Holistic development is the development of intellectual, mental, physical emotional and social abilities in a child, so that they can be able to face the demands and challenges of everyday life.

holistic development has three theories, namely: 

1. Piaget's cognitive developmental theory- it emphasizes on how children learn by interacting with the world and also  how they build new skills based on prior knowledge

2. Erikson's psychosocial developmental- it describes the impact  of social experience across the whole lifespan, it focuses on how social interaction and relationships played a role in the development and growth of human beings

3. Vygostky's developmental theory- it argues that cognitive abilities are socially guided and constructed, and as such, culture serves as a mediator for the formation and development of specific abilities, such as learning, memory, attention, and problem solving.

From Piaget's four stages there are 2 stages does the foundation phase learners fall between, and those stages are;

pre operational stage and concrete operational stages.