Developmental milestones record - 5 years
Definition
This article describes the skills
and growth markers relevant to 5-year-old children.
Alternative Names
Normal childhood growth
milestones - 5 years; Childhood growth milestones - 5 years; Growth
milestones for children - 5 years
Information
Physical and motor skills
milestones for a 5-year-old child may include:
- Erupting the first permanent
teeth (the majority of children do not get their first permanent
teeth until age 6)
- Developing increased
coordination
- Skipping, jumping, and hopping
with good balance
- Maintaining balance while
standing on one foot with eyes closed
- Tying own shoelaces
- Showing increased skill with
simple tools and writing utensils
- Can copy a triangle
- Spreads with a knife
Sensory and cognitive
milestones:
- Increasing vocabulary to over
2100 words
- Composing sentences of six to
eight words, and with all parts of speech
- Identifying coins
- Counting to 10
- Properly naming the primary
colors and possibly many more
- Questioning more deeply,
addressing meaning and purpose
- Responding to "why"
questions
- Behaving more responsibly and
apologizing for mistakes
- Decreasing aggressive
behavior
- Outgrowing earlier childhood
fears
- Accepting the validity of other
points of view (while possibly not understanding them)
- Demonstrating increased
mathematical skill
- Questioning others, including
parents
- Strongly identifying with the
parent of the same sex
- Has a group of
friends
- Engagin in imaginative play (for
example, a trip to the moon)
Ways to encourage a 5 year old's
development may include:
- Reading together
- Providing the necessary space
for physical activity
- Instructing the child to
participate in -- and learn the rules of -- sporting
activities
- Encouraging the child to play
with other children, which helps develop social skills
- Playing creatively with the
child
- Monitoring both the time and
content of television viewing
- Visiting local areas of
interest
- Encourage the child to take
responsibility for small household chores such as helping set the
table
- Have the child pick up his or
her toys after playing
References
Feigelman S. The Preschool Years.
In: Kliegman RM, Behrman RE, Jenson HB, Stanton BF, eds. Nelson
Textbook of Pediatrics. 18th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Saunders
Elsevier; 2007: Chap. 10.
Review Date: 5/3/2008
Reviewed By: Jennifer K. Mannheim, CRNP, private practice in Autism
Treatment and Research, Seattle, Washington. Also reviewed by David
Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.
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