Normal Child Development: 4 to 5 years

The following page gives normal child development milestones during the period from 4 to 5 years (48 to 60 months).

There are 4 main areas of development that are assessed and these are shown in each age band.

Your precious baby is now getting ready for school and is becoming increasingly complex, particularly with language development and thought processes.

4 year normal child developmental milestones

Motor Development

At 4 years of age, your toddler will be able to:

• hop on one leg
• go downstairs one foot per step

Fine Motor / Vision Development

At 4 years, your toddler will be able to:

• draw a person with 3 parts
• build 6 cube step using 1 inch cube wooden bricks
• copy a cross
• use scissors

Speech and Language Development

At 4 years, your toddler will be able to:

• use words like "but" and "and"
• name 4 colors
• discriminate size - so will know which is the small and which is the large object
• follow a 2 step command, eg. get your ball and put it in the basket

Personal / Social Development

At 4 years, your toddler, if he is following normal development, will be able to:

• toilet himself
• play imaginatively
• show concern for others

4 1/2 year child development milestones

Motor Development

At 4 1/2 years of age, if your child is following normal development, he will be able to:

• run upstairs

Fine Motor / Vision Development

At 4 1/2 years, your toddler will be able to:

• copy a square

Speech and Language Development

At 4 1/2 years of age, your child, if he is following normal child development, will be able to:

• follow commands with 3 steps

5 year child development milestones

Motor Development

At 5 years of age, if your child is following normal child development, he will be able to:

• skip
• walk heel to toe

Fine Motor / Vision Development

At 5 years, your toddler will be able to:

• copy a triangle
• build 10 cube steps using 1 inch cube wooden bricks
• draw a person with 6 parts

Speech and Language Development

At 5 years of age, your child, if he is following normal child development, will be able to:

• speak fluently

Personal / Social Development

At 5 years of age, your toddler will be able to:

• tie shoe laces
• dress alone
• actively help others
• observe rules - in fact, your toddler will be keen to inform on others breaking the rules!

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References

• Martin Bellman and John Cash. Schedule of Growing Skills. NEFR-Nelson. ISBN 0 7005 1161 X
• Mary Sheridan. From birth to five years. NFER-NELSON. ISBN 0 85633 074 4

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For normal child development from birth to six months, click here

For infants from 6 to 12 months of age, click here

For toddlers from 1 to 2 years of age, click here

For toddlers from 2 to 3 years of age, click here

For toddlers from 3 to 4 years of age, click here

For children from 4 to 5 years of age, click here

To go to the main Development page, click here

To return to the Home page, click here

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Last reviewed 22 February 2007

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