Developmental Milestones
Birth through 6 months
Babies like to:
- Look at people—following them with their eyes and prefer faces and bright colors.
- Hold their head up
- Play with their feet
- Find their hands and start to use them to reach
- Smile and coo
- Look in all directions
- Turn their head to sounds
- Put toys and objects in their mouth
- Sit with the help of a caregiver
Things to reach for, hold, suck on, shake, make noise with:
- Rattles
- Large rings
- Squeeze toys
- Teething toys
- Soft dolls
- Textured balls
- Vinyl and board books
Things to listen to:
- Books with nursery rhymes and poems
- Recordings of lullabies and simple songs
- Musical toys
Things to look at:
- Pictures of faces hung so baby can see them
- Unbreakable mirrors
- Lighted toys
7 months to 1 year
Older infants are able to:
- Roll over and sit
- Scoot, bounce, and creep
- Pull themselves up and stand
- Understand their own names
- Understand other common words
- Identify 1-3 large body parts
- Imitate
- Find hidden objects
- Use thumb and pointer to pick up small objects
- Put things in and out of containers
Things to use their large muscles with:
- Large balls
- Push and pull toys
- Low, soft things to crawl over
Things to play pretend with:
- Baby dolls
- Puppets
- Plastic and wood vehicles with wheels
- Water toys
Things to drop and take out:
- Plastic bowls
- Large beads
- Balls
- Nesting toys
Things to build with:
- Large soft blocks
- Wooden cubes
1 to 2 years
Toddlers are on the go are able to:
- Begin to walk or walk steadily
- Climb stairs with help
- Climb furniture/playground equipment
- Squat
- Throw
- Dance and move to music
- Stack 2 objects
- Identify 8-10 large and small body parts
- Enjoy stories being read to them
- Say their first words (5-10 words)
- Play next to other children (but not yet with)
- Experiment but need adults to keep them safe
Things to enhance their sensory capabilities:
- Toy board books with simple illustrations or photographs of real objects
- Recordings with songs, rhymes, simple stories, and pictures
Things to create with:
- Wide non-toxic, washable markers
- Crayons
- Large paper
Things to pretend with:
- Toy phones
- Dolls and doll beds
- Baby carriages and strollers
- Dress-up accessories (scarves, purses), puppets, stuffed toys
- Plastic animals, and plastic and wood “realistic” vehicles
Things to build with:
- Cardboard and wood blocks
Things for using their large and small muscles:
- Puzzles
- Large pegboards
- Toys with parts that do things (dials, switches, knobs, lids)
- Large and small ball
2 to 3 years
Toddlers are able to:
- Rapidly learn language
- Have some sense of danger
- Identify colors
- Count
- Put puzzles together
- Get dressed with help
Toddlers enjoy:
- Role play
- Physical “testing:” jumping from heights, climbing, hanging by their arms, rolling, and rough-and-tumble play
Toddlers have:
- Good control of their hands and fingers
- Ability to play with and manipulate small objects
Things for solving problems:
- Wood puzzles (4 to 12 pieces)
- Blocks that snap together
- Objects to sort (by size, shape, color, smell)
- Toys with hooks, buttons, buckles, and snaps
Things for pretending and building:
- Blocks
- Small (and sturdy) transportation toys
- Construction sets
- Child-sized furniture (kitchen sets, chairs, play food), dress-up clothes
- Dolls with accessories
- Puppets
- Sand and water play toys
Things to create with:
- Large non-toxic, washable crayons and markers, large paintbrushes and finger paint
- Large paper for drawing and painting
- Colored construction paper
- Toddler-sized scissors with blunt tips
- Chalkboard and large chalk
- Rhythm instruments
Things for using their large and small muscles:
- Large and small balls for kicking and throwing
- Ride-on equipment (but probably not tricycles until age 3)
- Tunnels
- Low climbers with soft material underneath
- Pounding and hammering toys
