Skip to main content
Start main content

Heep Hong Society

Developmental Stages

To cater for the needs of parents of preterm infants between the ages of 0 and 6 years, we set up "Project PRETERM"  to increase public awareness of preterm birth and provide comprehensive support to their parents throughout the whole 0-6 year-old pre-school stage. Please click here for details: https://www.heephong.org/eng/support/corporate-partners-corporate-volunteering-service/project-preterm

 

0-1Year

Intellectual Development

  • Follow moving object with eye movement
  • Reach out and grasp musical or spinning objects
  • Look for objects that disappear from view
  • Turn his head to the direction of sound calling from behind
  • Put objects into and pour them out from a container
  • Reach out for toy that is far away from him (e.g. pull a toy car to himself with a rope)

Social & Emotional Development

  • Turn his face to or smile at approaching and familiar people
  • Reach for object, such as towel which covers an adult’s face
  • Smile when playing hide-and-seek
  • Turn his head to the direction of name calling

Language Development

  • Locate the source of sound
  • Respond to his name
  • Communicate with people by making sound deliberately

Gross Motor Development

  • Press his hands against the floor when being held by his pelvic bones by adult (6 months)
  • Maintain his balance for 30 seconds when sitting on the floor and can reach for toys with both hands (7-8 months)
  • Be down on his knees and hands, and reach for toys (9 months)
  • Stand alone for 5 seconds (9-12 months)
  • Stand up from sitting posture with support of furniture (10-12 months)

Fine Motor Development

  • Reach for objects spontaneously
  • Grasp objects with his palm
  • Poke objects with index fingers
  • Take objects out and put them into container

Life Skills Development

  • Suck milk from bottle
  • Put food on spoon into mouth with both lips
  • Drink from cup held by adult

Back to Top

1-2 years

Intellectual Development

  • Flip through picture books page by page
  • Explore interesting objects with hands (e.g. touching, patting, twisting)
  • Achieve goals with the aid of complex body movements
  • Understand the names of some objects
  • Point to not less than 3 important parts of body in response to naming
  • Put two pegs into holes
  • Solve problems by trial and error

Social and Emotional Development

  • Imitate motions or behaviors of others
  • Look at the direction pointed by adults
  • Greet people or share food if prompted by adults
  • Respond to simple situational commands, e.g. ‘give me’, ‘sit down’, ‘get the toy for me’
  • Play with others in an interactive way, e.g. pushing ball

Language Development

  • Say single words, mainly objects, people and actions
  • Understand the names of objects
  • Understand situational commands
  • Understand collocations

Gross Motor Development

  • Climb up and down stairs by himself
  • Bend and pick up objects from the floor
  • Squat for 30 seconds
  • Walk steadily

Fine Motor Development

  • Put small objects into containers with his thumb and index finger
  • Build a tower of 2 bricks
  • Scribble with crayons
  • Tear objects apart with two hands
  • Put one circular cup into another circular cup

Life Skills Development

  • Put food into his mouth with fingers
  • Suck up liquid through a straw
  • Chew solid food
  • Use gestures or speech to show his toilet needs
  • Pull down his trousers with both hands

Back to Top

2-3 years

Intellectual Development

  • Point out learnt picture by the name (e.g. orange, grape, bus, doll)
  • Match 4 colors (e.g. red, yellow, blue, green)
  • Match 3 basic shapes
  • Line up 3 blocks horizontally by imitation
  • Count from 1 to 3
  • Tell the names of objects (e.g. flowers, the sun, ships)
     

Social and Emotional Development

  • Do simple housework in response to adults’ instruction
  • Enjoy role play or hide-and-seek
  • Answer questions like ‘what’s your name?’, ‘how old are you?’
  • Identify community facilities, such as McDonald’s, MTR stations

Language Development

  • Use adjectives, such as big/small, dirty/clean
  • Understand commands made up of two components, e.g. place the apple here
  • Understand simple questions, such as what is it?
  • Say 2-3 words phrases, e.g. mum cut apples

Gross Motor Development

  • Jump forward by 4 inches without losing his balance
  • Jump over a rope which is 2-inch high
  • Jump from a platform which is 4-inch high
  • Move on a balance beam which is 6 inches in width by putting one foot in front of the other foot
  • Walk up one stair every two steps by himself

Fine Motor Development

  • Build a tower of 7 bricks
  • Thread 2 beads of 1.5 cm in diameter
  • Turn the pages of book one at a time
  • Hold crayon with first three fingers and draw circles by imitation

Life Skills Development

  • Pick up food with spoon from a bowl and eat
  • Drink from a cup alone without spilling it
  • Sit on the potty to empty his bladder or bowel
  • Undress simple clothing, e.g. socks, shoes, trousers, jackets

Back to Top

3-4 years

Intellectual Development

  • Distinguish between boys and girls
  • Identify simple shapes, e.g. rectangle, square or circle
  • Identify common colors, e.g. red, yellow, green or blue
  • Count from 1 to 10
  • Achieve goals by means, e.g. cut oranges with knife
  • Know what is ‘up’ and what is ‘down’

Social and Emotional Development

  • Follow instructions, e.g. give mum the blocks
  • Say “Thank You” to others properly
  • Understand why others are angry or happy, e.g. his little brother is crying because his has lost his car
  • Answer questions about his family, e.g. ‘where do you live?’
     

Language Development

  • Say phrases composed of 3 or more words, e.g. ‘Dad goes to work by bus’
  • Use conjunctions, e.g. ‘after that’
  • Ask different questions
  • Understand collective nouns, e.g. ‘stationery’, ‘fruit’
  • Understand commands composed of 3 components, e.g. ‘The dog wants a soft drink and vegetables’

Gross Motor Development

  • Stride over 1 foot
  • Run toward and kick a static ball for 5 feet
  • Throw a tennis ball for 3 feet
  • Walk for 10 feet while holding a tray by both hands without knocking down the cup on the tray

Fine Motor Development

  • Cut a strip of paper that is 5 cm in width with a pair of scissors
  • Draw a triangle by imitation
  • Draw lines within the boundary of 1 cm
  • Fasten big buttons with coordinated hand movements.

Life Skills Development

  • Feed self with spoon neatly
  • Flush the toilet after use
  • Dress and undress simple clothing, e.g. socks, shoes
  • Turn on and off water tap

Back to Top

4-5 years

Intellectual Development

  • Understand the meaning of “in front of”, “behind” or “near”
  • Fill the missing numbers in 1-20
  • Identify common shapes, e.g. circle, square, triangle, star-shape, rectangle, heart-shape
  • Name the kind of colors up to 9

Social and emotional development

  • Rely simple messages, e.g. ‘tell mum to bring a towel container next time’
  • Take part in role-playing games
  • Engage in group games that require turns taking

Language Development

  • Understand why things happen in daily life, e.g. why people have to drink water?
  • Enjoy jokes and riddles
  • Understand and recount simple stories
  • Engage in telephone conversation

Gross Motor Development

  • Stand on 1 foot for 5 seconds without losing his balance
  • Stride and jump forward for 2 feet
  • Jump with two feet over a fence with a height up to his knees
  • Catch an 8-inches plastic ball thrown from 6 feet away with both hands
  • Throw a tennis ball, which hits the wall 5 feet away after hitting the floor once

Fine Motor Development

  • Draw simple pictures by imitation, e.g. ‘+’, ‘X’
  • Cut with a pair of scissors along a straight line for 8 cm
  • Thread a rope with one hand through a pegboard panel held by another hand

Life Skills Development

  • Shove food into his mouth with chopsticks
  • Put on and take off T-shirts, underwear and other causal clothes
  • Twist a towel roughly and wipe his face
  • Brush his teeth and wash his mouth with clean water

Back to Top

5-6 years

Intellectual Development

  • Draw simple pictures of people or animals, and tell the names of those pictures
  • Do addition and subtraction of numbers up to 5 by counting fingers
  • Tell his birthday
  • Grouping objects of the same nature, e.g. fruit, animal, clothing

Social and Emotional Development

  • Remain silent during learning activity on request by adult
  • Leave classroom only with consent of teacher
  • Finish task independently without close monitoring from adult

Language Development

  • Comprehend the speech of adult
  • Speak fluently with adult’s sentence structure
  • Use reasoning to figure out why things happen, e.g. ‘why did he walk so fast?’
  • Reason with the aid of language

Gross Motor Development

  • Stand on one leg and maintain balance for 10 seconds
  • Throw a tennis ball against the floor with one hand and use the same hand to catch the ball
  • Hop on one foot for 8 consecutive times (for both feet)
  • Hit a balloon upwards with alternate hands for 4 times
  • Hit a basketball with one single hand for 3 consecutive times

Fine Motor Development

  • Cut shapes out with scissors
  • Write words (such as flower, dog) within a square with sides of 2 cm in length.
  • Draw straight line of 10 cm in length with a ruler

Life Skills Development

  • Clean himself with toilet paper after emptying his bowels
  • Distinguish inside and outside, front and back, left and right sides of clothing
  • Take a bath and apply cream to his body on his own
  • Make the bed roughly

Back to Top