5 Main Areas of Child Development

What is child development? As children get older, they develop in various different ways which cover physical, intellectual, social and emotional changes. It's the process that every child goes through and includes everything from physical skills such as sitting and standing, to social and emotional skills such as smiling or forming relationships with others.

How your child behaves, thinks, moves, and speaks are big clues about his development. Every child progresses at their own pace but there are certain skills they should each by a certain age, and these are known as developmental milestones.

The early years are the most important time to start building a strong foundation for your children as they strive to reach their developmental milestones. Once your baby is born, every day will bring on wonderful changes as she grows physically and mentally Children grow and develop so quickly in the first five years of their lives that it’s important to track where they're at developmentally. (Download our free key developmental milestones checklists today to help track your child's progress).

These milestones or skills are built across the main areas of child development which are:

1. cognitive development,
2. social and emotional development,
3. speech and language development,
4. fine motor skill development, and
5. gross motor skill development. 

Click on each of the links above for more information on each of the areas of child development. 

Play is an important way for a child to develop mentally, emotionally, and physically. Check out our blog post on the Value of Learning Through Play to see how play-based learning can enhance your child's growth and development.