Developmental milestones from 3 to 6 years of age

What should the abilities of an age-appropriate 3-year-old child look like in the developmental areas listed here as examples?

It is known from developmental psychology and pediatric medicine that many children make a major developmental spurt after their third birthday. The following exemplary clues indicate age-appropriate development:

Motor skills

• Gross motor skills: the child should be able to walk, run, hop, climb and jump safely.
• Fine motor skills: the child should be able to hold and use objects such as pencils, paintbrushes and cutlery. It should also be able to draw simple shapes, string beads and play with building blocks.
• Hand-eye coordination: the child should be able to catch and throw simple balls.
• Sense of balance: the child should be able to stand on one leg and walk a few steps on a narrow beam or line.
• Body awareness: the child should be able to feel his body and understand the position of his body in space.

Source: "Developmental Psychology of Childhood and Adolescence" by Klaus Hurrelmann and Uwe Haisch (2008), p. 169.

Language Skills

• The child forms simple sentences.
• It uses pronouns such as "I", "you", "he", "she".
• It has an understanding of questions and how to answer them.
• The child names objects and people in the immediate environment.
• It tells simple stories.

Source: "Developmental Psychology of Childhood and Adolescence" by Klaus Hurrelmann and Uwe Haisch (2008), p. 188.

Cognitive abilities

• The child develops an understanding of cause-effect relationships.
• He has an understanding of spatial relations such as "above", "below", "next to", etc.
• It can order objects and people according to certain characteristics such as color, shape or size.
• It develops an understanding of numbers as quantities.

Source: "Developmental Psychology of Childhood and Adolescence" by Klaus Hurrelmann and Uwe Haisch (2008), pp. 200-201.

Social-emotional skills

• The child begins to dress independently.
• He can express emotions, such as joy, anger, sadness and fear.
• The child understands the emotional reactions of others.
• It develops the ability to empathy.
• It begins to build friendships.
• It increasingly plays with other children common games, including role-playing games.
• The child remains without problems over a few hours with a familiar caregiver.
• It develops the ability to cooperate and resolve conflicts.
• The child wants to help out in the household

Source: "Developmental Psychology of Childhood and Adolescence" by Klaus Hurrelmann and Uwe Haisch (2008), pp. 220-221.

At the age of four, children have usually overcome the "defiance phase" and are more understanding than three-year-olds. They are already more dexterous and develop a great urge to move.

Motor skills

• The child can walk, run and hop on one leg.
• He can catch and throw a ball.
• It can climb stairs with alternating feet
• The child can put on and take off clothes independently.
• The child develops fine motor skills such as painting, cutting and assembling simple objects.

Source: "Developmental Psychology of Childhood and Adolescence" by Klaus Hurrelmann and Uwe Haisch (2008), pp. 162-163.

Language Skills

• The child expands his vocabulary and sentences become longer.
• It can intelligibly report events, including past events.
• It also understands complicated sentences, complex structures and relationships.
• The child speaks active sentences with four or more words.
• It uses pronouns such as "I", "you", "he" and "she" in the correct form.
• It tells stories with a clear plot and a beginning, middle and end.
• The child understands opposites such as "high" and "low, "in front of" and "behind".
• He uses past tenses and verbs such as "I walked" or "I ate".

Source: "Language acquisition and development in kindergarten age" by Angelika Redder and Sylvia Stahl (2012), pp. 24-27.

Cognitive skills

• The child can recognize and compare simple numbers and quantities.
• It can name and distinguish shapes and colors.
• It can sort objects by size, weight and length.
• It solves simple riddles and puzzles.
• It can follow simple instructions and follow rules.
• It shows compassion and empathy for others.

Source: "Developmental Psychology of Childhood and Adolescence" by Klaus Hurrelmann and Uwe Haisch (2008), pp. 166-168.

Social-emotional skills

• The child develops friendships and interacts with other children.
• It can recognize feelings of others and respond appropriately.
• It develops frustration tolerance and is able to resolve conflicts in an appropriate manner.
• It develops self-esteem and self-confidence.
• It understands rules and norms and can follow them.

5-year-old children are becoming increasingly independent. In a year, school enrollment is already on the horizon.

Motor skills

• The child can safely walk, run, hop and jump.
• He can safely climb and descend stairs.
• He can balance.
• It can throw and catch objects.
• It can paint and draw, for example, draw circles and squares or trace letters.

Source: "Developmental Psychology of Childhood and Adolescence" by Klaus Hurrelmann and Uwe Haisch (2008), pp. 162-163.

Language Abilities

• The child forms sentences with several words and speaks in complete sentences.
• He has mastered the grammar and sentence structure of the first language in the family.
• It is able to tell short stories and reproduce contexts understandably.
• The child has mastered a vocabulary of at least 2000 words.

Source: "Developmental Psychology of Childhood and Adolescence" by Klaus Hurrelmann and Uwe Haisch (2008), pp. 184-185.

Cognitive Abilities

• The child can solve simple problems and finds appropriate solutions.
• It recognizes numbers and letters and can name them.
• It recognizes colors and shapes and can name them.
• It can remember things and reproduce them
• It follows rules and instructions.

Source: "Developmental Psychology of Childhood and Adolescence" by Klaus Hurrelmann and Uwe Haisch (2008), pp. 186-187.

Social-emotional skills

• The child develops empathy skills, that is, he can put himself in the shoes of others and understand their feelings.
• It works and cooperates with other children.
• It has an understanding of social rules and norms, such as sharing toys or taking turns when playing.
• It is able to self-regulate and controls its impulses.
• It has a strong sense of self and self-confidence.

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2020). Developmental milestones: 5 years. https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/actearly/milestones/milestones-5yr.html

At the age of six, children make another major developmental leap. Many children have already started school.

Motor skills

• The child can safely compete on a bicycle or scooter.
• It shows good body coordination and control.
• He can write and draw with both hands.
• It can play simple ball games and catch.

Source: German Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine (DGKJ). (2021). Child development - motor function. Retrieved 05/04/2023 from https://www.kinderaerzte-im-netz.de/krankheiten/entwicklungsstoerungen/…

Language skills

• The child masters the correct pronunciation of words and sentences.
• He uses more complex grammar structures.
• He tells stories and events in correct chronological order.
• It uses adjectives and adverbs to describe objects and actions.
• It understands linguistic irony and jokes.

Source: Sprachstandserhebungen in Kindertageseinrichtungen (SPATZ) of the Institute for Quality Development at Schools Schleswig-Holstein (IQSH) (https://www.schleswig-holstein.de/DE/Landesregierung/IQSH/Service/Sprac…)

Cognitive Abilities

• The child can think more abstractly and understand connections of things.
• It understands the meaning of seasons and the division of the week by days of the week.
• It can recognize problems and find their own solutions.
• It can draw simple logical conclusions.
• It can estimate spatial relationships and understand maps or plans.
• It can better orient in rooms and in the environment and uses left and right correctly.
• It recognizes in drawings and pictures, what is in front and what is behind and can name it.
• It understands quantities and numbers and can compare them.
• It counts to 10 and can recognize and name quantities up to 10.

Source: American Academy of Pediatrics. (2009). Developmental Milestones: 6 Years Old.

Social-emotional skills

• The child develops empathy and compassion, can take the perspective of other people, and understands that other people also have their own feelings and needs. It can empathize with others and has compassion when others are sad or hurt.
• The child shows appropriate behavior in groups: it can play in a group, work together and resolve conflicts. It can compromise and respond to the needs of others to allow harmonious coexistence in the group.
• The child develops the ability to self-regulate: he can regulate his emotions and express them appropriately. It can control its emotions and respond in an appropriate manner, without being guided by impulsive behavior.
• The child has its own understanding of social norms and rules: It understands which behaviors are acceptable in society and which are not. It can follow rules and understands that there can be consequences for breaking rules.

Sources: National Association for the Education of Young Children. (2009). Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Early Childhood Programs Serving Children from Birth through Age 8. https://www.naeyc.org/sites/default/files/globally-shared/downloads/PDF…

Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. (2016). From Best Practices to Breakthrough Impacts: A Science-Based Approach to Building a More Promising Future for Young Children and Families. https://developingchild.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Best-Pra…