Age 5

Developmental Milestones

At age 5, watch for your child’s ability to:

Building Relationships

Say full name, address and birthday

Express feelings and have friendships

Print some letters of the alphabet without examples to copy

Take turns often during play and share more

Physical/Motor Skills

Use scissors to cut out shapes

With practice, catch a medium size ball

Walk on tiptoes across a room and begin to skip

Ride a bike with training wheels, swim, skate and jump rope

Growing Brains

Count to 20 and name colors

Tell riddles and jokes

Draw a person with a head, body, arms, legs and other body parts

Two young boys wearing helmets sit on a curb, intently examining bicycles. Nearby are colorful bikes and other children, suggesting a playful, curious atmosphere.

What is developmental screening?

Developmental screening can help you determine if your child is developing on track for his or her age. It’s a way to check if there are any problems in how your child learns, plays, speaks, or acts.

Parents who have used a developmental screening tool with their children say it helped them learn more about child development. It’s great hands-on parenting!

Ask your child’s doctor, child-care provider, early childhood teacher, or home visitor about doing a developmental screening. There are tools that have been developed just for parents to use with their children.

Find one for your child’s age at:
https://www.cdc.gov/act-early/milestones/

Healthy Bodies

Enjoy meals with your child as often as possible. Eat lots of fruits and vegetables as a way to urge your child to eat them, too. Make sure your child gets the rest he needs. Balance screentime with physical activity so your child learns to love being active.

Developmental milestones are skills that appear in a certain order for all children. Each child will reach these milestones at different rates. Developmental milestones help parents understand what to expect as their child grows.

Tips for Encouraging and Supporting Developmental Milestones

Building Relationships

Discuss safety rules and why they are important. Examples are wearing a bike helmet or holding hands while crossing the street or in a crowd.

Build your child’s imagination, curiosity, and need to fit in the world by asking “what if?” questions, such as “What if you were taller than a tree?”