List of Skills by Age
1-2 Months
Stares at black and white patterns
2-4 Months
Examines more complicated patterns and colors
4-6 Months
6-8 Months
Listens to the adult while looking at pictures in a book
8-10 Months
Vocalizes while looking at pictures in a book, catalog, newspaper, greeting card, etc.
Exhibits turn-taking -listens then vocalizes during the adult’s pause
10-12 Months
Points to individual pictures when named by adult
Laughs at familiar pictures or adult’s sound effects
12-15 Months
Makes animal sounds when looking at animal pictures
Relates an object in a picture to something or someone in the real world
Names familiar objects in a book
15-18 Months
Shows familiarity with text by saying words associated with a picture
Chooses books for adult to read by recognizing the picture on cover
18-21 Months
Shows empathy for characters or situations depicted in books
Makes associations across books
21-24 Months
Relates pictures in stories to own experiences
Performs an action shown or mentioned in a book
Recites parts of well-known stories, rhymes, and songs
Identifies objects in pictures
24-27 Months
“Reads” to dolls, stuffed animals or self
Discusses characters and events in books in ways that show understanding of the story
27-30 Months
Recites text from a familiar, predictable book
Answers simple questions about the pictures in the book
Recognizes and identifies almost all common objects and pictures
30-33 Months
Asks questions about the story and characters in the book being read
Knows there are picture books, story books, and books about real things
33-36 Months
Recognizes some environmental text
Starts to memorize words, lines, or whole segments of a favorite book
36-42 Months
Recalls 1-2 elements from an unfamiliar story that was just read
Connects details, information, and events in a story to real-life experiences
Asks questions and makes comments to demonstrate understanding of literal meaning of story
42-48 Months
Recalls 3-4 elements of a story
Predicts what will happen next in an unknown story
48-54 Months
Responds to a variety of questions about a story that was previously read
54-60 Months
North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, 2015
©2015 by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/.