3-4 Years Milestones
Gross Motor
- Hops on one foot and can balance on one foot for 3–4 seconds
- Goes upstairs and downstairs without holding on
- Catches bounced ball most of the time
- Moves forward and backward with agility
Fine Motor
- Draws a person with 2–4 body parts
- Uses scissors and cuts on a line
- Copies a cross (36–41 months)
- Copies a square (42–47 months)
- Prints some letters
- Colors with direction
- Builds a tower of 10 blocks
- Cuts out a circle (42–47 months)
- Ties a knot
Language
- Understands the concepts of “same” and “different”
- Correctly names some colors
- Understands the concept for counting and possibly knows a few numbers
- Recalls some details from a story
- Speaks in sentences of five words or more
- Speaks clearly enough for strangers to understand
- Tells stories
Personal and Social
- Begins to have clearer sense of time
- Engages in imaginative play
- Is interested in new experiences
- Cooperates with other children
- Plays Mom or Dad (acts out family roles in play)
- Dresses and undresses self/negotiates solutions to conflicts
Other Characteristics
- Imagines that many unfamiliar images may be “monsters”
- Views self as whole person involving body, mind, and feelings
- Possibly has trouble distinguishing between fantasy and reality
