Child Growth
Baby
4 mo | 9 mo
Toddler
12 mo | 18 mo | 2 yrs
Pre-scooler
3 yrs | 4 yrs | 5 yrs
Physical features & gross motor skills
What most babies do at this age?
• Weight gain slows to about 20 grams per day
• Double the birth weight
• Have almost no head droop while in a sitting position
• Be able to sit straight if propped up
• Raises his/her head 90 degrees when placed on stomach
• Be able to roll from front to back
• Hold and let go of an object
• Play with rattle when it's placed in the hands, but won't be able to pick it up if dropped
• Be able to grasp rattle with both hands
• Be able to place objects in mouth
• Sleeps a total of 14 – 16 hours per day; 9 to 10 hours at night with two naps
Sensory & cognitive development
What most 4 month old babies do at this age?
• Have well-established close vision
• Increase eye contact with parents and others
• Have beginning hand-eye coordination
• Be able to coo
• Be able to laugh out loud
• Anticipate feeding when able to see a bottle (if bottle-fed)
• Begin to show memory
• Demand attention by fussing
• Recognize parent voice or touch
Social
How can you encourage your baby’s cognitive development by playing?
Physical features & gross motor skills
What most 9 month old babies do at this age?
• Gains weight at a slower rate at about 15 grams per day, about 0.45 kilos per month
• Increases in length by 1.5 centimeters per month
• Their bowel and bladder become more regular
• Is able to crawl
• Sits for longer periods
• Reaches for objects while sitting
• Bangs objects together
• Can grasp objects between the tip of the thumb and index finger
• Throws or shakes objects
Sensory & cognitive development
What most 9 month old babies do at this age?
• Babbles
• Has separation anxiety and may cling to parents
• Responds to name
• Understands the meaning of "no"
• Imitates speech sounds
• May be afraid of being left alone
• Plays interactive games, such as peek-a-boo
• Waves bye
Social
How can you encourage your 9 month old baby’s cognitive development by playing?
Physical features & gross motor skills
What most 12 months old children do at this age?
• Be 3 times the birth weight
• Grow to a height of 50% over birth length
• Have one to eight teeth
• Stands by his or herself
• Walk alone or when holding one hand
• Sit down without help
• Bang two blocks together
• Turn through the pages of a book by flipping many pages at a time
• Picks up a small object using the tip of the thumb and index finger
• Sleep 8 - 10 hours a night and take one to two naps
Sensory & cognitive development
What most 12 months old babies do at this age?
• Begins pretend play (such as pretending to drink from a cup)
• Responds to his or her name
• Can say Mama and at least one or two other words
• Understands simple commands
• Tries to imitate animal sounds
• Connects names with objects
• Participates in getting dressed like raising their arms
• Plays simple back and forth games, for example with a ball
• Points to objects with index finger
• Waves bye
• May develop attachment to a toy or object
• Experiences separation anxiety and may cling to parents
Social
How can you encourage your 12 months old baby’s coginitive development, by playing?
Physical features & gross motor skills
What most 18 months old babies do at this age?
• Is growing at a slower rate and has less of an appetite compared to months before
• Is able to control the muscles used to urinate and have bowel movements but may not be ready to use the toilet themself
• Runs stiffly and falls often
• Is able to get onto small chairs without help
• Walks up stairs while holding on with one hand
• Can build a tower of two to four blocks
• Can use a spoon and cup with help to feed himself
• Imitates scribbling
• Can turn two or three pages of a book at a time
Physical features & gross motor skills
What most 18 months old babies do at this age?
• Shows affection
• Has separation anxiety
• Listens to a story or looks at pictures
• Can say 10 or more words when asked
• Kisses parents with lips puckered
• Identifies one or more parts of the body
• Understands and is able to point to and identify common objects
• Often imitates
• Is able to take off some clothing items, such as gloves, hats, and socks
• Begins to feel a sense of ownership, identifying people and objects by saying "my"
Social
How can you encourage your 18 months old baby’s cognitive development, by playing?
Physical features & gross motor skills
What most 2 years old toddlers do at this age?
• Able to turn a door knob
• Can browse through a book one page at a time
• Can build a tower of 6 to 7 cubes
• Can kick a ball without losing balance
• Can pick up objects while standing, without losing balance
• Can run with better coordination
• May be ready for toilet training
• Should have the first 16 teeth (the actual number of teeth can vary widely)
• At 24 months, they are about half their final adult height
Sensory & cognitive development
What most 2 years old toddlers do at this age?
• Able to put on simple clothes without help & are often better at removing clothes than putting them on
• Able to communicate needs such as thirst, hunger, need to use the restroom
• Can organize phrases of 2 - 3 words
• Understand 2-step command like "give me the ball and then get your shoes"
• An increased attention span
• Vision fully developed
• Vocabulary has increased to about 50 - 300 words (healthy children's vocabulary can vary widely)
Social
How can you encourage your 2 years old toddler’s cognitive development, by playing?
Physical features & gross motor skills
What most 3 years old toddlers do at this age?
• Are about half their adult height
• Has improved balance
• Has all 20 primary teeth
• Needs 11 - 13 hours of sleep a day
• Can briefly balance and hop on one foot
• May walk up the stairs with alternating feet , without holding the rail
• Can construct a block tower of more than nine cubes
• Can easily place small objects in a small opening
• Can copy a circle
• Can pedal a tricycle
Sensory & cognitive development
What most 3 years old toddlers do at this age?
• Composes sentences of three words
• Counts three objects
• Uses plurals and pronouns (he/she)
• Frequently asks questions
• Can dress self, only requiring assistance with laces, buttons, and other fasteners
• Feeds self without difficulty
• Has some decrease in separation anxiety for short periods of time
• Fears imaginary things
• Knows own name, age, and gender (boy/girl)
• Starts to share
Social
How can you encourage your 3 years old toddler’s cognitive development, by playing?
Physical features & gross motor skills
What most 4 years old toddlers do at this age?
• Gains weight at the rate of about 6 grams per day
• The average 4 year old weighs 18 kilos and is 40 inches tall
• Sleeps 11 to 13 hours, usually without a nap
• Grows to a height that is double the length at birth
• Hops on one foot without losing balance
• Throws a ball overhand with coordination
• Can cut out a picture using scissors
• May still wet the bed which is normal
Sensory & cognitive development
What most 4 years old toddlers do at this age?
• Has a vocabulary of more than 1,000 words
• Easily puts together sentences of four or five words
• Can use the past tense
• Can count to five and above
• Will ask the most questions of any age
• May use words that aren't fully understood
• May begin using vulgar words
• Learns and sings simple songs
• Tries to be very independent
• May show increased aggressive behavior
• Talks about personal family matters to others
• Commonly has imaginary playmates
• Has an increased understanding of time
• Is able to tell the difference between two objects based on things like size and weight
• Lacks moral concepts of right and wrong
• Rebels if too much is expected of him or her
Social
How can you encourage your 4 years old toddler’s cognitive development, by playing?
Physical features & gross motor skills
What most 5 years old toddlers do at this age?
• Erupting the first permanent teeth (most children do not get their first permanent teeth until age 6)
• Developing increased coordination
• Skipping, jumping, and hopping with good balance
• Maintaining balance while standing on one foot with eyes closed
• Showing increased skill with simple tools and writing utensils
• Can copy a triangle
• Spreads with a knife
Sensory & cognitive development
What most 5 years old toddlers do at this age?
• Vocabulary increasing to over 2,000 words
• Composing sentences of 5 or more words, and with all parts of speech
• Identifying coins
• Counting to 10
• Knows telephone number
• Properly naming the primary colors and possibly many more
• Responding to "why" questions
• Behaving more responsibly and apologizing for mistakes
• Decreasing aggressive behavior
• Outgrowing earlier childhood fears
• Accepting other points of view (but may not understand them)
• Demonstrating increased mathematical skill
• Questioning others, including parents
• Strongly identifying with the parent of the same sex
• Having a group of friends
• Engaging in imaginative play (for example, a trip to the moon)
