Preschooler Month 37-42— Growth and Development

My, oh my! Your child has turned all of three years old! Let’s take a look at all the amazing milestones your preschooler is going to hit in months 37-42.

Physical Development

• Your kid will be easily able to jump over a small hurdle. Encourage him to do lots of jumping in the park –that’s the safest place for everyone concerned!
• Now is when he will become a master kicker. Yes, he will finally be able to kick a ball hard enough for it to bounce away. Here’s how you can help your child master his kicking skills.
• Motor skills wise too he wil make a lot of headway. He will finally begin to hold a pencil with a grasp quite similar to the adult pencil grasp. He will also be able to snip paper using scissors.
• He loves playing with his toys no, even more so than before! Check out these 3 essential toys that will spark overall development in the apple of your eye.

Social-Emotional Development

• Your child is at a good age to learn positive self-concept aka self-respect. This will not only enhance their personality, it will also make them more confident. Read these simple ways to build your child’s self-esteem.
• Your toddler has started establishing real friendships with peers. But where there is friendship, there is bound to be conflict. Conflict resolution is one of the essential skills your child must learn at this stage. Here’s how you can help.
• Your child will naturally begin to take turns during play. This is a great quality to have for people of all ages. If your kid is struggling with the same, give a shot to these 5 ways to naturally encourage your child to take turns. If your child is particularly impatient, use these methods to teach him the value of taking turns.
• On the other hand, your child will also get competitive. He will enjoy comparing himself with others. Gear up to answer questions like “am I the biggest?”, “am I the fastest?” etc.
• Your smart little child will now understand that people’s feelings have underlying causes.
• And here’s one thing that will make you really happy: your child will finally respond well to discipline in which you set boundaries kindly and firmly.

Cognitive Development

• Your child should now to be compare things in terms of similarities and differences. This skill is essential because it will hone your child’s classifying and reasoning abilities. Take a look here for some pointers to teach your child the concept of alike and different.
• He will enjoy listening to music and stories with caregivers for short time spans of say 5-10 mins.
• Get ready for drama! Your innocent one will begin dramatic play such as gestures and speech during fantasy play. And he will be whoever he wants to be – from a pirate, to a superhero, to a tiger.
• Your little one will now be able to sort objects using two categories, such as picking out objects that are round AND blue.
• Although time is a hard concept for your preschooler to understand, this is the right age to teach him how to tell time. Check out these creative ideas to teach your kids what time is.

Linguistic Development

• Your kiddo will now understands grammar rules like suffixing -ed and -s to words to form past tense and plurals. If your child is struggling with plurals, read this guide.
• He will also be able to draw intersecting lines in both these ways: ‘+’ and ‘x’
• Your darling will be more than able to recognize letters on day to day objects. This is a good time to teach your child math and number skills.
• Finally, he will also be able to understand some prepositional commands like “get under the blanket”.

Next Month: Preschooler Month 43-48 — Growth and Development