Your Child’s Development Milestones at 3 Years Old

Over this year you’ll see your child progress from a toddler into a proper little character – it can be emotional, but it’s also lots of fun. Here’s what to expect!

Your three-year-old will already have a healthy dose of personality, and over the next twelve months, they’ll be strengthening their sense of self, too. This year, expect many a milestone, plenty of laughs and a sprinkle of mischief!

Remember, every child will develop at the right time for them, so don't feel disheartened if they aren’t hitting every milestone on this list – please take this article as a gentle guide, not a set timeline!

Friends, Family and Fun!

Between three and four, your little one might be forming friendships, deciding who they like to spend time with. You might see this in action at daycare or in the play park.

Your little one is likely to be (reluctantly) learning to share, and may be able to take turns or negotiate. Every now and then they might need a little guidance on the fair allocation of assets(!), but for the most part they'll be figuring it out just fine.

They may have been laughing at things for quite a while now (at your silly faces or being tickled!) but their humor becomes truly infectious once they’re able to make peers laugh or burst into spontaneous laughter at something they find funny. And yes, year three of your child may well be the toilet humor year. Enjoy your new title of ‘poo poo head’. Wear it proudly.

Tip for encouraging cooperative play: Children at this age begin playing with one another, creating stories and scenarios together. Help them along by giving them a stimulus, assigning roles and providing them with the start of a story that they can then build on!

Flexing Their Creative Muscles

By now your petite Picasso might be able to draw some simple things. Yes, their people might have massive heads and tiny legs, but they should be roughly recognizable (and anyhow, we think that ginormous head suits you!). They might also be keen on cutting and sticking, learning to use safety scissors and sticking materials onto collages, developing their fine motor skills.

Play tip for encouraging creativity: Encourage them to explore different textures and patterns by giving them varied materials to get artsy with, such as pom poms, scraps of old textiles, and natural materials like leaves or flowers.

Physical Play

Your little one may now want to practice their balance by walking along narrow things like walls or balance beams. Expect a few knocked knees and scrapes while they come to grips with this! They even practice their hand-eye coordination on things like monkey bars or by using push-pull toys.

Play tip for encouraging balance: Encourage your little one to bunny hop on one leg or hold themselves still with one foot in the air – see how long they (and you!) can hold it for!

Learning Common Concepts and Counting

As children get older, they’re able to grasp more complicated concepts, like understanding descriptions like ‘over’ or ‘under’. They may be able to follow instructions that use those sorts of words, like “put the green LEGO® DUPLO® brick under the blue one.” They might also be starting to explore math.

Play tip for encouraging cognitive development: Give your little one simple instructions to follow, then try adding in a little more complexity, “Can you find me three blue blocks and two yellow blocks?” Now follow it up with, “Count how many blocks you have.”

Monsters Under the Bed!

It’s common for three-year-olds to start to find certain things ‘scary’, like being in the dark or waking up alone. It’s a sign that their imagination is well and truly working. Try to continue to be reassuring and present when needed, to keep those monsters away!

Play tip for reassuring your little one: Make the dark fun! Try playing hide and seek in the dark - if your child is happy to - or else read books under the covers with a flashlight. Making positive associations with the dark might help make it less scary!

No list could really sum up what an amazing year three to four is for both you and your little one, but we hope we’ve given you a sense of what you might expect! An exciting thing to know is that it’s also the year when lots of children will form their first recallable memories – so make them count!