YMCA Family Centers at Walt Disney World® Resorts : Child Development

Parents

Limit screen time – computers and television.
Read to your child daily.
Children are born with the ability to speak any language, but they speak the language they most often hear.
If your child sees you read they will understand why it’s important to read.
Read signs, cereal boxes, magazines.
Repeat nursery rhymes and songs by heart.

Your Child Will:

Birth to 6 Months of Age
Hold up his/her head
Move arms and legs while on a blanket
Watch faces
Recognize hearing their name
Repeat sounds and words
Imitate your tone of voice
Distinguish between black and white

1 to 2 Years of Age
Listen and respond to your voice
Prefer silly songs
Ask simple "yes and no" questions
Use 30-50 words correctly
Put two words together to express wants
Sing action songs and perform the action
Gain meaning by listening

3 to 4 Years of Age
Understand concepts of print
Talk all the time - in car, shopping
Sing simple songs
Read favorite book by looking at pictures
Use descriptive words like "big" dogs
Listen for meaning

6 Months to 1 Year of Age
Make sounds animals make
Say short words - "mama, dada"
Love to be read to
Require affection and holding
React positively to name
Like bouncy "trot a little horsy"
See colors - yellow and red

2 to 3 Years of Age
Use 250 words
Understand over 2,000 words
Ask and answer "what, what, why"
Repeat simple rhymes
Talk about what sees
Talk about what is going on
Dictate a story

4 to 5 Years of Age
Represent stories through pictures
Know letters represent sounds
Retell events of day
Talk in complete sentences
Print simple words
Understand purposes for writing