Helpful Resources

3 Months
At three months of age, most babies:

• Turn their head toward bright colors and lights
• No longer “cross their eyes” while trying to focus
• They move both their eyes in the same direction at a time
• Recognize bottle or breast
• Respond to their mother’s voice
• Make cooing sounds
• Bring their hands together
• Wiggle and kick their arms and legs
• Lift their head while laying on their stomach
• Become quiet in response to sound, especially speech
• Smile

6 Months
At six months of age, most babies:

• Follow moving objects with their eyes
• Turn toward the source of normal sounds
• Reach for objects and pick them up
  Switch toys from one hand to the other
  Play with their toes
• Help hold the bottle during feeding
• Recognize familiar faces
• Imitate speech sounds
• Respond to soft sounds, especially speech
• Roll over

12 Months
At 12 months of age, most babies:

• Get to a sitting position
• Pull to a standing position
• Stand briefly without support
• Crawl
• Imitate adults using a cup or telephone
• Play peek-a-boo and patty-cake
• Wave goodbye
• Put objects in a container
• Say at least one word
• Make “ma-ma” or “da-da” sounds

18 Months
At eighteen months of age, most babies:

• Like to push and pull objects
• Say at least six words
• Follow simple directions like "bring the ball"
• Pull off their shoes, socks, & mittens
• Can point to a picture that you name in a book
• Feed themselves
• Make marks on paper with crayons
• Walk without help
• Walk backward
• Point, makes sounds, or try to use words to ask for things
• Say “no”, shake their head, or push away things they don’t want

2 Years
At two years of age, most children:

• Use two to three-word sentences
• Say about 50 words
• Recognize familiar pictures
• Kick a ball forward
• Feed themselves with a spoon
• Demand a lot of your attention
• Turn two or three pages together
• Like to imitate their parent
• Identify their hair, eyes, ears, and nose by pointing
• Build a tower of four blocks
• Show affection

3 Years
At three years of age, most children:

• Throw a ball overhand
• Ride a tricycle
• Put on their shoes
• Open the door
• Turn one page at a time
• Play with other children for a
  few minutes
• Repeat common rhymes
• Use three to five-word sentences
• Name at least one color correctly

4 Years
At four years of age, most children:

• Understand “same and different”
• Understand “heavy” and “light”
• Understand “more” and “less”
• Retells a story from a picture book
• Can build a pyramid of six blocks
• Name primary colors
• Can state full name
• Can define at least five
  simple words
• Share toys
• Quiet down after active play
• Show empathy towards others
• Dress self completely
• Can jump over low objects

5 Years
At five years of age, most children:

• Identify “first”, “last”, and “middle”
• Name at least 20 letters
• Recognize a few printed words
• Can predict what will happen next
• Identify rhyming words
• Uses sentence of five or
  more words
• Participate in group discussions
• Tell familiar stories
  without pictures
• Ask before using
  another’s belongings
• Talk about own feelings
• Offer assistance to others
• Help with group projects
• Like competitive games
• Can cut a straight line
• Color within line