3 Year Old Milestones (Boys)

My son was 3 in Sept. He can ride a bike with training wheels by himself, count to 30 aloud, all of his colors, how to spell his name aloud, most shapes by sight, can drink out of reg. cup but is still a little clumsy so I insist on sippy, his vocab is very broad, and he is very sympathetic toward other's and their feelings. I love this age. I am on the fence about starting him in pre-k this fall though. He would only just be 4 and I know boys need more social time to develop. By-the-way, my 8 yr. old daughter teaches my little one sooo much too. I cannot take all credit :)

My son will be 4 in June. He has known the alphabet and been counting to 20 since he was 2 but has trouble sometimes recognizing numbers past 10. He counts objects very well. Knows all shapes and colors. Is very well-spoken and has a big vocabulary. Not really able to dress himself. Gets frustrated very easily. Can take off socks, pants but has trouble taking off his shirt. Can zipper just not able to connect the zipper (I still have trouble with this at 46 lol). Haven't really tried buttons because he always wears buttonless shirts and sweatpants. Can pedal a bike but has no interest. Never a fan of the ride on toy either. Always a runner. Can drink perfectly out of a cup but I still give him a cup with a lid and straw to avoid spills. He started nursery school this past fall and goes 5 mornings (2 1/2 hours). This has helped his social/emotional development.

my 3 yr old, knows all shapes and letters - by sight. He cannot pedal a bike- but probably only because he NEVER wants to go on the one we have for him, I'm sure otherwise he could. He doesn't totally dress himself. He can do his undies, socks and pants- but can undress himself. he can use snaps- not buttons. He can zip. He uses a regular cup, but one of his favorites has a lid, but it has a handle that's a straw, so he wants that one alot. He can feed himself, although i end up doing it alot for lack of patience. He does puzzles, can draw circles and put faces on them. We are working on drawing other shapes and begging to write letters too.

My son turned 3 in January. He was quick with the cup. This was nothing that I did, he seemed to just take to it. We got rid of bottles at 10 months old and he was using a sippy. Before 2 he was using a regular cup. He knows the shapes. He will sing ABCs and he recognizes most of the alphabet. He has always loved playing with foam letters in the bath and he would ask about certain letters and it just grew from this. He counts to 20 in English and to 10 in Spanish (he surprised me with this last week...I think he learned the Spanish at pre-school bc I did not teach him this). He recognizes numbers through 9 (for example, if you placed a 1 and 3 beside of each other he would say 1, 3 not thirteen). He will pedal his three wheeler all around the neighborhood (resembles the big wheel from when I was a kid) but does seem to have more difficulty pedalling with his upright bike (with training wheels). Its like he does not want to wait for the one pedal to come all the way to the top before he pushes it forward. He dresses himself with help. Occassionally he will put a shoe on the wrong foot or his shorts on backwards etc. I am not sure about buttons actually. He is really good at puzzles, likes to build with legos and put together train track (wood). He is also a great climber lol and pretty good at getting his basketball through the hoop :-) I don't push anything on him, I just try to work with whatever he is curious about at the time. Every one is different and has different interests.

My son is 3 1/2. He know numbers one through nine by sight and is getting better at counting objects, mostly if they are lined up pretty straight. He knows most of his capital letters but we have to work on lower case. He know his basic shapes (square, circle, triangle, etc.) and about 9 or so colors. My son has low muscle tone and SPD so pedaling a bike seems far off for him and dressing himself is a nightmare! He can unzip pretty well, but I havent even attempted buttons with him...He can drink out of a cup ok, but mostly we still give him a cup with a straw. He loves blowing bubbles LOL! He has gotten better at it than me! What does your 3 year old do?

Some 3-year-olds-do, most don't. You may be suffering from all the advertising about babies reading at 6 months and other totally stupid stuff like that. The GA Pre-k standards are developmentally absurd, so it's hard not to be worried if your child isn't reading by 4.

Children at 3 should be playing and being read to. Period. If they pick up other stuff on their own, cool beans. Don't push and don't stress. He'll be just fine. Let him play.

Every kid is different and there is a lot of variation at this age that is still considered within the realm of normal. I have a 3 year old daughter so I don't know if you are only looking for feedback from mothers of boys, but I can say that she's known her letters, numbers, shapes and colors since she was 2. She knows both upper and lower case letters. She is starting to try to read small words like "yes" and "no" as well as figure out what letter a word starts with based on the sound. She can count to 20 and she is trying to get beyond that. She can pedal a bike but sometimes needs some help getting started. She's not into dressing herself yet. She can drink from a regular cup but I still use ones with lids to prevent spills. She can draw different shapes and she just started being able to write the letters in her name (though not perfectly!). She will draw a picture of herself with several features (not just 2 or 3). She can paint and glue and put stickers on things and screw and unscrew lids.

One thing that I think as really helped has been having her in preschool this year twice a week but she picks up a lot at home. At her preschool they do periodic evaluations (fine motor skills, gross motor skills, counting, sorting, etc.) and let me know where she stands. That's how I know she is on target and where she should be, and where she might even be a little bit ahead of the game. But again, every kid is different and at this age, some are more advanced in certain areas and not as advanced in others, and another kid the same age may have strengths in opposite areas. If there is anything you have a concern about, you can discuss it with your pediatrician or see about getting your son evaluated.

My son just turned 2 in January. He can count to 14, and recognizes numbers 1-9. He can recognize almost all capital letters, but doesn't like to sing the ABC's. He can pull on his pants, but cannot button. He can use a zipper that has already been started. He knows 6 basic shapes, and can draw a circle. He is learning how to pedal his tricycle, but isn't able to do it well yet. He's been drinking out of a regular cup since 18 months. But in case of messes, he uses a cup with a lid around the house and we use regular cups at the table and with meals. He can jump, kick a ball straight, and say 3-4 word sentences. He can spell his name outloud: N I C K.

Every child develops at their own pace and in their own way. My son just developed early and is very smart for his age.

There is a huge variation still in what kids can do at this agem so try not to compare your son to others his age.

My son recognizes all letters and numbers, as well as basic shapes. He rides a tricycle and pedals it by himself. He dresses himself. He cannot do buttons. He can't start a zipper, but he can do a zipper that is already connected. He ususally uses a sippy cup so he can carry it around with him, but he does drink from a regular cup when he sits at the table for meals.

My son is 3 2/3 (smile!) and he could do none of these things until the last 2 months -- he doesn't pronounce words well and can barely button or bike, drinking from a regular cup is an exercise in courage for Mom and done only at the table with dinner supervision:) My daughter did all these things earlier, but my son seems to take warp-jumps with skills where she took walking pace.

Good luck loving this time with your boy -- I cannot believe how fast the years have gone with my two, and quite nostalgic at times...:)

Are you looking to compare to your own child? This is a great question! My son just turned 3 three weeks ago and he also just started school. He knows how to count to 20 and can recognize all the numbers 1-10. He can spell his name but not write any letters. He knows about 10 letters but gets a lot confused (like he says J for I). He can say the ABCs and knows a lot of songs. He knows all his colors and all his shapes. He has a speech delay at 2 but now he tests in the 55th percentil for combined expressive and receptive language. He is more advanced in his expressive. We just go thim a bike and he doesn't quite get pedaling yet. If you put the bottom together he can zip and of course unzip by himself. He can remove all his clothes except his shirt. He can put on his pants with supervision but I need to help him put anything else on. He is a great climber and jumper. He can not tumble, he only rolls. He has been drinking out of a cup with no lid by himself since he was 18 months old but he is advanced there. He has good fine moter skills and is good at puzzles and matching games. He was always a picky eater and recently has gotton worse. Sometimes I have to sit with him and either feed him or encourage him to eat. You know what else he is good at? Saying NO.