Child development professionals define specific milestones parents/caregivers and child care professionals should watch for at specific points in a child’s development.
Your toddler will continue developing Social/Emotional, Language, Cognitive/Learning, and Physical/Movement skills rapidly between the ages of 1 and 3 years. Tracking your child’s developmental milestones can help you choose activities and engagements to continue encouraging healthy growth and development.
For more information about tracking your child’s developmental milestones, download the CDC milestone tracker app.
18 Months
At 18 months old, a typically developing child should demonstrate the following skills. These milestones are provided by the Center for Disease Control's "Learn the signs. Act early" campaign.
Social and emotional skills:
- Likes to hand things to others to play
- Plays simple pretend, such as feeding a doll
- Explores alone, but with parents/caregivers close by
Language skills:
- Says several words
- Says and shakes head, “no”
Learning skills:
- Scribbles on their own
- Points to a body part
- Knows what ordinary things are for: such as a brush or spoon
Physical and movement skills:
- Walks alone
- Can help undress themself
- Drinks from a cup
2 Years
These examples of milestones for 2-year-olds are taken from the Center for Disease Control's "Learn the signs. Act early" campaign. Visit the CDC page for a more complete list.
Social and emotional skills:
- Gets excited when with other children
- Shows more and more independence
- Plays beside other children, but begins to include them – such as in chase games
Language skills:
- Points to things or pictures when they are named
- Says sentences with two to four words
- Follows simple instructions
Learning skills:
- Finds things even when they are hidden under two or three covers
- Completes sentences and rhymes in familiar books
- Follows 2-step instructions such as, “Pick up your shoes and put them in the closet.”
Physical and movement skills:
- Stands on tiptoe
- Kicks a ball
- Begins to run
3 Years
A 3-year-old begins showing these examples of developmental milestones. These examples were taken from a more complete list in the Center for Disease Control's "Learn the signs. Act early" campaign.
Social and emotional skills:
- Shows concern for crying friend
- Takes turns in games
- Understands the concepts like “mine”, “his”, “theirs”
Language skills:
- Can name most familiar things
- Talks well enough for strangers to understand most of the time
- Carries on the conversation using two to three sentences
Learning skills:
- Can work toys with buttons, levers, and moving parts
- Builds towers of more than six blocks
- Copies a circle with pencil or crayon
Physical and movement skills:
- Climbs well
- Pedals a tricycle
- Walks up and down stairs, one foot on each step