Introduction
Social
Emotional
Cognitive
Language
Movement
Hand and Finger Skills
Developmental Health Watch
Children develop at their own pace, so it's impossible to tell exactly when yours will learn a given skill. The developmental milestones below will give you a general idea of the changes you can expect as your child gets older, but don't be alarmed if your child takes a slightly different course. |
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Social
- Imitates adults and playmates
- Spontaneously shows affection for
familiar playmates
- Can take turns in games
- Understands concept of "mine" and "his/hers"
Emotional
- Expresses affection openly
- Expresses a wide range of emotions
- By 3, separates easily from parents
- Objects to major changes in routine
Cognitive
- Makes mechanical toys work
- Matches an object in her hand or room to
a picture in a book
- Plays make-believe with dolls, animals,
and people
- Sorts objects by shape and color
- Completes puzzles with three or four
pieces
- Understands concept of "two"
Language
- Follows a two- or three-part command
- Recognizes and identifies almost all
common objects and pictures
- Understands most sentences
- Understands placement in space ("on,"
"in," "under")
- Uses 4- to 5-word sentences
- Can say name, age, and sex
- Uses pronouns (I, you, me, we, they) and
some plurals (cars, dogs, cats)
- Strangers can understand most of her words
Movement
- Climbs well
- Walks up and down stairs, alternating
feet (one foot per stair step)
- Kicks ball
- Runs easily
- Pedals tricycle
- Bends over easily without falling
Hand and Finger Skills
- Makes up-and-down, side-to-side, and
circular lines with pencil or crayon
- Turns book pages one at a time
- Builds a tower of more than six blocks
- Holds a pencil in writing position
- Screws and unscrews jar lids, nuts, and
bolts
- Turns rotating handles
Developmental Health Watch
Alert your child's doctor or nurse if your child displays any of the following signs of possible developmental delay for this age range.
- Frequent falling and
difficulty with stairs
- Persistent drooling
or very unclear speech
- Cannot build a tower
of more than four blocks
- Difficulty
manipulating small objects
- Cannot copy a circle
by age 3
- Cannot communicate
in short phrases
- No involvement in
"pretend" play
- Does not understand
simple instructions
- Little interest in
other children
- Extreme difficulty
separating from mother or primary caregiver
- Poor eye contact
- Limited interest in
toys
- Experiences a dramatic loss of skills he or she once had
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From CARING FOR YOUR BABY AND YOUNG CHILD: BIRTH TO AGE 5 by Steven Shelov, Robert E. Hannermann, © 1991, 1993, 1998, 2004 by the American Academy of Pediatrics. Used by permission of Bantam Books, a division of Random House, Inc.
See PDF Version:
Important Milestones: By the End of 3 Years (36 Months) [PDF, 144KB]
