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Preschoolers (3-5 Years)

Key Milestones for Each Domain

Printable Detail Sheet (PDF)

Physical

Young children start to master self-care like feeding and dressing one’s self during these years. Gross and fine motor skills continue to evolve. Pre-school age children can build towers, eat with a fork and spoon, and zip and unzip. Toilet training is either done or in progress.

Cognitive / Language

During this stage, children develop a representational system, using symbols like words to represent people, places, events, and things. Pre-school age children differentiate between same and different and begin to distinguish colors. They tend to be rather ego-centric and engage in magical thinking.

Psychosocial

Pre-school children are developing initiative to try new things. Relationships with peers and other adults take on more prominence as children move towards increasing independence. They begin to play simple group games and will take turns in a group. Fears are not uncommon during this stage.