42-48 months

Milestones: 42-48 Months

Topics covered: Language, Cognitive, Movement, Social and Emotional

Milestones in Language:

Between the ages of 3.5 to 4 years of age, your child is learning many words by listening to other adults. They are becoming better at putting words together and can form sentences with four or more words and embedded clauses. They are making conversations by telling stories and can even recall parts of stories and also want to tell jokes and can appreciate them at this age. Your child may also:

Sing songs and recites poems and rhymes from memory
Understand quantity and words that demonstrate quantity such as "all, some, both, etc."
Can talk about an event that happened during their day

Children talking through a makeshift phone with cans tied to a string

Milestones in Cognition:

At this age, your child is fascinated by the world around them and are understanding many concepts such as opposites, colors, and numbers. Their memory abilities are also improving as they may be able to remember and repeat nursery rhymes. Your child may also:

Draw a person with at least 3 body parts
Use scissors
Understand sequences in narration and time
Understand the concepts of “same” and “different”
Follow instructions with up to three steps

Milestones in Movement/Motor:

Your child is becoming increasingly active and is picking up new skills like catching and throwing bounced balls, doing somersaults, and building towers with blocks. Your child may also:

Pour, cut, and mash food
Run, hop, and stand on one foot
Go to the toilet on their own
Hold crayons or pencils between fingers and thumb and not use a fist

Milestones in Social/Emotional Development:

At this age, play is important for your toddler as it promotes imaginative play and allows them to learn and explore feelings. Your child is interested in making friends and can play cooperatively with other children. Your child may also enjoy tricking people and explaining what happened such as faking they are asleep and saying "you thought I was asleep!". Your fun little trickster may also:

Enjoy novel experiences
Would rather play with other children than be alone
Play ‘family,’ sometimes blurs reality and make-believe
Express what they like and dislike
Like to be a “helper” like helping with simple household chores
Understand social situations and the behavior appropriate for different settings such as being at school versus the library.
Comfort other children such as giving their friend a hug or a toy to play with when they are sad or crying.
Avoid dangerous situations such as jumping from tall heights and avoiding touching hot stoves.

Young girl dressed as a pretend superhero

Child blowing bubbles

Child lifting the cap of a Play-doh container

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