All children have their own timetable, but there are some common factors that a parent can watch for developments in their 3-year-olds. Celebrate with your child as they reach or near these milestones.
Cognitive Development
The below are the cognitive development milestones that your child might near or start achieving:
- Correctly name as many as eight colors
- Know some numbers and understand the concept of counting
- Get sense of time (now, later, next)
- Remember some parts of stories
- Understand the concepts of same and different
- Explore cause and effect
- Start seeing patterns. Like to classify and organize objects (by size, color)
- Solve six- to eight-piece puzzles
- Identify signs and labels
- Use role play (“You be the child, and I’ll be the mother.”)
- Indulges in fantasy play, beyond the pretend play (princesses and pirates)
- Still confused between fantasy and reality
- Follow three-part commands (“Go to the room, put your toy and come back”)
Motor Skills Development
Following are some milestones that showcase motor skills development of your 3 year old child
- Move effortlessly (walking, running, jumping)
- Walk straight - forward and backward
- Ride a tricycle
- Navigate stairs without a support
- Catch a large ball
- Throw a small ball overhand
- Stand on one foot for at least five seconds
- Hold a crayon or pencil like an adult
- Draw a person with two to four body parts
- Start using scissors
- Copy some capital letters
- Dress and undress themselves
- Have mastered potty training
Communication Skills
A 3-year old kid should be able to ace the following communication skills:
- Know almost 300 words
- Speak in sentences of three to four or more words
- Speak without repeating words or syllables
- Imitate most adult speech sounds. It is okay to still mispronounces many words
- Chatter continuously
- Speak clearly enough to be understood by strangers
- Tell stories
- Follow some basic rules of grammar
- Use words like “I,” “me,” “mine,” and “you,” though not always perfectly
Social Behavior
A 3-year old kid should be able to ace the following communication skills:
- Show high interest in new experiences
- Show preferences for certain children and adults
- Play with other kids
- Have imaginary friends
- Play house as the mom or dad
- Understand basic turn-taking
- Understand the concept of possessives (mine, his, hers)
- Express anger or frustration by hitting or throwing
- Show fear of unfamiliar sounds or sights (monsters)
- Negotiate solutions to problems with parents and other kids
- View self as whole person with body, mind, and feelings
- Increasingly become independent
- Ask questions about birth and death
