There are some key developmental milestones you can expect your child to reach between age 3 and 5 years.
The ages given for milestones in this guide are an average. Every child is different. Most children should be meeting these milestones.
Non-urgent advice: Contact your GP or public health nurse (PHN) if:
- you are concerned about your child’s development
- your child loses skills they had before
They may carry out more tests or refer your child to a specialist.
By 3 years
Most children will reach certain milestones by age 3 years.
Motor skills
Your child will be able to:
- walk upstairs
- pedal a tricycle
- draw a circle
- draw a person’s head
Communication and hearing
Your child may:
- use 4 to 5 word sentences
- concentrate for a few minutes and listen to short stories that you read
- have conversations and tell stories - they will not always make sense
- understand ‘who’ ‘what’ and ‘where’ questions - 'why’ and ‘how’ questions are difficult and your child may get frustrated
- understand short simple instructions with 2 to 3 parts when they are focused, for example, “put the horse and cow in the big box”
- use more sounds in their speech, including b, p, n, m, d, t, w and h
- stammer sometimes when they are talking
Typical speech sound development (video)
Helping a child who stammers (video)
Learn how you can support your child's communication development
Social and emotional
Your child may:
- play with other children in small groups
- say 'no' often - this shows they are gaining confidence
- enjoy sharing their achievements with you and getting your praise and encouragement
- not take the feelings of others into account - they think the world revolves around them
- be interested in and enjoy talking to children their same age and other adults
- play pretend
- find it difficult to share
- be more confident to be apart from you for short periods of time - for example going to pre-school
Learn how you can support your child's social and emotional development
Problem-solving, learning and understanding
Your child may:
- copy or imitate another person
- line up 4 objects like blocks or cars in a row
- ask you lots of questions
- show interest in different parts of their body, including their genitals - talking to your child about their bodies
- enjoy repetition in their play, songs and stories
When to get medical advice
Sometimes development can be slower than you expect. Or you may notice something different about your child. It's normal to feel worried. Support is available.
Contact your GP or public health nurse if you notice your child:
- cannot walk up and down stairs independently
- cannot run or jump
- cannot communicate their needs
- cannot follow straight forward commands
- loses skills they had before
By 4 years
Most children will reach certain milestones by age 4 years.
Motor skills
Your child will be able to:
- hop
- balance on each foot for 3 seconds
- copy a square using a crayon
- draw a cross
- draw a person in 3 parts
Communication and hearing
Your child's speech will be easy for others to understand.
They will continue to love playing and reading stories with you.
Your child may:
- use longer sentences
- understand most instructions with up to 3 parts when they are focused, for example, “can you find a spoon and a blue cup”
- listen to what you are saying without having to stop what they are doing
- answer more complicated questions when they are focused
- use most speech sounds but still have difficulty with s, z, l, sh, ch, j, th and r
Typical speech sound development (video)
Learn how you can support your child's communication development
Social and emotional
Your child may:
- share and take turns when playing with other children
- sing a song
- play for longer by themselves and with other children
- have fewer temper tantrums
- be more able to accept some rules that you set
- become more aware of their feelings, especially big feelings such as sad, angry and excited
- want to share their achievements with you and enjoy your positive feedback
Learn how you can support your child's social and emotional development
Problem-solving, learning and understanding
Your child can:
- dress up
- pretend play
- name some colours
- take turn in games with simple rules
When to get medical advice
Sometimes development can be slower than you expect. Or you may notice something different about your child. It's normal to feel worried. Support is available.
Contact your GP or public health nurse if you notice your child:
- cannot walk, run, climb, jump or use stairs confidently
- cannot catch, throw or kick a ball
- cannot communicate their needs
- loses skills they had before
By 5 years
Most children will reach certain milestones by age 5 years.
Motor skills
Your child will be able to:
- walk ‘heel to toe’ - in a straight line with one foot immediately ahead of the other
- skip
- copy a triangle
- draw a person with 6 body parts
Communication and hearing
Your child will know numbers from 1 to 10.
You child may:
- understand some complicated instructions with 3 or more parts when they are focused
- answer most types of questions
- repeat things they hear other children or adults say
- enjoy telling you short stories with a beginning, middle and end that mostly make sense
- be easy to understand almost all of the time when talking face-to-face - they may be hard to understand when they're on the phone or facing away
- use almost all of the speech sounds most of the time - r and th sounds can still be tricky
- struggle to say some long and complicated words, such as ‘spaghetti-hoops’, ‘presents’ and ‘splashing’
Typical speech sound development (video)
Learn how you can support your child's communication development
Social and emotional
Between 4 and 5 years your child’s social and emotional skills develop rapidly.
Your child:
- has a group of friends that they talk about regularly
- uses make-believe and dress-up when playing
- still needs your support when trying to talk to adults
- still thinks that the world revolves around them
- enjoys showing off their achievements
- is not aware that things they say can be hurtful to other people
Learn how you can support your child's social and emotional development
Problem-solving, learning and understanding
Your child can write some letters or numbers.
You may notice your child:
- understands what you’re saying
- knows numbers from 1 to 10
- is able to write some letters or numbers
- repeats things they hear
- is interested in time
- is interested in learning more complicated games
- gets better at taking turns and sharing, but still needs encouragement from time to time
- becomes more aware of danger - for example, staying safe on busy roads
When to get medical advice
Sometimes development can be slower than you expect. Or you may notice something different about your child. It's normal to feel worried. Support is available.
Contact your GP or public health nurse if you notice your child:
- is not able to walk, run, climb, jump or use stairs confidently
- cannot hop 5 times on 1 leg
- cannot stand on 1 leg for 5 seconds
- cannot communicate their needs
- loses skills they had before
