Around 4 years (48 to 60 months)

Fine Movements

• Makes shapes and representations of objects out of playdough and clay.
• Confidently uses media such as crayons, textas or paint ... .
• Makes patterns and own representations of people and things.
• Can brush teeth, with help.
• Can reproduce some shapes and letters, for example on paper, using crayon, paint, texta ... .
• Is developing accurate hammering of nails or pegs.
• Can thread pasta and wooden bead on a shoelace to make a necklace.
• Can draw a person with a head and some indication of one or two other features or parts.
• Enjoys building houses, towers or bridges with blocks and construction materials

Large Movements

• Can kick a large stationary ball in a stipulated direction.
• Can drop-bounce and catch a small ball, using both hands.
• Confidently climbs ladders, playground equipment, steps.
• C an walk along a line, alternating feet, placing one in front of the other.
• Can run on toes, stopping and starting, or swerving, to avoid objects in path.
• Moves rhythmically to music.
• Can cross legs when sitting on the floor.
• Can balance for a short time on either leg.
• Can catch and bounce a ball, and throw it overhand.
• Can hop forward for about a metre, usually on the dominate foot,
• Walks or runs up and down stairs, using alternate feet.
• Jumps over objects, to about 10 cm high.
• Enjoys see-saw, swings, rolling, spinning ... .
• Enjoys large muscle challenges, for example riding tricycles and scooting toys, digging in the sandpit ... .

Personal, Social and Emotional Development

• Separates more easily from familiar adult.
• During exploits and activities seeks and enjoys attention and approval.
• Knows and can tell own name and age.
• Likes to do things for self, and is confident in familiar situations.
• Enjoys playing with other children, and usually plays cooperatively.
• Helps clean up when asked.
• Often perceives unfairness and feels intense anger and frustration.
• Usually expresses anger vocally rather than physically.
• Takes turns and shares more often, through tends to be bossy.
• Understands and obeys the rules of simple games such as tag or hide and seek, but often changes the rules to suit self as the game progresses.
• Likes to shock by using 'rude' words.
• Has a well developed sense of the ridiculous and enjoys telling 'jokes' that don't make sense to adults.
• Enjoys dramatic and role play.
• Establishes close friendships with playmates; often has best friends.
• Can toilet self without help and may begin to insist on privacy.

Listen, Speaking and Understanding

• Can tell own name and age and sometimes telephone number.
• Has a large vocabulary and is generally grammatically correct and intelligible to adults.
• Constantly asks 'Why?', 'When?", 'How'? and can answer 'Who?', 'Whose?', 'Why?', and 'How many?'.
• Enjoys jokes, visual and verbal nonsense, 'banana skin' and 'rude-word' humour.
• Can repeat or sing several songs and nursery rhymes.
• Can name colours and some shapes and match them accurately.
• Can count by rote and is beginning to count and touch a corresponding object correctly.
• Can follow more complex instructions, for example, 'Get your coat and put it on the peg, then come to me'.
• Can recount a recent experience, but sometimes confuses fact and fantasy.
• Can listen to and tell long stories.
• Understands the sequence of daily events and has some sense of past and present, as in 'yesterday', 'tomorrow', 'the olden days'.
• Is beginning to match speech to situations, for example, baby talk for younger siblings, 'proper talk' for teachers, 'playground talk' with friends.
• Can understand questions such as 'What do you think will happen next?' 'What will happen if?', and predict possible outcomes.
• Uses and shows understanding of positional words, for example, 'behind', 'beside', 'next to', 'in front of', 'under', 'over'.
• Can recognise own first name in print and tries to write or copy it.

Seek advice if a child

• Does not speak intelligibly enough to be understood by strangers.
• Does not seem interested or involved in surroundings and immediate activities.
• Is particularly uncoordinated, has lots of accidents, and often trips over and bumps into things.
• Does not appear to understand when others speak, even though hearing is normal.
• Moves quickly from activity to activity without completing them, and has a short attention span.
• Consistently withdraws from people, not seeking or accepting affection or touching.
• Is aggressive and often deliberately hurts others, showing no remorse.

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