Typical Development of Self-care, Fine Motor and Sensory Processing Skills
2-3 years
- Using toilet with assistance and having daytime control
- Distinguishing between urination and bowel movements, and names them correctly
- Feeding self simple meals using a fork or spoon
- Tolerating a range of different textured foods
- Using a napkin to wipe face and hands
- Taking socks and shoes off
- Unbuttoning large buttons
- Attempting to brush teeth
- Settling themselves to sleep at night or during the day
- Having an awareness of a parent’s approval or disapproval of their actions
- Understanding common dangers of hot objects, stairs, glass
- Expressing emotions
- Explores surroundings
- Engaging in imaginative play
- Enjoying/tolerating messy play
- Begins to be able to take turns
- Strings four large beads
- Snips with scissors
- Holds crayon with thumb and fingers (not fist)
- Uses one hand consistently in most activities
- Matches circles and squares
- Imitates circular, vertical, and horizontal strokes
- Paints with some wrist action, makes dots, lines, circular strokes
- Rolls, pounds, squeezes, and pulls playdough
- Knowing where familiar items are kept
- Sits to look at books independently
- Turns single pages of a book
- Pays attention for 3 minutes
- Points to 5-6 parts of a doll when asked
3-4 years
- Feeding self without difficulty
- Independently packing items away
- Brushing teeth independently
- Dressing and undressing self (only requiring assistance with laces, buttons, and other fasteners in awkward places)
- Tolerating different clothing textures, seams, tags etc
- Toileting independently
- Builds tower of nine small blocks
- Copies circle
- Imitates cross
- Uses non-dominant hand to assist and stabilise the use of objects
- Manipulates clay material (rolls balls, makes snakes, cookies)
- Snips paper using scissors
- Can count 1-5
- Knows most colours
- Playing with 2 or 3 children in a group
- Taking turns
- Can differentiate between real and pretend world
- Social encounters are acted out through play activities
4-5 years
- Developing friendships
- Following rules
- Choosing weather appropriate clothes
- Dresses and undresses independently
- Develops friendships
- Playing with 4 or 5 children in a group
- Knows shapes
- Copies cross
- Copies square
- Handedness is well established
- Cuts on line continuously
- Writes name
- Copies letters
- Can count 1-10
- Writes numbers 1-5
- Able to sit and pay attention (e.g. mat time)
5-6 years
- Morning routine at school (putting bag away, swapping readers, putting drink bottle in correct spot)
- Opening lunch boxes, zip lock bags, food packaging
- Coping in busy/noisy environment
- Packing a bag for school or other outings with assistance
- Cuts out simple shapes
- Uses a 3 fingered grasp of pencil and uses fingers to generate movement
- Copies triangle
- Can copy complex shapes, such as a diamond
- Colors within lines
- Can draw basic pictures
- Able to write numbers and letters
- Begins to be able to write simple sentences
- Should be sounding out simple words like “hang”, “neat”, “jump” and “sank”
- Pastes and glues appropriately
- 20/20 vision
- Begins to recognise others perspectives
- Knows left and right
- Begins to reason and argue; uses words like why and because
- Can categorize objects: “These are toys; These are books”
- Understand concepts like yesterday, today, and tomorrow
- Can sit at a desk , follow teacher instructions, and independently do simple in-class assignments
6-7 years
- Eating a range of food and tolerating different textures
- Showering independently
- Ties shoelaces independently
- Are willing to take on more responsibility (i.e. chores)
- Packing a bag for school or other outings with little assistance/prompting
- Telling the time
- Knowing where their body is in time and space to coordinate body movements for ball skills
- Inhibiting the need to talk/ask questions
- Forms most letters and numbers correctly
- Writes consistently on the lines
- Demonstrates controlled pencil movement
- Good endurance for writing
- Can build Lego, K’nex and other blocks independently
- Develops a longer attention span
- Understands fractions and the concept of space
- Enjoys reading a book on their own
- Recognises others perspective
7-8 years
- Recalling events and describing them
- Remembering a sentence to write that was just thought about or told
- Attending for longer periods of time
- Sitting still (e.g. in class, at mealtimes)
- Taking on more responsibilities e.g. chores
- Telling the time and displaying time management skills
- Inhibiting the need to talk and ask questions
- Preparing simple meals e.g. cereal, sandwich
- Maintains legibility of handwriting for entirety of a story
Adapted from: https://childdevelopment.com.au/resources