At this age children are refining their visual motor skills. This is demonstrated by their ability to color within the lines, cut between lines and on a broad line, and cutting out simple outline pictures.
They are also developing visual sequencing and visual imagery skills. Visual sequencing skills include arranging a set of pictures to tell a story, and sequencing several items by a given characteristic (size, shape, or color).
Your child is demonstrating his or her visual imagery skills when drawing a figure or person as well as recognizable pictures of familiar objects and activities. By 4-5 years of age, your child should also be able to identify colors.
Other Milestones Include:
- Pieces together a four-to-five piece puzzle
- Adds two parts to incomplete picture of a man
- Matches coins
- Copies square
- Copies cross
- Forms a square with two right triangles
- Arranges three or more pictures to tell a story
- Colors within lines
Strategies
- Playgrounds provide great opportunities for eye-hand-body coordination
- Play simple memory games
- Provide opportunities to color, cut, and paste
- Draw an incomplete figure and have your child complete it
- Create patterns using colored blocks or toys and have your child continue the pattern
- Have child complete dot-to-dot pictures
- Provide outdoor play with ball games, bike/tricycle riding, and swinging
- Encourage interaction with other children
- Don’t forget to get your child’s eyes checked before he or she heads off to school. (If your child does need glasses, check out the section on Getting Your Child to Wear Glasses for some helpful strategies)