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  Preschool Readiness

  Listed below are some basic developmental milestones for children ages 3-5 years old.
  
  
  3 years old
  
  Gross Motor Skills:

  • Jumps in place
  • Walks up and down stairs independently using alternating feet
  • Can balance momentarily on one foot
  • Throws a ball overhand
  • Can kick a large ball
  • Catches a bounced ball with both arms extended

  
  Fine Motor Skills:

  • Shows control of crayons or markers when drawing
  • Begins to hold crayon or marker between first 2 fingers and thumb. (Tripod Grasp)
  • Turn pages of a book one at a time
  • Builds a tower of 8 or more blocks
  • May begin to show preference for use of right or left hand

  
  Speech and Language Development:

  • Talks about known objects, events and people not present
  • Talks about the actions of others
  • Answers simple questions appropriately
  • Asks increasing number of questions
  • Recites nursery rhymes and sings songs
  • Produces expanded noun phrases: ex. “big brown dog”
  • Produces verbs with ing endings, uses “s” to indicate more than one
  • Uses the preposition “in”

  
  Self Help Skills:

  • Dresses self with help on pullover shirts and all fasteners
  • Manipulates large buttons and zippers on clothing
  • Washes and dries hands; demonstrates good hygiene
  • Insists on doing things without assistance
  • Feeds self-entire meal
  • Wipes nose when reminded

  
  Social and Emotional Development:

  • Seems to understand taking turns, but not always willing to do so
  • Friendly, laughs frequently, is eager to please
  • Joins in simple games and group activities
  • Often talks to self
  • Defends toys and other possessions
  • Engages in make-believe play alone and with other children
  • Sits and listens to stories up to 10 minutes
  • Begins to express feelings/emotions in an appropriate manner
  • Begins to understand some limits and rules
  • Makes simple choices (between two objects)

  
  Cognitive Development:

  • Can stay with the same activity for five to ten minutes (increasing concentration)
  • Names big and little objects
  • Uses toys to symbolize real objects
  • Puts interlocking puzzles together
  • Begins to notice patterns
  • Can sort or describe objects by one or more attributes
  • Shows an interest in numbers and names of numbers
  • Uses words for time such as yesterday and today
  • Uses colors appropriately
  • Recognizes name in print
  • Identifies and names body parts

  ---

  4 years old
  
  Gross Motor Skills:

  • Walks on a straight line
  • Hops on one foot
  • Pedals and steers a bicycle with confidence and skill
  • Climbs easily
  • Jumps and lands on both feet

  
  Fine Motor Skills:

  • Builds a tower with 10 or more blocks
  • Reproduces some shapes and numbers
  • Holds crayon or marker using the tripod grasp
  • Paints and draws with deliberateness
  • Threads small wooden beads on a string
  • Writes own name

  
  Speech and Language Development:

  • Uses the prepositions “on”, “in”, and “under”
  • Uses prepositions consistently “hers” and “theirs”
  • Uses can’t and don’t to mark negatives
  • Produces elaborate sentence structure
  • Begins to correctly use the past tense of verbs
  • States first and last name, gender and sibling names
  • Refers to activities, events, objects and people that are not currently present
  • Spells name

  
  Self Help Skills:

  • Dresses self with help
  • Can lace shoes, button buttons and buckle belts
  • Appropriately and comfortably asks for help
  • Puts on mittens and boots
  • Puts zipper foot in catch

  
  Social and Emotional Development:

  • Moods change rapidly and sometimes unpredictably
  • Cooperates with others, participates in group activities
  • Demands doing things independently
  • Shows pride in accomplishments
  • Takes turns and shares
  • Understands and accepts limits
  • Has an increasing attention span
  • Is developing patience

  
  Cognitive Development:

  • Begins to reason
  • Engages in more developed play themes
  • Understands simple concepts
  • Begins to sort or categorize
  • Put things in order or sequence
  • Notices patterns
  • Counts objects out loud
  • Is interested in the alphabet
  • Is developing early literacy
  • Identifies colors

  ---

  5 years old
  
  Gross Motor Skills:

  • Walks backward heel to toe
  • Bends to touch toes without flexing knees
  • Walks a balance beam
  • Learns to skip using alternating feet
  • Jumps or hops forward on both feet 10 times in a row without falling
  • Balances on either foot with good control for 10 seconds

  
  Fine Motor Skills:

  • Begins to show dominate hand preference
  • Reproduces many shapes and letters
  • Demonstrates good control of crayon or marker, may begin to color within the lines
  • Cuts on the line with scissors

  
  Speech and Language Development:

  • Tells a familiar story while looking at pictures in a book
  • Defines simple words by function: ex. a ball is to bounce, and a bed is to sleep in
  • Uses “would” and “could” appropriately
  • Uses past tense irregular verbs consistently: ex. “went”, “caught”, “swam”
  • Uses past tense inflection (ed) appropriately to mark regular verbs: ex. “jumped”, “rained” and “washed”

  
  Self Help Skills:

  • Dresses self completely
  • Learning to tie shoes

  
  Social and Emotional Development:

  • Enjoys friendships; often has one or two special friends
  • Is often generous; shares toys and takes turns
  • Is affectionate and caring towards younger or injured children
  • Has better self-control, has fewer dramatic swings of emotions

  
  Cognitive Development:

  • Counts twenty or more objects with accuracy
  • Uses measurement terms
  • Understands whole and half and uses them in a sentence
  • Matches objects with ease
  • Knows some names of coins and bills (money)
  • Estimates numbers in a group
  • Draws basic shapes and more
  • Sorts and organizes
  • Expresses interest in creative movement