DEVELOPMENTAL MILESTONES
0 Months - 7 Years

0-4 months

• Holds head in alignment
• Tracks an object
• Moves arms and legs when laying on back
• Lifts head a little when laying on belly, can prop on elbows
• Brings hands together when laying on back
• Props on elbows in prone with neck extension
• Rolls back to side
• Grasps rattle when placed in hand
• Likes looking at a human face more than other things
• Responds to a smile with a smile
• Looks into caregiver’s face and eyes with interest
• Reaches toward and touches toy
• Hits at dangling objects with hands

7-8 months

• Sitting by themselves
• Retrieves a toy in sitting and returns upright
• Rolls
• Crawls with belly on touching floor
• Bangs a toy on the floor
• Passes a small object from one hand to the other
• Plays peek-a-boo
• Bangs toys together
• Feeds self finger foods

11 months

• Cruising on and between furniture
• Pivots in sitting
• Standing for 5 seconds without support
• Walks 4 steps with 1 hand held
• Walks with a push toy
• Pushes or rolls a ball
• Drops small things, such as cheerios into a cup
• Throws things just to see what happens
• Removes socks

13 months

• Rolls a ball 3 feet forward in sitting
• Flings a small ball while standing
• Enjoys looking at pictures in books
• Imitates adult by scribbling with crayon or pencil
• Pushes car along
• Brings filled spoon/fork to mouth

14 months

• Crawls up a few stairs on hands and knees
• Hands things to others
• Points at desired objects with index finger
• Makes a stack of 2 blocks
• Rolls a ball to you

16-18 months

• Turns container over to pour or dump contents
• Turns small knob
• Gets spoon in mouth right-side up with little spilling
• Selects and puts square or rectangular objects into respective receptacles
• Puts large round pegs into pegboard
• Helps dress and undress self

2 - 2 1/2 years

• Throws ball underhand a few feet
• Climbs up jungle gym ladder and negotiates a slide
• Grasps thick crayon with thumb and fingers
• Puts square, round, and triangular shapes into form board
• Imitates drawing a vertical line
• Spontaneously draws strokes, dots, circular shapes
• Stacks 7-8 small blocks
• Hand preference established
• Presents arms and attempts to catch ball
• Identifies 4 body parts on self
• Makes small cuts (snips) on line with child-safe scissors and some help
• Grasps spoon with fingers and rotates wrist to bring spoon to mouth
• Washes hands by self

3 - 3 1/2 years

• Makes continuous cuts with child-safe scissors
• Copies a horizontal line and a circle
• Builds a 9-block tower
• Spoon/fork to mouth with no spillage
• Dries hands
• Plays by rules and in groups with increase in dramatic and imitative play
• Completes an easy puzzle
• Traces around the edges of basic shape templates
• Cuts a piece of paper in half with scissors on a more or less straight line
• Copies a vertical-horizontal cross

4 - 4 1/2 years

• Performs a forward roll
• Draws a person with 3 different body parts
• Colors almost entirely within lines of 4-inch wide circle
• Dresses and undresses when requested without much help
• Copies a cross
• Puts socks on correctly

5 - 5 1/2 years

• Performs a few sit-ups
• Skips
• Performs jumping jacks
• Moves fingers in fine, localized movements when writing with marker
• Reads and writes numerals to 5
• Matches letters in a group of different letters
• Draws a face with mouth, nose, and eyes, and a person with 6 or more parts
• Copies first name, although letters may be large, awkward, or reversed
• Ties shoes (starts at 5, but may not be mastered until 6)
• Prints a few capital letters without copying
• Copies a triangle

5-6 months

• Sitting using hands for support and starting to sit independently
• Grabs both feet and hold when on back
• Brings feet to mouth
• Reaches to a toy when playing on belly
• Props on extended arms when on belly
• Holds and shakes a toy
• Puts fingers in mouth
• Holds hands open, rather than in fists, at least half of the time
• Smiles at self in front of mirror

9 months

• Starts to crawl on hands and knees
• Pulls to stand at a table
• Waves Bye-bye
• Releases objects intentionally

10 months

• Protecting reaction backward
• Maintains sitting for 60 seconds while playing with a toy
• Transitions to sitting from on belly
• Bounces while holding onto your fingers
• Takes 4 steps with support on your fingers
• Plays in standing at a table
• Stoops at table to retrieve object from floor

12 months

• Transitions to stand using hands and feet (bear stance)
• Walks 8 feet with one hand held
• Walks 5 steps independently
• Corrals a ball in sitting
• Grasps thick crayon or pencil in fist as if to mark, but may not mark
• Turns page of a cardboard book
• Helps to pull off simple clothing and extends arms and legs to help with dressing
• Puts objects into others, (puts blocks into a basket)
• Pulls off shoes
• Starting to drink from a straw

15 months

• Creeps downstairs independently
• Throws ball overhand
• Marks independently on paper with crayon or pencil
• Drinks from cup without much spilling
• Puts something in and then gets it out of a container

1 1/2 - 2 years

• Throws ball overhand a few feet
• Drinks from cup independently
• Turns light switches on and off
• Looks independently at picture books and turns pages
• Zips and unzips easy zippers
• Plays individually, explores environment to learn, will play beside a peer with little interaction
• Uses play dough, paint, and paper
• Scribbles without going off paper
• Builds a 4-6 block tower

2 1/2 - 3 years

• Throws ball 7 feet underhand
• Squeezes or pulls play dough apart
• Grasps pencil with thumb and fingers instead of fist
• Screws and unscrews jar lids
• Sorts objects that vary in size only or color only when shown how
• Undresses with help only for fasteners and pullovers with narrow necks
• Matches blue, red, and yellow objects by color
• Eats with a fork (with spillage)
• Catches ball tossed gently from 5 feet
• Completes a simple 3-piece puzzle of something familiar
• Pours accurately from one container to another
• Starting to play in a way that is more symbolic, dramatic, and interactive

3 1/2 - 4 years

• Puts shoes on completely, on correct feet
• Buttons and unbuttons large – quarter in buttons
• Cuts on a line
• Makes a flat, round cake by pressing and patting dough on table with fingers
• Puts 3 things in order, such as hard to soft, full to empty
• Traces and stays on (most of the time) a 3-inch, pencil-thick, horizontal line
• Begins to copy some vertical/horizontal letters

4 1/2 - 5 years

• Pumps self on swing
• Copies and cuts a square
• Cuts easy foods with a knife
• Copies color/shape sequence
• Zips most zippers
• Traces around own hand with a crayon
• Completes simple dot to dot pictures

5 1/2 - 6 years

• Performs several sit ups well
• Performs several push-ups
• Able to perform the monkey bars
• Names most uppercase letters
• Brushes or combs hair well
• Uses simple tools, such as child’s screwdriver
• Prints all numerals 0-9 and all letters without copying

6 - 7 years

• Able to rollerblade
• completes a 6- to 12-piece interlocking puzzle
• Plays simple card games, such as Go Fish
• Competitive Play: Participates in team sports and activities that promote competition with structured rules