Child Stages: Toddler 3 Years (Child Development Information) - Child Development

3 Years

By the age of 3, children have had enough personal experience to master many of life's simple concepts. Their next challenge is to build on them. Children do this with language, building their vocabularies and putting together increasingly complex sentences. Their activities and play also grow more complex.

MILESTONES
Now that you are the parent of a preschooler, you are likely to find that your child:
Has improved self-help skills. At the beginning of this year, your 3-year-old will likely be able to dress herself with relative ease, but buttons will still pose a challenge. By the end of the year, however, buttoning and zipping are much more likely to be a snap.

Gets around with ease. This includes not only riding a tricycle, running, jumping, and climbing, but also hopping and balancing on one foot (if only for a few seconds), and walking up stairs like an adult, alternating feet and only putting one on each step.

Has greatly expanded language skills. During this year, you're likely to notice that the length of your child's sentences increases from around three words at her third birthday to five (or more) by her fourth. By this time, most children have also become fully understandable. As your child masters the use of pronouns (I, me, you, we, etc.) during the upcoming months, be forewarned that you're also likely to find that she has entered a new stage of development that includes asking a whole lot of questions.

Recognizes colors and letters. While newly turned three-year-olds often can identify some colors, they get much better at it over the year, and move on to working at recognizing letters of the alphabet. Some will start to write them as well.

Decides to toilet train. A majority of children toilet train before reaching age 4. If your child is not quite there yet, remember that this process involves not only the physical ability to put urine and bowel movements into the toilet, but a conscious decision on your child's part that he wants to do so!

Draws shapes and people. Most three-year-olds can not only draw a circle, but learn to draw a cross as well. Attempts at drawing people start out relatively crudely and with very little detail, but will soon progress to include several body parts.

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