Milestones

By age two most children will be able to:

  • Use 10-20 words including names
  • Combine 2 words
  • Point to Basic body parts
  • Bring objects from another room
  • Combine nouns and verbs
  • Ask who, what and where questions
  • Draw lines on paper with pencil, crayon, or marker
  • Imitate peer and adult play
  • Help take off pants and shirt
  • Stack blocks
  • Play with puzzle pieces
  • Learn to kick, roll and throw a ball
  • Drink from open cup
  • Hold and snip with scissors
  • Use a spoon, begin using fork
  • Walk up and down stairs w/o support

By age three most children will be able to:

  • Form word plurals by adding /s/
  • Combine noun and verbs
  • Ask what, who and where questions
  • Form sentences using 4 or more words
  • Solve problems by talking rather than crying
  • Follow 3 step commands
  • String beads
  • Start to build with blocks
  • Can play independently with toys for extended period of time
  • Learn to catch a medium sized ball
  • Begin to dress themself
  • Open doors by turning the handle
  • Copy vertical/horizontal line and circle
  • Cut a straight line

By age four most children will be able to:

  • Have a vocabulary of ~1,000 words
  • Know basic identifying information such as first and last name, address, etc.
  • Spontaneously sing nursery rhymes or familiar songs
  • Produce consonants with 90% accuracy
  • Form sentences with 5 or more words
  • Use adult like grammar
  • Throw ball overhand and underhand
  • Draw simple shapes and cut out a circle
  • Share/take turns
  • Begin dramatic play
  • Pour liquids easily from a small pitcher
  • Button and unbutton larger buttons
  • Wash his/her own hands
  • Dress with adult supervision
  • Attempt to brush teeth

By age five most children will be able to:

  • Use past tense correctly
  • Be understood by people outside of the home
  • Have a vocabulary of 1,500 words
  • Identify shapes
  • Understand imaginary conditions
  • Use sentences with 6 or more words
  • Pay attention to a short story and answer simple questions about that story.
  • Print name from memory
  • Color within the lines
  • Dynamic tripod grasp
  • Throw at a target 5 feet away and hit target
  • Cut out a square
  • Draw a person with 6 or more different parts
  • Dress without supervision
  • Tie and untie knots

Before kindergarten most children will be able to:

  • Speak in compound sentences
  • Define objects by their use, ex: I use a fork to eat
  • Understand spatial concepts such as far and near
  • Identify money and change
  • Understand same and different and other opposites

You are your child’s best advocate. If you have any concerns, don’t “wait and see.” Your preschooler’s future is in your hands!

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