3 Months, 7 Months, 12 Months, 18 Months, 24 Months,
36 Months/3 years, 48 Months/4 years, 5 years, 6 years, 7 years
By 3 Months:
Social/Emotional
- Begins to develop a smile
- Imitates some movements and facial expressions
Gross Motor
- Raises Head and chest when on tummy
- Supports upper body with arms when on tummy
- Pushes into surface when feet are placed on firm surface
Fine Motor
- Opens and closes hands
- Brings hand to mouth
- Grasps rattles
By 7 Months:
Social/Emotional
- Enjoys social interaction
- Appears happy often
Gross Motor
- Rolls front to back and back to front
- Gets into sitting without assistance
- Crawls forward on belly
Fine Motor
- Reaches with one hand
- Transfers object from hand to hand
- Uses raking of the hand to grasp object
- Finger-feeds self
Cognitive
- Finds partially hidden object
- Explores objects with hands and mouth
By 12 Months:
Social/Emotional
- Shy with strangers
- Shows preference for certain people and toys
- Tests parent responses to behaviors
- Finger-feeds self
Gross Motor
- Crawls on hands and knees
- Pulls to stand
- Walks holding onto furniture
- Takes two or three steps without support
Fine Motor
- Uses pincer grasp
- Releases objects voluntarily
- Bangs two objects together
- Puts objects into container
Cognitive
- Explores objects in many ways (shaking, banging, throwing, dropping)
- Finds hidden objects easily
- Begins to use objects correctly (brushing hair, drinking from cup)
By 18 Months:
Social/Emotional
- Separation anxiety increases
- Begins to show defiant behavior
Gross Motor
- Walks alone
- Pulls toys while walking
Fine Motor
- Turns over container to pour out contents
- Spoons feeds
- Uses open and sippy cup
Cognitive
- Imitates housework
By 24 Months:
Social/Emotional
- Imitates behaviors of others particularly adults and older children
- Increasingly excited about company of other children
- Separation anxiety begins to fade
Gross Motor
- Carries large toy or several toys while walking
- Begins to run
- Kicks a ball
- Walks up and down stairs with support
Fine Motor
- Scribbles
- Builds tower of 4 or more blocks
- Demonstrates handedness
Cognitive
- Helps with undressing
- Finds objects hidden under multiple covers
- Begins to sort by shapes and colors
- Begins make believe play
By 36 Months/3 years:
Social/Emotional
- Imitates adults and playmates
- Shows affection for playmates
- Can take turns in games
- Expresses a wide range of emotions
- Separates easily from parents
Gross Motor
- Climbs well
- Walks up and down stair alternating feet
- Runs easily
- Pedals a tricycle
- Bends over without falling
Fine Motor
- Makes lines vertically, horizontally, and scribbles circles
- Turns pages of a book one at a time
- Builds a 6 block tower
- Holds a crayon or pencil in writing position
- Turns rotating handles
Cognitive
- Makes mechanical toys work
- Plays make-believe with dolls and animals
- Participates in cooperative play
- Completes inset puzzles with 3-4 pieces
- Undresses self
- Toilet training begins
By 48 Months/4 years:
Social/Emotional
- Interested in new experiences
- Plays “mom” or “dad”
- Dresses and Undresses
- Often cannot tell the difference between fantasy and reality
Gross Motor
- Hops and stands on one foot
- Goes up and down stairs without support
- Throws a ball overhead
- Catches a bounced ball most of the time
Fine Motor
- Copies squares
- Draws a person with 2-4 body parts
- Uses scissors
- Draws circles and squares
- Begins to copy capital letters
Cognitive
- Correctly names colors
- Understands concept of counting
- Begins to understand time
- Understands the concept of “same” and “different”
By 60 Months/5 years:
Social/Emotional
- Wants to please friends
- More likely to agree to rules
- Likes to sing, dance, act
- Aware of gender
- Able to distinguish fantasy from reality
b>Gross Motor
- Stands on one foot for 10 seconds or longer
- Hops
- Somersaults
- Swings
- Beginning to skip
Fine Motor
- Copies triangle and other shapes
- Draws a person with a body
- Prints uppercase letters
- Cuts on line consistently
- Uses fork and spoon
- Cares for own toileting needs
Cognitive
- Can count 10 or more objects
- Knows about use of everyday items (food, money)
By 6 years:
Social/Emotional
- Needs to win and may change rules to suit
- Increasingly aware that others have feelings
- Shows more interest in taking care of his or her self without help
- Cleans his or her room, including making the bed
- Likes board games, crafts and other constructive projects
Gross Motor
- Can move in time with music or a beat
- Very interested in climbing and balancing, takes risks
- Learns to skip with rope
- More in control of his or her body
- Bounces and catches tennis ball
Fine Motor
- Holds a pencil with three fingers, movement from fingers
- Copies a diamond
- Draws a person with detail
- Writes alphabet
- Ties shoelaces without help
- Eye-hand coordination significantly improves
- Masters buttons and fasteners
- Cuts with a knife
Cognitive
- Develops reasoning skills
- Learn through language and logic/reasoning
- Child shows a strong desire to learn
By 7 years:
Social/Emotional
- Desires to be perfect and is quite self-critical
- Tends to complain; has strong emotional reactions
- Understands the difference between right and wrong
- Takes direction well
Gross Motor
- Has good balance
- Executes more complicated gymnastics such as a cartwheel
- Activities become more sport specific
Fine Motor
- Proficient with paper and pencil tasks
- Able to organize multi-step sequences
Cognitive
- Able to solve more complex problems
- Individual learning style becomes more clear-cut
- Can solve simple math problems using objects