3 and 4 Year Olds

They will dress themselves and play dress up, imitating both adults and their playmates. Everything may take on human living qualities. Join their world as their imaginary friends interact with them and you in play! Keep in mind that your child cannot always distinguish between fantasy and reality, so practice your favorite mindfulness exercises and have patience!

Experiencing and understanding their emotions will be an adventure this year. Your preschooler will develop sensitivity to others, kiss “owies”, and interact more with adults and other children. Their feelings will swing from love to anger, protest to fear in the blink of an eye. Three year-olds need routine and limits to find safety in their new-found emotional worlds.

This year, your child will talk in three to five-word sentences, understand same and different, tell stories, learn their colors and some letters, begin to count, and follow three-part instructions.

Their fine motor skills will continue to develop, and they’ll use scissors, draw circles and squares, do 8-12 piece puzzles, and draw themselves in 2-4 parts. (Be sure to keep a record of that first self-portrait!)

One last year to play, and prepare for school!  

Your 4 year-old will hop, kick, run, pedal, swing and do somersaults. They’ll draw triangles, and add body parts to human pictures. Their sentences will get longer, they’ll use future tense, and they’ll begin to understand the concept of time. Their ideas will become clearer and they’ll tell longer stories with more details. A preschooler will count to 10, identify 4+ colors, and identify some letters (perhaps the letters in their name). They’ll want to please others and will follow rules. Your child will progress from a scribble that looks like a dog to planning and drawing a dog.