Ages & Stages

Katie Lageson
EED200
Sept. 10, 2015

Infants

Ages: 0-24 months

Language Development
During infancy, babies may not be talking but they are still
trying to communicate with parents. They might babble,
laugh and gurgle. They may also try to imitate the sounds
or faces that they see others make. They will also begin to
recognize their name and notice changes in tones of
voices.
Social/Emotional Development
At 0-3 months, babies should start developing a social
smile and enjoy playing with others. From 4-7 months,
they should enjoy social play and are interested in mirror
images. From 8-12 months, babies may be shy/nervous
around strangers, and cries when parents leave.

Infants

Physical development
The physical development for infants rapidly changes as
the months pass. Babies from 0-3 months stretch & kick
on their backs, open & shut hands, and bring their hands
to their mouths. From 4-7 months, babies can support full
weight on legs, and use a raking grasp, and at 8-12
months they can pull themselves up to stand and walk
while holding onto furniture.
Cognitive Development
At 0-3 months, babies should follow objects with eye
movement, and start to use eyes and hands in
coordination. From 4-7 months, babies should be exploring
objects with their hands and mouth, and struggle to get
objects that are out of reach. From 8-12 months, babies
should be imitating gestures and finding objects easily.

Toddlers

Ages: 1-2 years

Physical Development
The physical development of a toddlers large motor skills are:
they are walking by themselves, can jump in place, and throw
a ball. For fine motor skills, they can start building small block
towers, use a spoon, and can scribble with crayon.

Language Development
At this age, children are just beginning to combine words
together to make small sentences rather than just using one
word to communicate an entire idea. They begin to understand
pronoun, the concept of mine, and will express physical or
emotional needs/desires.

Toddlers

Social/Emotional Development
Social interaction increase from infancy to toddler.
They might not be talking yet, but they are more
interactive with the items or people they want. They
will indicate a need by pointing, help undress or put
things away, and can take part in pretend play.

Cognitive Development
Toddlers begin to understand the basic use of
instruments or tools, can understand object and
people permanence (objects and people are there
even if they cant be seen) and can follow visual
displacement

Preschool

Ages: 3-4 years

Physical Development

As children become more aware of sports and physical games,

they increase their physical development by actively participating
in activities like that. They are also preparing for kindergarten so
their fine motor skills are being pushed to reach kindergarten
development. Children should be able to hop on one foot, kick a
ball, climb up & down stairs easily, throw a ball overhand and ride
a bike. They should also be using scissors easily, can at least
trace/draw a circle, and copy some letters.

Cognitive Development

Children begin to ask why questions and will want explanations for
reasoning. Children will also begin to develop a sense of time and
scheduling. They should also be able understand counting,
correctly name colors, recall parts of stories, and understand the
concept of same and different.

Preschool

Social/Emotional Development
Children begin to understand their feelings a little bit better and
can apply that to the social interactions that they have with
others. Some children can also develop imaginary friends and
some can be so involved with their imaginative play that they
might not be able to distinguish it from reality. Children will
cooperate better with other children, become more independent
and will play mom and dad

Language Development
Children should be speaking in sentences up to five or six words
and should be easy to understand when having a conversation
with them. They also understand the basic rules of grammar
and love to tell stories. They also understand the concept of
same and different.

Kindergarten

Ages: 5 years
Social/Emotional Development
As they move into kindergarten, they begin to expand their
circle of friends but still have a closeness to special people.
They enjoy interacting with others and they gain self-esteem
by demonstrating their skills. They also use broader
strategies to resolve conflict before seeking adult help.

Physical Development
Kindergarteners develop a mature walk and run and their
gate in their steps are even. Can climb, balance and hop
well, and ride a bike with training wheels. Kindergarteners
rarely show fatigue and have high energy levels.

Kindergarten

Cognitive
Development
Increases thinking of
possible solutions to a
problem
Can identify the type of
help needed by analyzing
problems
Collaborates with other
children in play
Very eager to learn and
asks higher-level quesitons

Language
Development

Knows about 4000-5000

words and is increasing their
word knowledge through
adults and teachers.
Kindergarteners begin to
understand figures of speech,
and multi-step directions.

Children begin to initiate

conversation and can easily wait for
their turn to speak when in a group.

School Age

Social/Emotional
Development
Understand their own
feelings
Like to play alone but
prefers to play with others
May be jealous of siblings
Shows/understands
empathy and expresses
concern to others
Plays cooperatively
Competitive in sports
Has friends of opposite sex
Develops a sense of humor

Understands difference of
Cognitive
Development
right
and left
Counts up to 10 objects at
once
Can copy complex shapes
Sounds out simple words
Develops larger attention
span
Understands money
Can tell time
Enjoys reading on their own
Understands concepts of
time
Can categorize objects

School Age

Physical Development
At this age, each child varies in their abilities to
perform tasks. Some children have better coordination
than others, other children might write better than
others and there varying differences among size.

Language Development
Use simple but complete 5-7 word sentences
6 year olds can generally follow a series of three
commands in a row
Children unable to express themselves may be
aggressive or throw tantrums

Resources

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