What are the developmental milestones for my child aged 0-3?

Did you know that 90% of a child’s brain develops before the age of 5?

During that time, they accomplish an astonishing range of infant developmental milestones (abilities most kids have by a certain age).

We design LEGO® DUPLO® sets to help kids achieve these developmental milestones in 5 ways: Physical, Social, Emotional, Cognitive and Creative.

So, we thought it a good idea to map out our own developmental milestones chart using those 5 categories.

We’ll also be mentioning fine motor skills a fair bit. What are fine motor skills? They’re the coordination of the smallest muscles in the hands and wrists to make delicate, dexterous movements, like holding a pencil or… you guessed it… building with LEGO bricks!

As well as relying on our own expertise to research this article, you can also find some other references we’ve drawn upon, at the bottom of this article.

But first, it’s important to say... Every child is unique. Your child’s toddler milestones won’t look the exact same as another toddler’s. And if your little one isn’t hitting all the points on our infant developmental milestones chart, that shouldn’t necessarily raise alarm. If you do notice that your child isn’t hitting several of the targets, raise it with your doctors. Also, if you recognize any abilities your child once had, but no longer does, similarly raise this with your child’s doctor.

2 months

Physical

Babies this age can turn their head to the side when lying on their stomach… that plus a lot of wiggling!

Social

They’ll be beginning to maintain eye contact and smile. You can develop their cooing sounds by having a ‘conversation’ with them.

Cognitive

A developmental milestone you might notice is how your baby tracks people as they move and looks for things they’re interested in – often their parents! They’ll react to loud sounds.

4 months

Physical

They can push up on their elbows while on their tummy and hold their head up without support (at least for a little while).

Social

They’ll continue to coo and ‘talk’ when you speak to them, turning their head towards you when you make a noise. There’ll be plenty of squealing and chuckling (not full laughing just yet, but not far off).

Emotional

Your baby will be excited to see familiar, loved faces if they’ve been out of sight and will smile spontaneously.

Creative

They’ll enjoy playing! Both with you and by holding toys in their hand, shaking them and (probably) trying to chew them too...

Even at this age, toys like rattles, balls and teething toys are a great way to boost a child’s hand-eye coordination, so be sure to leave some nearby for them to grab – and be sure to play along with them as well!

Cognitive

They’ll recognize themselves in mirrors (it’s as cute as it sounds). They’ll also discover those strange, finger-y things on the top of their arms (known professionally as ‘hands’) and will find ways to get them working together.

6 months

Physical

Your baby can roll from their back onto their tummy in both directions. They can sit up while using their hands to maintain balance.

You’ll notice a significant improvement in their fine motor skills. At this age, kids can pick things up with two hands and might even use their thumb and fingers as they learn how to move toys between hands.

Emotional

Lots of laughing, lots of squealing! They’ll also recognize more and more people.

Social

Here comes a conversation! They’ll take turns making sounds with you. They’ll only make simple, one-syllable “ma, da, oh, ba” sounds, but you’ll be able to tell the difference between their happy and upset noises.

Creative

Babies this age start to pick favorite toys and will try to grab them.

9 months

Physical

A key developmental milestone is how they’ll sit without support and can sit up from a lying-down position. They may even be able to crawl! They can put weight on their feet – e.g., while holding onto furniture.

Emotional

At this age, infants can become quite ‘clingy’ towards familiar people, especially when encountering strangers. They’ll be showing off several facial expressions, representing their different moods.

Social

They can make and copy simple sounds (like “dada”, “mama”, or “nana”), and you’ll find that they are quite content to just babble away. They’ll hold up their hands if they want to be lifted.

Creative

They’ll probably have a favorite toy and will enjoy banging different toys together.

Cognitive

They’ll recognize simple instructions and orders (including “no”) and search for objects when they fall out of sight.

There will be lots of pointing, which you can respond to by naming whatever they’re pointing at, to develop their language skills.

12 months

Happy birthday!

Physical

1-year-olds will likely be crawling by now. They can usually stand with assistance. Walking may be possible while holding onto furniture and they may even stand alone!

What about their fine motor skills? Kids this age can throw a small ball, pick things up with their thumb and index finger, and turn pages on a book.

Social

They’ll respond to their name and might call you names like “mama” or “dada”. As well as knowing some words, their babbling is more speech-like, and they’ll repeat certain words. They’ll know how to wave bye-bye.

Emotional

Kids this age can get quite upset when parents leave. This separation anxiety usually goes away between 18-24 months. Although it can be upsetting, it is a significant emotional milestone, reflecting their growing attachment to you. To handle it, stay calm, confident, and try to return to them when you say you will.

Creative

Infants this age will start putting things into containers, enjoy playing games like pat-a-cake, and hand you books when they want to hear a story.

Cognitive

Kids this age help you dress them by putting out arms and legs. They look at correct objects when they’re named.

18 months

Physical

A big developmental milestone is how kids this age can stand alone and walk alone, including upstairs (with assistance...)

Creative

Another big moment this… at 18 months, they’re able to play with LEGO DUPLO bricks! Which is the perfect way for them to boost all their many blossoming skills. Typically, 18-month-olds love stacking blocks and are pretty physical in their play, pushing toy cars around and pulling toys along while walking. That’s why we make sure to encourage active, kinetic play with sets for kids this age.

They’re also getting the hang of crayons and scribbling.

Social
In general, they love to play and explore new places and things (usually with a parent close behind). Try to get involved with their play, to make them feel safe.

They’re able to say several words and even join in with nursery rhymes.

Emotional

Your toddler may have tantrums around this age; a result of being frustrated at being unable to fully communicate how they feel.

It can often be more effective to positively reinforce their good behavior, than get cross at them during a tantrum. Look for moments when they are calm and happy –like when playing with LEGO DUPLO toys – before telling them how well they are behaving and playing.

Cognitive

They’ll recognize parts of the body and can obey simple commands (such as “give that to me”).

Two years

Happy birthday again! How time flies…

Physical

At 2, it’s all running, all kicking, all throwing, and all jumping. They probably won’t need much encouragement with all that…

What you can encourage are their fine motor skills by asking them to drink from a cup without a lid, hold a pencil correctly, or build the tallest tower with LEGO DUPLO bricks.

Creative

An important developmental milestone for 2-year-olds is their burgeoning imagination. Kids develop their ability for make-believe through role-play. Our many and diverse DUPLO characters can encourage this.

They’ll love playing with knobs, switches and buttons on toys. They’ll enjoy sorting shapes and colors and playing with different toys.

Emotional

Your 2-year-old enjoys copying adults (part of the reason we include real-life scenarios in our DUPLO playsets). They might notice when people are sad and will look to you for guidance to see how to react, when they are unsure what to do.

Cognitive

They’ll point to things when named and can name a lot of well-known objects.

They’ll say short sentences that are at least two words long. Their vocabulary is growing rapidly and you can boost it by telling them the names of all the things you encounter together. In our cognitive-focused LEGO DUPLO sets, we include lots of different types of (often unusual) elements for kids to point out, name and memorize. 

Three years

ANOTHER birthday?! We’re running out of candles...

Physical

3-year-olds can typically walk on tiptoes, catch large balls, and pedal around on tricycles and such.

Creative

Their imagination and pretend play is growing more ‘vivid’, which we encourage in our sets for kids this age by including more complex elements, characters and situations.

Emotional

Though they might get upset when you leave, they should calm down within 10 minutes or so, indicating self-regulation.

Social

They enjoy playing with other kids and can even share.

Cognitive

They’ll now be able to identify certain actions when asked – for example ‘running’, ‘drawing’ or ‘singing’. They know their own name, age, and they’ll be learning how to count!

The era of questions… They’ll be asking a lot of questions about the world around them. Introduce them to lots of different topics to keep their hunger for knowledge well-fed!

References:

https://www.unicef.org/parenting/child-development/your-babys-developmental-milestones

https://cdn.who.int/media/docs/default-source/child-growth/child-growth-standards/indicators/motor-development-milestones/mm_windows_graph.pdf?sfvrsn=ea3a0241_5