Developmental milestones record - 5 years

Alternative names

Normal childhood growth milestones - 5 years; Childhood growth milestones - 5 years; Growth milestones for children - 5 years

Definition

This article describes the skills and growth markers relevant to 5-year-old children.

Information

Physical and motor skills milestones for a 5-year-old 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 skating 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
  

Sensory and cognitive milestones include:

• Increasing vocabulary to over 2100 words
  
• Composing sentences of 6 to 8 words, and with all parts of speech
  
• Identifying coins
  
• Properly naming the primary colors and possibly many more
  
• Questioning more deeply, addressing meaning and purpose
  
• Behaving more responsibly
  
• 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
  

Ways to encourage a 5-year-old's development may include:

• 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
  
• READING TOGETHER