What next to expect from your 3 year old preschooler?

Finally, you begin to enjoy the years of when you can talk and play with your preschooler; and you notice there is a big bump of physical vigor they are experiencing. Your toddler is now pumped with not just strength and power but with social skills. He likes to play with peers as well as adults with a lot of enthusiasm and eagerness to learn new things, while playing. But you still continue to be happy, as he knows his emotions and can handle them better.

What are the physical and motor developmental milestones developed during this phase?

This is a phase of enhanced motor activity. He is excelling in using his large as well as fine muscles.

Here is a list of gross motor skills for preschoolers of age 3.

• Runs faster and jumps over small obstacles, while running
• Balances on one foot for 5-10 seconds
• Throws a ball under handed and over handed; and even catches a ball that is thrown to him
• Jumps down from an object  of half to one foot height
• Moves forward and backward with agility
• May be able to skip

Here is the list of fine motor skills that a typical 3 year old will display by now:

• Uses scissors, under parental supervision
• Cuts paper into two pieces
• Draws a human with three or four body parts
• Puts together a large puzzle having 9-12 pieces
• Writes some capital letters
• Screws and unscrews jar

How to improve my baby’s physical and motor skills?

Here is a list of gross motor activities that you can engage your little one in, to boost your child’s gross motor skills

• Take him to park and play hopscotch with him
• Play skipping with him and ask him to skip for more counts
• Play hurdle racing with him

Fine motor activities can help to boost fine motor skills of your 3 year old-

• Provide him with a large assemble puzzle (having more than 12 pieces to assemble) to improve his manipulative skills
• Painting, finger painting and making potato prints also improves fine muscles
• Give him an alphabet book, promoting him to write in it

What are the cognitive and lingual developmental milestones happening during this phase?

Cognitive milestones for 3 years olds include the following:

• Understands the concept of same and different
• Understands time better (like morning, noon, evening and night)
• Follows commands
• Can recall familiar objects
• Understands the concept of counting and can count up to 10 or more
• Can complete small tasks allotted to him, like picking up the garbage or waste and throw it into the dustbin
• Recognizes and identifies common pictures and objects

Language developmental milestones during this phase include:

• Understands basic rules of grammar
• Speaks clearly, even strangers can understand it well
• Speaks about 200-250 words
• Tells stories
• Begins to ask purposeful questions

What can I do to help my baby to tune up his cognitive and lingual skills?

Cognitive and lingual skill enhancement goes hand-in-hand. Thus activities that help in sharpening their lingual and cognitive skills are similar and as follows:

• Encourage your child to talk about what is happening around or what has happened sometime back
• Give suggestions about imaginary play, like “What would it be to be like a small kitten or a pup?”
• Provide him small props to use for play
• Sing songs, music and relatively longer stories

What social developments are happening in a toddler 3-4 years old?

Here are the social-emotional milestones for 3 year olds that your toddler would have crossed by now:

• More independent
• Able to recover from tantrum
• Expresses displeasure in words, rather than physical aggression
• Recognizes emotions of others
• Becomes more inventive in his fantasy play
• Interested in new experiences
• Can imagine unfamiliar or frightful images like ghosts
• Asks permission to use objects or toys belonging to others
• He is now able to distinguish between fact and fantasies
• Interacts with adults in a cooperative manner and behaves in a socially appropriate manner most of the time

Disclaimer: The information in the article is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of your doctor.

Also read: Developmental Milestones: 49-54 Months

Explore the entire collection of articles: Baby Growth And Development

#developmentalmilestones