Understanding and Supporting
Your Child’s Development
Age 3–5 Years
Developed by
Informed Parents—Successful Children (IPSC)
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Overview
The mission of Informed Parents—Successful Children (IPSC)
is to provide non-English-speaking parents and caregivers
with tools to promote early childhood development and
success. IPSC is funded by the Maryland State Department of
Education (MSDE).
IPSC has prepared this booklet to provide parents with
information on how preschool-age children learn and
develop and what they can do to encourage their children’s
learning.
What follows is a brief description of four areas of
development: cognitive, physical, social-emotional,
and language and literacy; along with overviews of
developmental milestones; inexpensive activities you can do
at home to encourage your child’s healthy development; and
health and safety guidelines.
Children do not reach developmental milestones at the exact
same age. Variations are expected from child to child. If you
have any questions or concerns regarding the development
of your child, please contact us (see contact information on
back cover).
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Developmental Areas
Child development is commonly divided into four
developmental areas: physical, cognitive, social-emotional,
and language and literacy. These four areas are closely
related and often overlap.
Physical development refers to the development of large
muscles (gross motor) and small muscles (fine motor).
Gross motor includes balance, stability, and a child’s ability
to control large muscles in the body, especially the arms
and legs. Fine motor includes using and coordinating small
muscles in the hands and wrists.
Cognitive development refers to the development of
children’s thinking, reasoning and problem-solving skills.
Children develop their thinking from the simple to the
complex and from the concrete to the abstract.
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Social-emotional development refers to the process by which
children learn to interact with others, communicate and
express their feelings, and develop their identity and selfesteem.
Language development refers to the process by which
children learn to use symbols and sounds to communicate.
Literacy development refers to the process by which children
learn to read and write.
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Physical Development
During the preschool years, children gain strength, agility and
coordination, which give them the confidence to try new and
challenging tasks.
Preschoolers’ bodies have more coordination and balance,
leading to better use of muscles. They are able to run, jump,
catch, and throw. Around three years, children can catch a
medium-sized ball, march in time to music, go down the steps
holding onto a handrail, and jump and land with both feet.
Between four and five years, they can kick a ball into a “goal,”
stand and hop on one foot, do a forward roll, and run quickly.
They also begin to skip and gallop, in addition to running and
walking.
Fine motor development at this stage allows preschoolers to
manipulate small objects, such as pencils, brushes or scissors.
They can cut on a line with scissors, fold paper and draw a
person.
They are also able to pour water into a bowl or cup and string
beads easily. Their drawings become more recognizable, and
they are able to explain what happens in the picture. Their
block buildings become taller, larger and more complex,
including towers, roads, furniture, etc.
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What Children
Can Do
How Parents
Can Help
March in time to music and
play simple musical games.
Play games with your child.
Have your child dance
around until the music stops
and then sit down or freeze.
(3–4 years)
Play some music and ask
your child to pretend to be
a tree blowing in the wind, a
seed growing, etc.
Jump and land with both feet Get a jump rope or mini
together.
trampoline for your child and
encourage him/her to jump
while you count or sing.
(3–4 years)
Run/stop and run around
Go to a park or open room
obstacles.
and play “Stop and Go.” Give
instructions to your child.
“Green light” to run around;
(3–4 years)
“yellow light” to slow down;
“red light” to stop; “traffic
jam” to walk slowly.
Hop on one foot.
Draw squares and numbers
on the ground with sidewalk
chalk and have your child
(4–5 years)
jump and hop from one to
the other.
Dress by him/herself.
Provide children with
clothing items in a large box
(old scarves, gloves, hats,
(4–5 years)
shoes, pants, etc.) to help
them practice playing dress
up.
Cut on a line when using
Give your child newspapers,
scissors.
magazines and a pair of
children’s scissors and
encourage him/her to cut
(4–5 years)
out the pictures to make a
collage.
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Cognitive Development
Cognitive development involves how children think, perceive
and understand the physical and social world. Preschoolers
are able to accomplish many things in this area, but they
need time and experience to further their learning.
At this stage, children are able to sort and classify objects into
different categories. They can group objects by color or shape
and, later on, by color and shape at the same time. Children
can also organize objects by length, size, ordering things from
smallest to biggest, first to last, thinnest to thickest, etc. They
also learn the meaning of cause and effect; they are aware
their behavior can cause things to happen (e.g., “If I eat all
my vegetables, I will be able to have dessert.”).
Preschoolers take what they hear literally. For example, if
you say something like, “it was a piece of cake,” a preschool
child may look for the piece of cake to eat. Also, at this stage
children have no real concept of time. Telling children they
have a play date “next week” may cause them to think “next
week” means tomorrow. They also learn through repetition;
they love hearing the same stories and singing the same
songs. Repetition gives children the chance to gain new
information and master new concepts.
As a parent, you need to encourage your child to become a
problem solver, giving him/her a chance to explore and figure
things out.
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What Children
Can Do
Be confused about present,
past,and future.
(3–4 years)
Sort and classify objects by
color, shape, sizes, etc.
(3–4 years)
Learn through causality
(cause and effect) and
problem solving.
(4–5 years)
Organize objects from small
to big, light to heavy, etc.
(4–5 year olds)
How Parents
Can Help
When reading a story, ask
your child what happened
first, next and last. Use a
calendar to count down days
to anticipated events and to
help him/her understand the
passage of time.
Ask your child to help you
sort the laundry and separate
light and dark clothes into
different piles. Play “I Spy”
and encourage him/her to
identify things by color, or
shape. Go on a “shape/color
hunt” and try to point out
things that are blue, green,
round, square, etc.
Encourage your child to find
the solution to a problem by
providing assistance rather
than giving him/her the
solution. Ask questions, such
as, “What do you think will
happen if we take the snow
inside the house?” At bath
time, ask, “What do you
think will happen if we put
a heavy object in the water?
Will it sink or float?”
Play games in which your
child can sort objects from
small to big (buttons, plastic
containers, etc.) or light to
heavy (feathers, cardboard,
wood blocks, etc.).
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Social-Emotional Development
The preschool years are a time of many changes in children’s
social-emotional development. Children become more social,
learn how to relate to other people, achieve a sense of self,
follow rules and routines, and begin to express their feelings.
During this time, they become more interested in and
comfortable with groups of other children; are able to
identify and choose their playmates, share toys and take
turns; and begin to understand other people’s perspectives
and feelings.
As children achieve a sense of self and independence, they
also begin to feel a sense of power. For this reason, preschool
children often share strong opinions about likes and dislikes,
begin to ask more questions and may feel frustrated
when they are not able to understand a concept or make
something work.
Preschool children often enjoy the responsibility of being a
leader or helping out around the house, such as setting the
table and helping with dinner.
Children often look to their parents and other caregivers
for role models on how to react to different situations.
Therefore, parents need to model positive behaviors so their
children learn how to act in certain situations.
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What Children
Can Do
How Parents
Can Help
Act in a more confident,
self-directed and purposeful
manner.
Give your child some choices
in his/her daily routine. You
can ask him/her if he/she
would like to play with the
blocks or paint, play in the
(3–4 years)
sandbox, or go to the swings,
etc.
Follow classroom rules and
Be clear and consistent with
routines with guidance.
the rules. Tell your child
your plans for the day and
give five-minute warnings or
(3–4 years)
reminders in between each
activity. You can say, “We are
going to have breakfast and
then go to the park.”
Want to do things on their
Encourage your child to
own.
do things on his/her own
and provide assistance. For
example, teach him/her how
(3–4 years)
to put on a coat using the
“flip” and help him/her zip
jackets, but encourage him/
her to pull the zipper without
help.
Begin to understand other
Read books about feelings
people’s feelings and develop and ask your child questions,
a sense of empathy (show
such as, “How is he feeling?
concern when a friend gets
Why do you think he is sad,
hurt and cries).
angry, or happy?”
(4–5 years)
Enjoy having responsibilities
or “jobs.”
(4–5 years)
Use puppets to role-play and
teach empathy and conflict
resolution.
Give your child small jobs
around the house. For
example, put his/her dirty
clothes in the hamper, or set
the table.
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Language and Literacy Development
During the preschool years, language development
becomes the principal tool for establishing and maintaining
relationships with adults and other children. Children’s
language grows in different areas, preparing them to learn to
read and write in the future.
Preschoolers’ verbal abilities increase noticeably. Children
have improved pronunciation and are able to speak more
clearly, but their intonation and fluency are less sophisticated
than those of adults, so they still struggle with speech sounds
throughout this period.
At this stage, they are also able to understand the
meanings of more words and use long, complex sentences.
Preschoolers’ vocabulary grows immensely, and they begin to
understand the meanings of more words than they are able
to speak.
Their newly acquired skills allow them to express their
thoughts and feelings more clearly and use language to
obtain something they want. For example, preschoolers
learn to use language to communicate needs, feelings and
intentions and to influence others.
Language and literacy skills are interdependent; increased
language experience leads to a dramatic increase in children’s
vocabulary, laying the foundation for later reading skills.
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What Children
Can Do
Ask “why” and other
questions to keep a
conversation going.
(3–4 years)
Develop writing skills and
recognize that drawings,
paintings and writing are
meaningful representations.
How Parents
Can Help
Be patient and try to answer
your child’s questions.
Remember that this is
a sign that your child is
learning, and you need to be
supportive.
Show your child pictures of
letters and numbers and say
the letter or number out
loud.
(3–4 years)
Use long complex sentences Have conversations with your
of more than five words; use child: ask him/her what he/
future tense.
she did at school and tell
him/her what you will be
doing on a given day. For
(4–5 years)
example, “We are going to go
to the grocery store and then
we will go to the park.”
Recognize certain symbols
and know their meanings,
recognize their names on
name tags, recognize a stop
sign, etc.
(4–5 years)
Encourage him/her to try to
guess what will happen next
when you read a story, and
ask him/her about his/her
opinions, experiences, and
feelings.
Point out symbols that
naturally occur in the
environment, such as traffic
signs. Label the places where
toys belong with simple signs
and pictures. Point out the
letters that are in your child’s
name.
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Health and Safety
Preschoolers are more aware of dangers in the environment,
but it is still very important to maintain a safe and healthy
environment at home and to teach children general safety
precautions.
Generally, preschool-age children sleep in their own bed. No
child under eight years of age should sleep in a top bunk bed.
You should also check periodically to make sure that electrical
outlets are covered and that toys are not broken or missing
small parts. Shelves and dressers should be secured with
anti-tipping devices, electrical cords should be secured to
prevent them from being pulled from the socket. In addition,
make sure that all cleaning products, medicines, lighters,
and matches are kept out of the reach of children and locked
away if possible.
At this age, children should still be in an approved car or
booster seat and should remain in the backseat of the car
until they are 12 years old. Children who weigh 40 pounds or
less should use a car seat, and those who weigh between 40
and 80 pounds must use a booster seat.
Parents should also instill healthy nutrition habits, making
sure their children eat enough fruits, vegetables, and whole
grains; reduce their sugar intake, and get enough physical
activity.
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Typical Behaviors
and Common
Situations
Sleeping in their own bed.
Wanting to ride in the
passenger seat or without a
car seat.
Wanting to eat sweets.
Getting up in the middle of
the night.
Watching TV shows and
video games.
What Parents
Should Do
Provide bed rails to prevent a
fall during their sleep. Do not
allow any child younger than
8 years of age to sleep in a
top bunk bed.
Do not allow your child to
ride in the passenger seat.
Make sure your child uses
a car seat if he/she weighs
40 pounds or less and a
booster seat if he/she weighs
between 40 and 80 pounds.
Try to look for healthier
store-bought snacks and
recipes. You do not need
to prohibit your child from
eating sweets but do limit
the amount of sugar he/she
eats throughout the day.
Keep a small night light to
prevent falls during the night.
Ensure that your child’s
schedule includes enough
physical activities and restrict
the amount of time he/she is
allowed to watch TV or play
video games. Take the time
to watch and select programs
that are appropriate for your
child.
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IPSC Staff
María del Rosario (Charo) Basterra
Director
basterra@maec.org
301.657.7741 ext. 124
Katie Farbry
Research and Technology Specialist
katie@maec.org
301.657.7741 ext. 114
Leonor Guillén
Senior Parent Training Specialist
(Spanish)
leonor@maec.org
301.657.7741 ext. 122
General Information/
Referral Services
info@informedparents.org
301.657.7741 ext. 122
Informed Parents—Successful Children (IPSC)
www.informedparents.org
5272 River Road
Suite 340
Bethesda, MD 20816
Phone: 301.657.7741
Fax: 301.657.8782
IPSC is funded by the Maryland State
Department of Education (MSDE).
Additional MAC Parent Information Website:
Maryland Parental Information Resource Center
www.mdpirc.org
Special thanks to Paloma Panesi and Chris Chen; and to the following organizations
for allowing us to publish and disseminate photos of the children portrayed in the
pamphlets. Organizations: Chinese Culture and Community Service Center (CCACC),
Montgomery County Child Care Resource Center (MCCCR&RC), and the Spanish
Education Development (SED) Center. Individuals: Carol Chen and Isela Khouri.
© 2008 Informed Parents―Successful Children (IPSC), Mid-Atlantic Equity Consortium, Inc.