Play Years : Developmental Milestones
A major step in the life of any child is the beginning of the school phase. Children as young as two years old are now being put into playschools where they start learning basic social skills as well as academic ones. Psychologists term the stage from two years to five years as preschool years or ‘play years’. In this stage, the concept of play is very important as it helps the child to understand the social structure of their peer group as well as develop their language skills. The neurological changes in the brain, during this time, greatly influence the processes of language. Children have the urge to talk continuously or communicate with the people around which helps them to develop better speaking skills, grammar structure as well as develop a wide range of vocabulary. Their cognitive and motor skills are also more developed which allows them to participate in as many play activities as they want. Children between the ages of 3 to 5, develop a concept called ‘theory of mind’. It is the understanding that other people may think differently from them and they can judge their thoughts. Emotional skills also develop during this phase where a child who is three years old may be prone to tantrums or uncontrollable anger but a child at five years old is able to control and better express his/her emotions.
Now going back to the assessment or observation of children at this stage for any areas of concern, we can look at certain developmental milestones. I would like to reiterate that the below checklist is only a guideline towards understanding if your child has an area of concern. I would urge you to consult a child psychologist or clinical psychologist if you have any concerns regarding your child’s mental and intellectual health. Please observe your child over a period of six months to see if the issues are still continuing and then you can consult your doctor. You can use the checklist below as an initial guideline to help you with your observations.
| Developmental tasks | Expected Age | Completed |
| Walks up steps by stepping one foot on each. | 4 years | |
| Picks up small objects easily | 4 years | |
| Unbuttons | 4 years | |
| Tells stories | 4 years | |
| Speaks in completed sentences | 4 years | |
| He/she knows his/her full name, age, gender | 4 years | |
| Speech is intelligible | 4 years | |
| Dresses oneself | 4 years | |
| Feeds self | 4 years | |
| Toilet trained | 4 years | |
| Gets along with other children | 4 years | |
| Imitates adults doing simple tasks | 4 years | |
| Build tower of ten blocks | 4 years | |
| Copies a circle | 4 years | |
| Matches object to color | 4 years | |
| Hops and skips on one foot | 5 years | |
| Catches a ball with hands | 5 years | |
| Brushes teeth | 5 years | |
| Follows 3 step-commands | 4-5 years | |
| Recognizes shapes | 5 years | |
| Points to four colors | 5 years | |
| Copies square, triangle, circle | 5 years |
*Partially taken from the ‘Academic Problems in primary school children enrolled under SSA-Karnataka’
Speech and language milestones in Infants
Toddler Milestones
Areas of Development in Children
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