• 
  
  holding head up
• rolling over
• sitting up without tipping
• crawling
• walking

• mastery of walking
• running
• marching
• jumping, hopping
• climbing

• skipping
• hopping
• catching
• throwing
• This is also when other related factors begin to emerge and become new skills for children to master such as:  
• coordination
• strength
• balance
• endurance
• flexibility
  

• batting at a mobile
• grasping/grabbing for objects
• holding objects
• transferring objects from one hand to the other.
• pincher grips (using the index finger and thumb to grab that Cheerio)
• pushing buttons
• working on turning pages of a board book

• stacking small blocks
• eating with utensils
• beginning to hold writing utensils to make marks on paper (which, they also love to tear and rip…another great muscle builder)

• writing
• drawing
• cutting (in any form)
• playing with Playdoh
• building with Legos

Springtime -- when the world wakes up from her winter slumber and becomes fresh and new again!  Spring is also a great time to set new family goals.  You might want to focus on:

Healthy Food

• Eat your homegrown veggies this summer!  Now's the time to plant vegetables -- depending on the weather, either seeds in small containers in the house, or small plants outside in containers or in the yard.  It's a fun learning adventure to nurture seeds and watch them grow! 
• Cook up a storm!  Plan the menu, shop for the ingredients (or pick them from your garden), cook the meal and eat together as a family.  Children often eat better when they help create the meal and then share it with their family. 

Outdoor Exercise

• Go for frequent family walks.  Count the number of flowers poking their heads out of the dirt.  How many different colors do you see? 
• Turn off the TV, go outside, and kick around a soccer ball.  Studies show that obesity in children increases the more hours they watch TV (Crespo, 2001). 
• Spring winds help warm the Earth and make great kite-flying adventures.  Pack a picnic lunch, grab your kite and head to the park for an afternoon of family fun!

• The best way to wind down after a fun day (or even a not-so-fun day) is to climb into bed and read books before falling asleep.  This routine calms everyone down and creates a positive, loving way to end each day.

• Recommended Books
• Spring Has Sprung -- Bear in the Big Blue House by Kiki Thorpe
• Henry and Mudge in Puddle Trouble by Cynthia Rylant
• The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

What kinds of things are you working on in your family this spring? Do you have more great spring reads to suggest?

Judy Schumacher
Director of Education, Minnesota Children's Museum

At 2 1/2 years
Does your child know a few rhymes or songs?  Does he or she enjoy hearing them?
Many children can say short rhymes or sing songs, and enjoy listening to records or to singing.
What does your child do when the doorbell rings, or when a car door or house door closes at a time when someone in the family usually comes home?
If a child has good hearing and these are events that bring pleasure, the child usually reacts to the sound by running to look or telling someone what she or he hears.

At 3 years
Your child understands and uses some simple verbs, pronouns, prepositions, and adjectives, such as go, me, in, and small.

Can your child find you when you call from another room?

At 4 years
Can your child tell about events that have happened recently?
Your child gives a connected account of some recent experiences.

Your child carries out a sequence of two simple directions.

At 5 years
Do people outside your family understand most of what your child says?
Can your child carry a conversation with other children or familiar adults?
Most children this age can carry on a conversation if the vocabulary is within their experience.


Is your child's grammar almost as good as your own?
Most of the time, a child's spoken language will match the patterns of grammar used by the adults of his or her family/neighborhood.


Esther Schak
Parent Educator, Saint Paul ECFE

Do you sometimes wonder whether your child is "on track" in his or her ability to understand and use language?  Here are some questions you might want to consider about your child's behavior, followed by a description of what the behavior might look like.

At 3-6 months
What does your child do when you talk to him or her?
Your child awakens or quiets to the sound of their mother's voice.

Does your child react to your voice even when he or she cannot see you?
Your child turns their eyes and head in the direction of the source of the sound.

At 7-10 months
Your child can't see what is making a sound, what does she or he do?
Your child turns their head and shoulders toward the familiar sounds, even when they cannot see what is happening.  The sounds do not have to be loud to cause the child to respond to the dog barking, the ringing of the telephone, footsteps, or someone's voice.

At 11-15 months
Can your child point to or find familiar objects or people as requested?
Your child shows understanding of some words by appropriate behavior such as pointing or looking at familiar objects or people on request.

Does you child respond differently to different sounds?
You child jabbers in response to a human voice, is apt to cry when there is a loud noise such as thunder, or may frown when scolded.

Does you child enjoy listening to sounds and imitating them?
Imitation indicates that your child can hear the sounds and match them with his or her own sounds production. 

At 18 months
Can your child point to parts of his or her body when asked?
Some children begin to identify parts of their own bodies.  Your child should be able to show his or her nose or eyes.

How many understandable words does your child use - words that you are sure really mean something?
Your child should be using a few single words.  They are not complete or pronounced perfectly, but are clearly meaningful.

At 2 years
Can your child follow simple verbal commands when you are careful not to provide and help (such as looking at the object or pointing in the right direction)?
Your child should be able to follow a few simple commands without visual cues.

Does your child enjoy being read to?  Doe she or he point out pictures of familiar objects?
Most two-year-olds enjoy being read to and shown simple pictures in a book or magazine.  They are usually able to point out pictures when you ask them to.

Is your child putting a few words together to make "sentences" as in "Milk all gone," or "Go bye-bye car?"
These "sentences" are not usually complete or grammatical but carry the message.

Esther Schak,
Parent Educator, Saint Paul ECFE

• Take time to listen to your child and answer his/her questions.
• Sing and recite nursery songs and rhymes together. 
• Read something to yourself every day, showing your child that reading is important. 
• Get library cards for you and your child.  Take your child to the library regularly and pick out books for both of you. 
• Look at books and magazines together, talking about what you see and read. 
• Ask your child to tell you a story or to describe something he/she has done or seen. 
• Write down what your child tells you and read back the “story” exactly as it was dictated. 
• Give your child his/her own bookshelf (or a box or a drawer) to hold books.
• Carefully select the TV programs your child watches, and limit TV viewing so that there is at least equal time for reading. 
• Praise your child’s efforts and accomplishments so that he or she will have self-confidence and zest for new learning experiences. 
  
  
  
  Esther Schak
  Parent Educator, Saint Paul ECFE