3 - 4 Years of Age

• Following 2 part instructions (e.g. Go to your room and get your shoes).
• Following 3 part instructions (e.g. Point to the cat, the dog and the monkey).
• Pointing to main body parts, clothing items, toys and food when asked.
• Understanding longer, more complex sentences.
• Understanding What, Where and Who questions.
• Comprehending position concepts: on; off; in; out; up; down; under; top; open; shut; bottom; behind; first; near.
• Comprehending size concepts: big; small/little; long; short (length) – emerging; short (height).
• Comprehending quantity concepts: 1-3; every; none.
• Comprehending concepts: stop; go/start; loud; quiet; heavy; soft; fast; hot; cold; hard; slow; light (weight); many colours.
• Asking What, Where, Why, When & How questions.
• Using a minimum of 3-4 words in a sentence.
• Telling you what they are doing.
• Telling you the function or use of an object.
• Using nearly 1500 words in their vocabulary by 4 years.
• Using regular plurals (e.g. 1 dog, 2 dogs).
• Using articles ‘a’ and ‘the’.
• Using progressive –ing (e.g. The boy is jumping).
• Using pronouns you, I, me, mine, he, she. Using regular past tense (e.g. I climbed).
• Using possessive’s (e.g. Daddy’s car).
• Using auxiliary ‘is’ (e.g. The girl is skipping).
• Using connector ‘and’ (e.g. I want a banana and an apple).
• Using 3rd person singular (e.g. He wants the ball; The rabbit eats grass).
• Using contracted negative (e.g. isn’t, doesn’t, haven’t, shouldn’t).
• Using contracted copula (e.g. He’s happy).
• Using past participle (e.g. It’s broken).

4 - 5 Years of Age

• Following 3 part instructions (e.g. Point to the cat, the dog and the monkey).
• Understanding longer, more complex sentences.
• Understanding questions.
• Following the meaning of others’ conversations.
• Understanding What, Where, Who and How questions.
• Comprehending position concepts: bottom; behind; first; near; middle; around; away from; between; through; next to/beside; last by mid-late 4 years.
• Comprehending size concepts: short (length); short (height); tall; fat by mid-late 4 years.
• Comprehending quantity concepts: 4; most; few by mid-late 4 years.
• Comprehending position concepts: in front; in a line; corner; middle by late 4-5 years.
• Comprehending size concept thin by late 4-5 years.
• Comprehending quantity concepts 5 and pair by late 4-5 years.
• Comprehending concepts: same; different (size); different (function) by late 4-5 years.
• Asking Why, When and How questions.
• Asking the meanings of words.
• Using a minimum of 4-5 words in a sentence.
• Understanding color words (e.g. red, green).
• Understanding shape words (e.g. square, triangle).
• Sorting objects into simple categories (e.g. animals, food).
• Talking about past and future events.
• Using auxiliary ‘is’ (e.g. The girl is skipping).
• Using pronouns he; she; his; hers; theirs.
• Using connectors ‘and’ (e.g. I want a banana and an apple) and ‘because‘ (e.g. The boy was crying because he fell over and hurt his knee).
• Using 3rd person singular (e.g. He wants the ball; It eats grass).
• Using contracted negative (e.g. isn’t, doesn’t, haven’t, shouldn’t).
• Using contracted copula (e.g. He’s happy).
• Using past participle (e.g. It’s broken).
• Using comparative –er and superlative -est (e.g. big, bigger, biggest).
• Using ‘is‘ vs ‘are‘ (e.g. The monkey is eating a banana vs The monkeys are eating the bananas).
• Using past tense ‘to be’ (e.g. I was running; They were running).
• Using adverb –ly (e.g. quickly, slowly, quietly).
• Using irregular plurals (e.g. mice, children, men).