Cognitive Milestones

quiet when picked up

0-1 month

responds to voice

0-1 month

consoles self by sucking

0-1 month

searches with eyes for sound

2-3 months

shows active interest in people

2-3 months

inspects and plays with hands

2-3 months

looks for hidden voices

4-5 months

plays for 2-3 mins with one toy

4-5 months

find partially hidden object

4-5 months

works to obtain out of reach object

4-5 months

looks for family members when named

6-7 months

shakes toy to hear sound

6-7 months

plays peek-a-boo

6-7 months

plays with paper

6-7 months

imitates simple gestures

6-7 months

responds to simple verbal requests (“come here”)

8-9 months

throws and drops objects

8-9 months

looks at pictures when named

9-12 months

enjoys looking at pictures in books

9-12 months

stacks and unstacks rings

9-12 months

guides action toy manually

9-12 months

understands and follows simple commands

13-18 months

plays with others

13-18 months

points to 3 body parts

13-18 months

experiments with toy figuring out new ways to play

19-24 months

finds hidden objects through invisible displacement (after seeing it placed somewhere else out of sight such as being placed under a blanket)

19-24 months

shows deferred imitation (copying others behaviors later on)

19-24 months

activates toy or doll in pretend play

19-24 months

shows ability to substitute objects in pretend play

24-36 months

matches objects

24-36 months

responds to 2 or 3 commands

24-36 months

sings songs

24-36 months

tells simple story

3-3.5 y/o

counts in words up to the number 5

3-3.5 y/o

tells action in pictures

3-3.5 y/o

puts together puzzle

3-3.5 y/o

follows 3 step unrelated command

3-3.5 y/o

still cannot easily distinguish reality from fantasy

3.5-4 y/o

can count 5 objects

3.5-4 y/o

makes one row of objects equal to another row by matching

4-4.5 y/o

gives age

4-4.5 y/o

makes opposite analogies (basically identify opposites like rough vs smooth)

4-4.5 y/o

matches and names 4 colors

4-4.5 y/o

count to 15

4.5-5 y/o

better able to distinguish reality from fantasy

4.5-5 y/o

appreciate past, present, future

5-6 y/o

creates classes of objects based on single defining attribute

5-6 y/o

counts to 20

5-6 y/o

learns to read

7 y/o

basic math (+, -)

7 y/o

conservation of mass and length (knowing longer does not equal heavier)

7 y/o

conservation of area (amount of space taken up by object is same regardless of changing appearance)

8 y/o

conservation of weight (weight remains same even if appearance changes)

9 y/o

conservation of volume

11 y/o

learns to write print

11-12 y/o

enjoys table games

11-12 y/o

thinks more abstractly then before but this type of thinking is still not yet developed until the next stage

11-12 y/o

increased attention span

11-12 y/o

intellectually curious

11-12 y/o

reads greater variety (like nonfiction)

11-12 y/o

may demonstrate formal operational thinking

13 y/o

continues to gain metacognitive abilities and improve study skills

14 y/o

can think in terms of abstract principles and may demonstrate dogmatism or skepticism

15 y/o

can argue either side in a debate showing a growing interest in philosophical probs

16 y/o

sensorimotor

0-18 months or 0-2 years (knowing by sensing and acting)

preoperational

2-7 y/o (concept formation, linked with language and symbolic reasoning)

concrete operational

7-11 y/o (logical operations on concrete objects/events)

formal operational

12+ y/o (abstracts, hypotheticals, and analogous reasoning)