Milestones for 3&4 year old children
Socially:
-plays besides other children
-talks about feelings
-begins to take turns
-engaging in themed play
-begins playing with 2-3 children in a group
-treating teddies and dollies as if they are alive
-participates in interactive games
Emotionally:
-begins to understand right/wrong
-recognizes emotions of friends around them
-imitates parents and friends facial, verbal and physical expressions
-shows affection to familiar family and friends
-understands idea of “mine” and “his/hers”
-shows range of emotions: happy, sad, bored, angry, etc.
Physically:
-walking up and down stairs easily with assistance
-can kick, throw and catch a ball
-climbs well
-hops and can stand for a few seconds on one foot
-runs confidently
-walks forward and backward easily
-bend without falling
-helps clean up
-can handle small objects with care
-can turn a page in a book
Intellectually:
-can hold a crayon and attempts to hold a pencil
-uses age appropriate scissors
-copies circles and squares
-draws a person with two-four body parts
-writes some captial letters
-builds a tower with four or more blocks
-begins to recognize colors
-shows interest in songs, dance and read aloud books
-likes to be read to or likes to sit and look at books
Milestones for 4&5 year old children:
Socially:
-play with a small group, individually and with a partner
-engages in play themes that expand beyond personal experience
-playing with other children with shared aims within play
-playing imaginatively
-can participate in games with simple rules
-shares and takes turns most of the time
-enjoys playing with other children and seeks to please friends
Emotionally:
-express emotion through a wider vocabulary
-expresses anger more verbally than physically
-becoming more independent
-understands and obeys rules but it still demanding and uncooperative at times exploring boundaries
-recognizes a routine
-can determine emotion in others
Physically:
-stand on one foot for more than a few seconds
-do a somersault and hop on one foot
-pedal a tricycle
-skip
-understand a series of movements
-can participate in organized sport with rules
-can follow a pattern of movement and repeat it (4 claps, 2 pats, 2 jumps, etc)
-can use a fork and spoon
-able to cut with age appropriate scissors
– performs personal hygiene (washing hands, brushing teeth, etc)
Intellectually:
-able to copy a triangle, circle, square and other shapes
-draw a person with a body and individual characteristics such as eye or hair color
-recognize patterns
-count to 10 and recognize 10 objects
-correctly name at least four colors and three shapes
-recognize some letters and possibly write his/her name
-better understand the concept of time and order of daily activities (morning is breakfast, afternoon is lunch, dinner is night time, etc)
-greater attention span
-recognize familiar word signs such as ‘stop’
-possibly know their address and phone number
-can follow a sequence of commands
1-book away
2-brush teeth
3-get in bed