Gross motor development in early & middle childhood

Keeping an eye on your preemies development can help you determine when a little help might be necessary

It’s amazing how quickly babies grow and develop! The tables below highlight some important milestones. Although these tables give an average age at which milestones are achieved it is important to realize that even babies born at term achieve these milestones at varying ages. For preemies, you should always correct for their prematurity.

Gross Motor Development in Early and Middle Childhood

Gross motor development refers to the major actions and muscles that help infants move around in the environment, such as crawling, standing, and walking. Have a look at the following information for typical development of these skills. You should talk to your pediatrician if you have any concerns about your preemie's development.

Age	Gross Motor Skills
2 – 3 years	Walks with better rhythm: hurried walk changes to run Jumps, hops, throws, and catches with stiff upper body Pushes riding toys with their feet; not much steering of toys
3 – 4 years	Walks up stairs, alternating feet, and down stairs, leading with one foot Jumps and hops, flexing their upper body Throws and catches with some movement of upper body; still catches by trapping ball against their chest Pedals and steers tricycle
4 – 5 years	Walks downstairs by alternating feet Runs more smoothly Gallops and skips with one foot Throws ball with increased body rotation and transfer of weight on feet; catches ball with hands Rides tricycle rapidly, steers smoothly
5 – 6 years	Increases running speed to 12 feet per second Gallops more smoothly; engages in true skipping and sideways stepping Displays mature, whole-body throwing and catching pattern; increases throwing speed >Rides bicycle with training wheels
7 -12 years	Increases running speed to more than 18 feet per second >Displays continuous, smooth skipping and sideways stepping Increases vertical jump from 10 to 30 centimetres (4 to 12 inches) and broad jump from 1 to over 1.5 metres (3 to over 5 feet) Accurately jumps and hops from square to square Increases throwing and kicking accuracy, distance, and speed Involves whole body in batting a ball; batting increases in speed and accuracy Dribbling a ball changes from awkward slapping of the ball to more continuous, relaxed, and even stroking

These milestones represent overall age trends. There are individual differences in the exact age at which each milestone is attained.(Allen & Alexander, 1990; Berk, 2008; Bruininks & Bruininks, 1977; Cratty, Cratty, & Cornell, 1986; Platzer, 1976) http://pathwaysawareness.org/milestones

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