Human development refers to the processes of change and stability throughout the human lifespan. Children's early stages of development are important throughout their lives. Middle childhood children are those aged 6 to 11 years old. Most children in middle childhood begin their formal education in primary school. At this stage, they have more opportunities to expose themselves to people and environments they have never experienced. In general, children in middle childhood are characterized by 3 main domains: physical, cognitive, and psychosocial (see Figure 1 in Appendix 1). The first area that describes children in middle childhood is physical characteristics. Physical characteristics of middle childhood include their height, weight, and motor development (Papalia, Olds, & Feldman, 2009). Motor development is subdivided into two distinct groups: gross motor skills and fine motor skills (Papalia et al., 2009). According to Santrock (2008), children grow an average of 2 to 3 inches and gain approximately 5 to 7 pounds per year. Girls are slightly smaller and lighter than boys between 6 and 8 years old. However, they become heavier and taller than boys after 8 years (Papalia et al., 2009). In addition, girls have more body fat than boys while boys are more masculine than girls during this period (Papalia et al., 2009). One of the subdivisions of motor development is gross motor skills. Gross motor skills refer to physical skills involving large muscles (Papalia et al., 2009). This type of motor skill improves children's strength, movement, balance, and flexibility abilities during middle childhood. Examples of gross motor activities are running, skipping, skipping, and cycling (Papalia et al., 2009). Fine motor skills are another...... middle of paper ......9(2), 31-41 Livingston, J. (1997). Metacognition: an overview. Retrieved from: http://gse.buffalo.edu/fas/shuell/cep564/metacog.htmMagnuson, K. and Berger, LM (2009). States and transitions in family structure: Associations with children's well-being during middle childhood. J Marriage Family, 71(3). Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2836533/pdf/nihms181881.pdfMiddle Child: Cognitive and Language Development (2008). Retrieved from http://mcweb1guides.s3.amazonaws.com/520157.pdfMiddle children: Psychosocial development (nd). Retrieved from http://www.mc.edu/faculty/files/1813/5293/4195/Berger9thedition_Ch_13_notes.pdfPapalia, DE, Olds, SW, & Feldman, RD (2009). Human Development (11th ed.). New York, USA: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Santrock, J.W. (2008). Development throughout life. New York, United States: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc...