.

3. Logical Thinking. The logical aspect of your kid’s development involves reasoning, sequencing and problem solving skills that has got to do with number, patters, and logic. Games that enhance this aspect in your child are not only those involves math but also those that encourage your kid to come up with strategies and solutions to problems. For example, a wooden train set is an excellent way to enhance your kid’s problem solving skills as this motivates your kid to figure out how to build and construct.

4. Musical Inclination. This aspect concentrates on rhythm, melodies and sounds. Enhance this part of kid’s development by providing him with toys that are rich in sound and music. Musical toy instruments are good options for musical toys.

5. Visual Perception and Creativity. This involves your kid’s perception of the world, his visual discrimination, and image, color, shape and pattern recognition. It also includes the use of his creative mind to create and imagine. To make sure you nourish your kid’s need for visual stimulation, give him toys that are visually rich in terms of color, shapes and images. Engage him in activities like painting or sculpting or building through his stackable toy blocks or wooden toys.

6. Social skills. This revolves around the skills needed to interact and interrelate with other people. This is also an important aspect of your kid’s development since we all know that no man is an island. Positive group play like building together a clay sculpture masterpiece or a great creation of a wooden train will teach your kid the dynamics of socialization and interaction where he will learn about teamwork and how to value other people’s feelings.