List of Skills by Age
1-2 Months
Stares longer at familiar faces than objects
2-4 Months
Shows physical excitement at familiar faces and events (feeding, diapering)
4-6 Months
Remembers how to activate familiar toys
6-8 Months
Recognizes people and objects based on sensory characteristics (favored blanket, toy, food)
8-10 Months
Remembers simple games (peek-a-boo, patty cake) and actions to apply to a toy or object
10-12 Months
Remembers a strategy that worked on one object and tries it on another
Remembers label for an object without the object being present
12-15 Months
Performs deferred imitation of actions of others (adults, siblings, peers)
15-18 Months
Recognizes and identifies familiar places and pictures of objects and people by pointing
18-21 Months
Attempts to tell about remembered experiences using words, jargon, and gestures
Remembers action sequences with objects
21-24 Months
Demonstrates long-term memory for experiences up to six months previous
24-27 Months
Recognizes familiar signs, books
27-30 Months
Fills in missing words in familiar books, songs, rhymes, etc.
30-33 Months
Remembers visual landmarks and anticipates the intended destination
33-36 Months
Remembers finger plays and acts out sequences in dramatic play
Remembers events up to 18 months in the past
36-42 Months
Dramatizes favorite stories and events
Remembers one of several objects shown and then hidden
42-48 Months
Recalls 1-2 characters and events in a story that was recently read
Describes familiar objects without seeing them
48-54 Months
Determines what is missing from pictures, puzzles, and toys
Recalls 3-4 elements of a story without prompts
54-60 Months
Gives detailed descriptions of past events, stories, movies, etc.
 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/.