North Carolina Early Learning and Development Progressions: Birth to Five

Domain: NC Foundations for Early Learning: Cognitive Development (CD)

Subdomain: Scientific Exploration and Knowledge

Goal: Children observe and describe characteristics of living things and the physical world

Skill Progression: Observe and describe characteristics of living things and the physical world

Age: 18-21 Months

You may choose a different domain, go back, or click on a skill below for more information.

Locates objects that are alike (rocks, flowers) and makes collections of objects that are alike in some way (leaves, grass, flowers)

Situations for Observation of Skill

Observe the child in the back yard or a park. Take a basket or box containing three plastic or paper bowls to gather materials from nature.

Elicitation Strategy

Tell the child she gets to collect items from nature. Let her find items she wants (safe and acceptable) and decide where to put them in her basket.

Behavior Observed

The child will group most of the items that are alike together.

Routines-based Intervention (Embedded Instruction)

Help parents understand that collecting items is one way a child learns about the world. The parent can set up little boxes or containers for the child to keep her treasures.

 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/.