Developmental Milestones
Developmental Milestone represents what an average child can do around at a particular age. How your child plays, learns, speaks, acts, and moves offers important clues about your child’s development.
While most of these milestones typically take place during a certain window of time, parents and caregivers must remember that each child is unique. Not all kids are going to hit these milestones at the same time.
Following are the developmental milestones, which the children should achieve at different age groups.
0-6 months
Physical development
- Holds head steady and unsupported
- Pushes down on legs when feet are on a hard surface
- When lying on your stomach, pushes up to your elbows
- Brings hands to mouth
- Begins to sit without support
- Rolls over in both directions (front to back, back to front)
- Can hold a toy and shake it and swing at dangling toys
Social Development
- Enjoys playful face-to-face interaction with people
- Maintains eye contact with familiar people during a playful interaction
- Knows familiar faces and begins to recognize strangers
- Notices and responds to sounds
- Enjoys varied playful movement experiences (e.g. bouncing on knees)
Communication
- Coos and makes gurgling sounds shows playful interaction
- Cries in different ways to show hunger, pain, tired
- Is usually happy when not hungry or tired
- Is able to calm with experiences such as rocking, touching, and calm sounds
6-12 months
Physical development
- Puts things in her mouth
- Picks up things like cereals between thumb and index finger
- Sits without support
- Start to Crawl
- Moves things smoothly from one hand to the other
- Can get into a sitting position
- Pulls to stand
Social Development
- Maintains eye contact with people during a playful interaction
- Enjoys playing with musical toys
- Is able to enjoy a wide variety of touches, noise, and smells
- Enjoys various types of movement, such as being gently swung in the air by parents
- Is interested in playing with colorful objects
- Raises hands towards adult to be picked up
- Enjoys moving to explore the environment when placed on the floor
Communication
- Makes a lot of different sounds like “mamamama” and “bababababa
- Copies of sounds and gestures of others
- Understands “no”
- Looks at familiar objects and people when named
- Plays peek-a-boo
- Reacts to sudden noises or sounds
- Uses fingers to point at things
12-18 months
Physical development
- Maintains balance in sitting or standing while using two hands together to explore toys
- Is able to turn head to look at objects without losing balance while standing
- Crawls to get the desired item
- Makes an attempt to walk
- Is able to take steps toward the motivating item
- Drinks from a cup
- Eats with a spoon
- Points to one body part
- Claps hands
- Stacks two objects or blocks
Social Development
- Shows affection to familiar people
- Plays simple pretend, such as feeding a doll
- May cling to caregivers in new situations
- Points to show others something interesting
- Points to one body part
Communication
- Responds to yes/no questions with a head shake/nod
- Can follow 1-step verbal commands without any gestures for example, sits when you say “sit down
- Points to show someone what he wants
- Says several single words
- Meaningfully uses “mama” or “dada”
18-24 months
Physical development
- Walks independently
- Squats to pick up a toy
- Holds and drinks from a cup
- Stands on tiptoe
- Kicks a ball
Social Development
- Copies others, especially adults and older children
- Points to things or pictures when they are named
- May shows independence
- Plays mainly beside other children
- Knows names of familiar people and body parts
- Says sentences with 2 to 4 words
- Follow 2-step related directions, e.g. “Pick up your coat and bring it to me.”
- Points to things in a book
Communication
- Uses gestures and words during pretend play
- Names of objects and pictures
- Begins to use 2-word phrases
- Understands action words
- Enjoys listening to stories
- Uses simple pronouns (me, you, my)
- Understands new words quickly Identifies
2-3 Years
Physical development
- Runs easily
- Walks up and down stairs- one foot on each step
- Attempts to pedal a tricycle (3-wheel bike)
- Makes an attempt to throw a ball, Can maintain balance to catch the ball
- Is able to walk and maintain balance over uneven surfaces
- Coordinates hand and finger movements needed to participate in tabletop games and activities
Social Development
- Copies of adults and friends
- Takes turns in games
- Shows a wide range of emotions
- Shows concern for a crying friend
- Shows affection for friends without prompting
- Separates easily from Mom and dad
- Attempts to dress and undresses self
- Is able to transition to a new environment or activity
Communication
- Follow 2-step unrelated directions, e.g. “Give me the ball and go get your coat”
- Says first name, age, and sex
- Names a friend
- Understands words like “in,” “on,” and “under”
- Carries on a conversation using 2 to 3 sentences
- Talks well enough for strangers to understand most of the time
- Says words like “I,” “me,” “we,” and “you” and some plurals (cars, dogs, cats)
- Understands “mine” and “yours”
3-5 Years
Physical development
- Coordinates movement needed for quicker sport-like activities (e.g. soccer, kickball, hopscotch, and gross motor video games)
- Can run with good balance
- Is able to color and do finer eye-hand coordination activities like lacing
- Has adequate endurance and strength to play with peers
- Can maintain balance to catch the ball or when gently bumped by peers
- Uses appropriate force when playing with peers or pets or when holding objects
- Is able to maintain good sitting posture needed to sit in a chair
- Enjoys swinging on playground swings
Social Development
- Enjoys playing in small groups with children of the same age
- Is able to initiate and play with another child of the same age
- Is able to play in new social situations
- Enjoys playing with a variety of toys intended for children of the same age
- Is aware of risky and unsafe environments and behavior
- Enjoys sitting to look at or listen to a book
- Usually does not bring non-food objects to mouth
- Is able to play with one toy or theme for 15-minute periods of time
Communication
- Asks “what” and “where” questions
- Understands “why” questions
- Sing nursery rhymes
- Count on fingers
- Uses plurals, e.g. “dogs”
- Makes clear sentences
- A simple understanding of concepts including color, space, time