At Five Years, Your Child will Likely…

Physical Development:

Have mature motor control.
Be able to copy a square and a triangle.
Hop and skip.
Have good balance and smoother muscle action.
Be able to skate.
Ride wagon and scooter.
Print simple letters.
Have a dominant left or right handed.
Be able to tie his shoes.
Be able to dress and undress himself without much help.
Run, jump, hop, skip and climb with ease.

Social & Emotional Development:

Tell long tales.
Carry out directions well.
Read his own name.
Count to 10.
Ask the meaning of words.
Know colors.
Begin to understand the difference between fact and fiction (lying.)
Have an interest in environment (city, stores, etc.)
Be able to follow three step directions.
Enjoy games and follow simple rules.
Name 3-6 colors.
Count to 3 (at least.)
Use many descriptive words spontaneously-both adjectives and adverbs.
Know common opposites: big-little, hard-soft, heavy-light, etc.
Be understandable when he speaks in spite of articulation problems.
Have all vowels and the consonants, m,p,b,h,w,k,g,t,d,n,ng,y.
Be able to repeat sentences as long as nine words.
Be able to define common objects like hat, shoe and chair in terms of how they are used.
Be able to follow three commands without interruptions.
Know his age.
Understand simple time concepts like morning, afternoon, night, day, later, after and while.
Understand tomorrow, yesterday, and today.
Be using fairly long sentences (including sentences made with two or more phrases.)
Use grammatically correct speech.
Relate a story.
Know over 2,000 words.

Intellectual Development:

Be able to have and keep friends.
Be aware of rivalries.
Have confidence in others.
Conform socially.
Be able to amuse himself alone and also play with others.
Be able to interpret, predict, and influence others.
Engage in highly cooperative play.
Be organized.
Enjoy simple table games requiring turns and observing rules.
Feel pride in accomplishments.
Be eager to carry out some responsibility.
Prefer to play with other children.
Become competitive.
Prefer sex-appropriate activities.
Feel responsibility and guilt.
Be self-assured, stable and well-adjusted.
Be home-centered.
Enjoy associating with his mother.
Be capable of some self-criticism.
Enjoy following rules.
Have more control of emotional reactions.
Enjoy the security of asking for parents permission.

Delevopmental milestones associated with feeding:

Uses fork in preference to spoon.
Spreads with knife.
Cuts tender food with knife (may take up to seven years).

Three to 5 Years - First Connections with Families
First Connections with Families provides information about child development, reading to your child, and child health and safety.

The Early Learning Guidelines for Ages 3 to 5
This exciting new resource is being written to assist early childhood caregivers/teachers, parents and other adults with information about supporting the learning and development of young children. The Guidelines provide information related to seven domains or areas of learning and development: