49 - 60 months - The Joy of Learning, Connecting, and Experimenting

Communicating  

What’s New? 

This is a period of rapid speech development, exciting to you and your child.  At this age, your child probably loves telling stories and enjoys conversations. Your child may often talk about how she feels, tell about her ideas, and ask questions. 

At the beginning of this year, she may know several hundred words and can use sentences of at least five or six words. Usually, you'll understand what she is saying.  And by her fifth birthday, her sentences will be longer and even more complex, with many more words available to her.

And What Can You Do to Help?

Every child is different — your child may be talkative or more quiet. Whatever her style, always encourage her verbal expression. If you talk to her in everyday conversation, she will want to talk to you more. If she sees that you enjoy talking with her, she'll begin to enjoy it too. Be patient — your child will still not be able to express herself well, so sometimes you'll need to help a bit: „Oh, is that what you played with your friend?  What else did you do? Did you throw the ball?“ Talk about ordinary things that happen - what we do, where we have been, what we plan, what we like and what we don't. While reading books or telling stories, you can ask questions about what is happening. Drawing and playing pretend are other ways to communicate and may support children who are sometimes unwilling to talk.

Feelings

What’s New?

During this period, your child begins to learn how to express different feelings in an appropriate way. She can find more and more ways to express emotions– speech, explanation, gestures, or play. Increasingly, she will be able to say what bothers her instead of yelling or hitting. 

During this period, children usually like to be surrounded by other people. You may see your child wanting to please her friends and wanting to be just like them.  Imaginary friends may still be an important part of your child's growing up, although real friends are the most important to her.  She is beginning to get along better and better with others.  You're likely to see her apologize, accept rules, wait for turns, and enjoy it when nice things happen to others.  Even though she can still be rather demanding or impatient, she more often cooperates and wants to help others.  At the same time, she may worry about new experiences, such as beginning preschool or playing with new children.

And What Can You Do to Help?

Encourage your child to be involved in various activities such as family routines, play, and socializing with other children. Share her enjoyment. Create opportunities in which the child will feel useful and important - a little help while doing household chores, followed by praise, will encourage her to develop self-confidence. Avoid criticism, and praise the effort. If help is needed, give clear instructions and explanations.

If she avoids trying something new or is already afraid of starting preschool, let her become familiar with the new situation and give it a try when she is ready.

Thinking  

What’s New? 

Play is still a way for a child to learn about herself and about the world around her. At this age, your child will use her imagination intensively.  She will probably love to sing, dance, and pretend.  She is better able to know the difference between what is pretend and what is real. However, at the same time, she may hide the truth from her parents if she has done something she knows they do not like. In her play, she may try different roles and behaviours - such as a doctor or a teacher. During this period she may become more aware of her gender and gender roles.  

Your child's learning also includes learning about her own body and other's bodies — including curiosity about boys' and girls' bodies. Interest and curiosity about the body continue - both theirs and other people's bodies. You can find a child of this age watching her genitals or the genitals of other children with interest. 

Concepts develop rapidly in this period and are foundational for later learning. Your child is understanding more about opposites (for example, low/high), and she can usually name quite a few letters and numbers, and print some of them. She can correctly count objects up to 10. Her memory's getting better. She probably remembers her address or phone number. She may know the difference between left and right. 

And What Can You Do to Help?

In conversation and daily routines, talk about time concepts (morning, evening, today, etc. and days of the week), as well as other interesting concepts. Use stories and children’s books to explore other concepts. Enrich story reading or storytelling by asking your child what she thinks might happen next. Take walks around the community to explore sights and sounds that stimulate her thinking. Create opportunities to use letters and numbers in daily activities, such as writing a note to help you remember foods to buy at the market. 

Moving

What’s New?

Your child is more and more physically skilled – now she can throw, catch, swing and climb, and build a tower with several small objects.  She can probably hop and perhaps even skip. She finds it easier to dress herself now. She's also able to take care of more of her own needs. For example, she may feed herself using a spoon or other utensils.  She may use the toilet independently and can brush her teeth wash herself without much help. 

And What Can You Do to Help?

Remind her of safety rules and be sure to supervise physical activities as needed. Create opportunities for your child to be active outdoors and teach her skills as she becomes eager to learn them. Encourage her fine motor skills by providing simple materials for her to put together, and to draw pictures. 

To find many more ways on how to support child development through play, go to the Playing Together section.

Parents’ concerns about development in the period from the 49th to the 60th month

Because each child develops in her own particular way, it is impossible to predict exactly when or how your own child will perfect a certain skill. The abilities (developmental milestones) expected and listed for this period give you only a general idea of the changes you might expect as your child gets older.  Please do not be worried if her development takes a slightly different path.

However, to be sure, do talk with your paediatrician [or another health provider] if your child displays any of the following signs of possible developmental delay, if your child seems to have lost some of the skills she had at an earlier age, or if you have other reasons to be concerned:

• Can't confidently walk, run, climb, jump or use stairs 
• Can't answer simple questions (What's your name? Who is your family? What's your favourite story?)
• Can't follow a two-part direction (Put a cup on the table! Or Take the ball under the bed!) 
• Can't perform daily routines such as eating or dressing on her own 
• Seems to have difficulty holding a pencil
• Shows extreme behaviour (such as extremely fearful, or aggressive, or sad)
• Doesn’t talk about daily activities
• Doesn't show interest in interacting with either adults or children

This is a period in which you can probably worry about whether some of the listed behaviours are related to spending time in front of the screen. Be sure to limit the time in front of the screen to a maximum of one hour a day and make sure you spend every moment in front of the screen with your child to guide her through that experience.