Developmental milestones record - 5 years

• 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 2,100 words
  • Composing sentences of 6 to 8 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
  • Engaging 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
  • Encouraging the child to take responsibility for small household chores, such as helping set the table
  • Having 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.