Preschoolers begin to develop more meaningful relationships between the ages of 3 and 5 by imitating and cooperating with playmates. Preschoolers will practice taking turns and solving social problems at ages 3 and 4, and are able to follow rules by the age of 5. Preschoolers begin to develop relationships, such as having a best friend and becoming independent of their parents at age 4 and may be affectionate with their friends even when they are 3 years old.
As a 3-year-old leaves toddlerhood behind, she begins to develop physical skills like walking up and down stairs and balancing on one foot for 5 to 10 seconds. As she grows, she will also learn to walk up and down stairs, pedal a tricycle and build towers using 9 or more blocks. Around age 4, your preschooler will be able to balance on one foot for 5 seconds, throw and kick a ball, dress herself and use scissors. At age 5, she will hop and somersault, start to ride a two wheel bicycle and learn to brush her own teeth and hair, along with other personal care tasks.
Watch your preschooler's imagination blossom she develops stories and games based on imaginary scenarios as she nears the age of 5. She will be able to identify colors and shapes by age 3 and draw shapes by age 5. Most 4-year-olds can print and identify some letters and numbers; by 5, they can count 10 or more objects correctly. Preschoolers around the age of 4 will also be able to draw a person made out of 2 to 4 parts and understand concepts like same and different and times of day while they may need another year to understand the concept of sequential time.
Preschool language development is one of the more noticeable skills between the ages of 3 and 5. Generally, children will have a vocabulary of 250 to 500 words by age 3. They will move from speaking in three- to four-word sentences to forming compound and complex sentences as they near the age of 5. Most 4-year-olds will speak clearly enough that people outside of their immediate family can understand them and will be able to answer questions and give personal information about themselves, like their name and address. Preschoolers also learn to use pronouns, prepositions and the future tense between the ages of 3 and 5.