Milestones

By age one

• Speech & Language
• Recognizes name
• Says 2-3 words besides "mama" and "dada"
• Imitates familiar words
• Understands simple instructions
• Recognizes words as symbols for objects: Car - points to garage, cat - meows


• Gross Motor - deals with large muscle groups such as walking
• sits without support
• crawls
• pulls self to standing position and stands unaided
• walks with aid
• rolls a ball in imitation of adult


• Fine Motor - incorporates the small muscles such as handwriting
• reaches, grasps, puts object in mouth
• picks things up with pincer grasp (thumb and one finger)
• transfers object from one hand to the other
• drops and picks up toy

Between one and two

• Speech & Language
• Understands "no"
• Uses 10 to 20 words, including names
• Combines two words such as "daddy bye-bye"
• Waves good-bye and plays pat-a-cake
• Makes the "sounds" of familiar animals
• Gives a toy when asked
• Uses words such as "more" to make wants known
• Points to his or her toes, eyes, and nose
• Brings object from another room when asked


• Gross Motor - deals with large muscle groups such as walking
• walks alone
• walks backwards
• picks up toys from floor without falling
• pulls toys, pushes toys
• seats self in child size chair
• walks up and down stairs with hand held
• moves to music


• Fine Motor - incorporates the small muscles such as handwriting
• builds tower of three small blocks
• puts four rings on stick
• places five pegs in pegboard
• turns pages two or three at a time
• scribbles
• turns knobs
• throws small ball
• paints with whole arm movement, shifts hands, makes strokes

Between two and three

• Speech & Language
• Identifies body parts
• Carries on 'conversation' with self and dolls
• Asks "what's that?" And "where's my?"
• Uses 2-word negative phrases such as "no want"
• Forms some plurals by adding "s"; book, books
• Has a 450 word vocabulary
• Gives first name, holds up fingers to tell age
• Combines nouns and verbs "mommy go"
• Understands simple time concepts: "last night", "tomorrow"
• Refers to self as "me" rather than by name
• Tries to get adult attention: "watch me"
• Likes to hear same story repeated
• May say "no" when means "yes"
• Talks to other children as well as adults
• Solves problems by talking instead of hitting or crying
• Answers "where" questions
• Names common pictures and things
• Uses short sentences like "me want more" or "me want cookie"
• Matches 3-4 colors, knows big and little


• Gross Motor - deals with large muscle groups such as walking
• runs forward well
• jumps in place with two feet together
• stands on one foot (with aid)
• walks on tiptoe
• kicks a ball forward


• Fine Motor - incorporates the small muscles such as handwriting
• strings four large beads
• turns single pages
• snips with scissors
• holds crayon with thumb and fingers (not fist)
• uses one hand consistently in most activities
• imitates circular, vertical, horizontal strokes
• paints with some wrist action; makes dots, lines, circular strokes
• rolls, pounds, squeezes, and pulls clay

Between three and four

• Speech & Language
• Can tell a story
• Has a sentence length of 4-5 words
• Has a vocabulary of nearly 1000 words
• Names at least one color
• Understands "yesterday," "summer", "lunchtime", "tonight", "little-big"
• Begins to obey requests like "put the block under the chair"
• Knows his or her last name, name of street on which he/she lives and several nursery rhymes


• Gross Motor - deals with large muscle groups such as walking
• runs around obstacles
• walks on a line
• balances on one foot for five to ten seconds
• hops on one foot
• pushes, pulls, steers wheeled toys
• rides tricycle
• uses slide independently
• jumps over six inch high object and lands on both feet together
• throws ball overhead
• catches a bounce ball


• Fine Motor - incorporates the small muscles such as handwriting
• builds tower of nine small blocks
• drives nails and pegs
• copies circle
• imitates cross
• manipulates clay material (rolls balls, snakes, cookies)

Between four and five

• Speech & Language
• Has sentence length of 4-5 words
• Uses past tense correctly
• Has a vocabulary of nearly 1500 words
• Points to colors red, blue, yellow and green
• Identifies triangles, circles and squares
• Understands "In the morning" , "next", "noontime"
• Can speak of imaginary conditions such as "I hope"
• Asks many questions, asks "who?" And "why?


• Gross Motor - deals with large muscle groups such as walking
• walks backward toe-heel
• jumps forward 10 times without falling
• walks up and down stair independently, alternating feet
• turns somersault


• Fine Motor - incorporates the small muscles such as handwriting
• cuts on line continuously
• copies cross
• copies square
• prints a some capital letters

Between five and six

• Speech & Language
• Has a sentence length of 5-6 words
• Has a vocabulary of around 2000 words
• Defines objects by their use (you eat with a fork) and can tell what objects are made of
• Knows spatial relations like "on top", "behind", "far" and "near"
• Knows her address
• Identifies a penny, nickel and dime
• Knows common opposites like "big/little"
• Understands "same" and "different"
• Counts ten objects
• Asks questions for information
• Distinguished left and right hand in herself
• Uses all types of sentences, for example "let's go to the store after we eat"


• Gross Motor - deals with large muscle groups such as walking
• runs lightly on toes
• walks on balance beam
• can cover 2 meters hopping
• skips on alternate feet
• jumps rope


• Fine Motor - incorporates the small muscles such as handwriting
• cuts out simple shapes
• copies triangle
• traces diamond
• copies first name
• prints numerals 1 to 5
• colors within lines
• has adult (tripod) grasp of pencil
• hand dominance well established
• pastes and glues appropriately