For many children, third grade marks a growth spurt—physically, emotionally, and mentally. Most 8-year-olds show great gains in their cognitive development and tend to be able to ask questions until they have enough information to draw conclusions about what they’re learning. They’re also slowly budding into more mature children, making it an interesting year for both them and their parents.
Illustration by Emily Roberts, Verywell
For 8-year-old children, physical development is more about refinement of skills, coordination, and muscle control rather than huge changes. They begin to look like "big kids," but puberty is still a couple of years away for most of them.
Children with natural athletic potential may show their abilities at this developmental stage as their physical skills become more precise1 and accurate. In fact, this is often the age at which children decide whether they are athletic or not and choose to participate in or avoid sports.
Either way, it's important for parents to encourage physical activity. Even if your child isn't an athlete, he or she can still enjoy running, swimming, biking, and many other types of non-sports-related physical fun.
An 8-year-old may show more sophisticated and complex emotions and interactions.3 Most are able to mask their true thoughts or emotions to spare someone’s feelings. For example, a child who doesn’t like a presents may still smile and thank the gift giver.
This is also the time when your child may be developing a more sophisticated sense of themselves in the world.3 Their interests, talents, friends, and relationships with family members help them establish a clear self-identity. It's also the beginning of desiring privacy and flip-flopping between self-confidence and self-doubt.
This is the phase of social development where many children love being a part of social groups. In general, 8-year-old children enjoy school4 and will count on and value relationships with a few close friends and classmates, and may gravitate primarily toward friendships with peers of the same gender.
Parents should be on the lookout for problems such as school refusal, as this may indicate learning difficulties or being bullied at school.5 This is also a good age at which to discuss respecting others.
You may begin to see a newfound sense of self-confidence in your 8-year-old child as they express their opinions about people and things around them. They may pay more attention to news events and want to share their thoughts on current event topics.
This is also the time that kids may begin to ask for sleepovers,6 although parents should not be surprised if some children want to go back home and do not make it through the entire night at a friend’s house. Many children are still attached to their mom, dad, and home at this age and may not yet be emotionally ready to handle being away from these comforts, even though they may wish to be.
Eight-year-old children are still developing an understanding of what is "wrong" or "right," and lying or other behavior requiring discipline may need to be corrected.7
Eight-year-olds usually make great gains in their cognitive development. Most of them begin to have an understanding of money,1 both literally and conceptually. While counting money can be a difficult skill to learn, kids often begin to understand that it takes money to buy items.
Your child’s ability to think will also be affected by their emotions at this age. They may have difficulty focusing when they're worried or may struggle to think about their options when feeling angry.
Most kids this age are able to tell time4 and exhibit a better understanding of how long time increments are. When you say, “You have 10 more minutes until we have to leave,” or “Your birthday is three days away,” your child will have a greater understanding of what that means than he might have before.
Speech & Language
Most 8-year-olds continue to rapidly develop their vocabularies, with an estimated 3,000 new words learned during the year.9 Children who read a lot expand their vocabularies the fastest.
Children also begin to show the ability to play on words and they exhibit verbal humor. They develop a better sense of irony—the use of a word to convey the opposite of its literal meaning.
Play
The way kids play at age 8 depends greatly on the activities they’ve been exposed to. While some kids may love playing sports with their friends, others may find great joy in doing art projects2 or creating music. Many kids this age love to dance, perform, and sing.