Skill Development

Developmental milestones

Skill Development From Birth to Age 5

Skill development during the first five years of your child’s life moves fast. The brain grows rapidly in babies, toddlers, and preschoolers. Language blooms, thinking becomes more developed, and social and emotional skills allow more interaction with other people. Explore the information below for details on how skills develop during these early years.

01.

Developmental Milestones

From Birth to Age 1

Babies develop skills quickly during the first year, and it can be hard to know if your baby is on track. In the first year, babies develop new ways to think, communicate and solve problems (called cognitive skills). They develop physically and learn to interact with people. If you’re not completely sure what skills are typical for this first year, take a look at this list of developmental milestones.

Keep in mind that babies develop at different rates. If your baby isn’t reaching some of these milestones, don’t panic. But be sure to discuss this with the pediatrician.

02.

Developmental Milestones

Typical 2-Year-Olds

Once your child is 2 years old, she’s officially a toddler! And it can be hard not to compare your child with other toddling tots.

If you’re not completely sure what skills are typical at this age, check out these developmental milestones. You’ll get a better idea of which skills are typically expected of a 2-year-old.

Keep in mind that babies develop at different rates. If your baby isn’t reaching some of these milestones, don’t panic. But be sure to discuss this with the pediatrician.

Developmental Milestones for Typical 2-Year-Olds

Once your child is 2 years old, she’s officially a toddler! And it can be hard not to compare your child with other toddling tots.
If you’re not completely sure what skills are typical at this age, check out these developmental milestones. You’ll get a better idea of which skills are typically expected of a 2-year-old.

Physical Milestones

This year, children may not only grow  by leaps and bounds, but also learn  to leap and bound! Expect to see big things happening with the big muscles (gross motor skills), as well as development in small muscle movement (fine motor skills).
Most 2-year-olds learn to do things like these by the end of their third year:

Gross Motor Skills

Walk, run and start learning to jump with both feet
Pull or carry toys while walking
Throw and kick a ball; try to catch with both hands
Stand on tiptoes and balance on one foot
Climb on furniture and playground equipment
Walk up stairs, holding on to the railing; may alternate feet

Fine Motor Skills

Start brushing own teeth and hair
May pull pants up and down
Turn on the faucet and wash hands
Build a block tower of at least four blocks
Start practicing snaps and zipping up (if you start the zip)
Hold utensils and crayons with fingers instead of a fist, although the grasp still may not be quite right

Cognitive Milestones

Kids start thinking in new ways, learning new skills and finding new techniques to solve problems. By the end of this year, kids typically:

Enjoy more complicated pretend play, like pretending that a box is a spaceship or assigning people characters when playing
Remember and talk about things that happened in the past, using phrases like “the other day” or “a long time ago”
Do three- to four-piece puzzles
Group toys by type, size or color
Recite favorite books and nursery rhymes with you
May follow two-step directions, such as “take off your coat and hang it up”

Language Milestones

By the end of the third year, children usually understand much of what you say to them. They’re also talking more. At this age, most children can do these things:

Understand the words for familiar people, everyday objects and body parts
Use a variety of single words by 18 months and speak in sentences of two to four words by 24 months (may combine nouns and verbs, like “mommy eat”); have a vocabulary of 200+ words by 36 months
Repeat words she hears
Start asking “what’s that?” and “why?”
Begin using plurals (dogs) and basic pronouns (me, you)

Social and Emotional Milestones

Two-year-olds start to be more independent and more interested in other kids. But not having the words to express themselves can be frustrating. By the end of this year, kids will likely do things like this:

Mimic what other kids and adults do and say, as well as how they say it
Be happy to play near, if not with, other kids
Start to realize she can do things without your help
Disobey more than before, doing things she’s told not to do, just to test what happens
Have tantrums when frustrated
Show increasing separation anxiety by 18 months, which typically eases considerably by 24 months; become increasingly independent and aware of herself as her own person between 24 and 36 months

Keep in mind that kids develop at different paces. If your child is late to do a few of these things, don’t panic. But if she isn’t meeting many of these milestones as she approaches age 3, consider talking to her doctor about an evaluation to see if early intervention could help develop her skills.

03.

Developmental Milestones

Typical 3-Year-Olds

It can be hard not to compare your 3-year-old with other kids—or to listen when other people tell you what they think he should be doing at this age. If you’re not completely sure what skills are typical for 3-year-olds, check out these developmental milestones.
You’ll get a better idea of which skills are typically expected to develop this year. You’ll also learn whether there are possible developmental trouble spots to discuss with the pediatrician.

Keep in mind that babies develop at different rates. If your baby isn’t reaching some of these milestones, don’t panic. But be sure to discuss this with the pediatrician.

Developmental Milestones for Typical 3-Year-Olds

Physical Milestones

This year children are working to get better at the gross and fine motor skills they developed as 2-year-olds. They start doing some new things, too. Most 3-year-olds learn to do things like these by the time they’re 4:

Gross Motor Skills

Run and walk without tripping over own feet
Jump, hop and stand on one foot
Walk backwards and climb stairs one foot after the other
Kick and throw a small ball; catch a bigger ball most of the time
Climb
Start pedaling a tricycle or bike

Fine Motor Skills

Draw a circle with a crayon, pencil or marker
Play with toys with small moving parts and buttons
Turn the pages of a book one at a time
Build with Mega Bloks and create towers of six or more blocks
Work door handles and twist-on bottle tops

Cognitive Milestones

This year, children start learning new things about the world. They often think of creative approaches to tasks and activities. By the end of this year, typical cognitive milestones include being able to do things like:

Name the eight colors in a crayon box (red, yellow, blue, green, orange, purple, brown, black)
Recite numbers to 10 and start counting groups of things
Start understanding time in terms of morning, night and days of the week
Remember and retell favorite stories
Understand and talk about things that are the “same” and “different”
Follow simple three-step directions (“Brush your teeth, wash your face and put on your pajamas.”)

Language Milestones

By the end of the year, 3-year-olds typically have a lot to say. They also understand more of what you say—but may not always follow your directions. Kids this age typically use language like this:

Use the basic rules of grammar, but make mistakes with words that don’t follow the rules, like saying “mouses” instead of “mice”
Speak well enough that most strangers can understand what they’re saying
Use five or six words in a sentence and have a two- to three-sentence conversation
Tell you their name, the name of at least one friend and the names of most common objects
Understand words like “in,” “on,” “behind” and “next”
Ask “wh” questions, like “why,” to get more information about things

Social and Emotional Milestones

Three-year-olds are an interesting mix of independent, playful and fearful. By the end of their fourth year, most 3-year-olds do these things:

Be interested—although hesitant—about going new places and trying new things
Start to play with children (as opposed to only playing side-by-side)
Start being able to comfort and show concern for an unhappy friend without prompting
Take turns while playing (even if they don’t like to)
Play “real life” with toys like play kitchens
Start finding simple ways to solve arguments and disagreements
Show (but maybe not name) a variety of emotions beyond happy, sad and mad

Remember that kids develop at different rates. If your child is late to do a few of these things, don’t panic. If your 3-year-old isn’t able to do many of these things as he approaches age 4, consider talking to his doctor about an evaluation to look at your child’s skills.

04.

Developmental Milestones

Typical 4-Year-Olds

What are the typical skills for 4-year-olds? This year most children develop many new skills very quickly. Check out these typical 4-year-old developmental milestones to know what you might be seen by the end of this year. It will also help you know whether there are trouble spots to talk to the pediatrician about.

Developmental Milestones for Typical 4-Year-Olds

Physical Milestones

Children can put on close to five pounds and grow four inches this year. Eyesight continues to get better, too, so coordination improves. By the end of this year, most children can do these things:

Gross Motor Skills

Control movement more easily; start, stop, turn and go around obstacles while running
Log roll, do somersaults, skip and trot
Get dressed with minimal help (zippers, snaps and buttons may still be a little hard)
Throw and bounce a ball
Jump over objects and climb playground ladders
Pedal and steer a tricycle or bike

Fine Motor Skills

Draw or copy basic shapes and crosses (this is a milestone known as “being able to cross the midline”)
Write some letters
Begin to use scissors purposefully
Stack a tower at least 10 blocks high
String beads or O-shaped cereal to make necklaces
Pinch and shape clay or play-dough into recognizable objects

Cognitive Milestones

This year, children’s ability to think and learn goes beyond the basics of the world around them. They start thinking about and understanding things they can’t see or touch; you might notice your child starts to become “an idea man.” Most children are developing skills to:

Understand the difference between real and make-believe
Understand that pictures and symbols stand for real things
Explore relationships between ideas, using words like if and when to express them
Start thinking in logical steps, which means seeing the “how-tos” and consequences of things
Get abstract ideas like “bigger,” “less,” “later,” “ago” and “soon”
Put things in order such as from biggest to smallest, shortest to tallest
Stick with an activity for 10 to 15 minutes

Language Milestones

Language development tends to explode this year. This may include developing a vocabulary of more than 1,000 words and using complicated sentences that combine more than one thought. Kids start asking who, what, why, when and where questions—and maybe even can answer some too. By the end of this year, most children can do these things:

Sing silly songs, make up goofy words and start rhyming
Follow simple, unrelated directions (“Go find your shoes and pick up that toy.”)
Change speech patterns depending on who he’s having a conversation with, such as speaking in short sentences to a younger sibling
Pronounce most sounds correctly, but still have trouble with s, w and r sounds
Ask for the definition of unfamiliar words
Make up stories and talk about what he’s thinking
Argue, even though the argument might not be logical

Social and Emotional Milestones

Your child may be starting to develop his own unique personality. He may be more able to get along with peers and work out things that bother him through play. Most children can also:

Share, cooperate, be helpful and take turns
Start acting a little bossy and start tattling
Enjoy telling silly jokes and find other things funny
Begin telling small lies to get out of trouble, even though he knows it’s wrong
Do or say things he shouldn’t to see what the reaction will be
Have imaginary friends and play the same imaginary games over and over

Remember: Kids develop at different paces. Your child may gain some skills later than other kids or have some skills that are advanced for his age. If your child isn’t meeting many of these milestones, consider speaking with his doctor to see if an evaluation to look at his skills is recommended. There are a number of ways you, your child’s doctor and even his preschool can work together to help boost his skills.