What is typical childhood development?

Physical skills development:

Early in this age range, 6- and 7-year-old children continue to build upon the foundation skills they acquired during their preschool years. Physically, they continue to build their balance and independence using bicycles and skateboards, while also becoming more adept when throwing, catching, kicking, jumping rope, and playing hopscotch. Kids this age are often seen running, jumping, and climbing, and as they get older, they do these things faster and more effectively, although they may still be prone to bumps and scrapes along the way. Some children may enjoy playing team sports. As they approach 10 to 12 years of age, they come to understand the different roles that team members may play, they participate more in house chores, and they may begin to focus on or practice one or more sports to play more effectively.  They need around 10 hours of sleep daily.

Language skills development:

By 6 to 7 years of age, children should be able to use language to effectively communicate their wants and needs. They want to share what they are thinking. Their spoken vocabularies are growing rapidly. As they experiment with new words, it is not uncommon for them to misuse words or speak the occasional nonsensical sentence. However, the majority of what they say should be clear. Eight- and 9-year-old children should be able to engage in basic to-and-fro conversations, such that they respond to statements that are not questions and build on what is being said to them. As children progress through to the end of childhood, their sentences should gradually become longer and more complex, they should be able to tell detailed stories (i.e., with beginnings, middles, and endings), and they should be able to engage in more complex conversations and discussions. At this stage, their reasoning is logical, based on real things, but they still cannot understand or think about complex abstract ideas.

Learning skills development:

Following the preschool years, children must make the important transition from learning how to be in school to learning how to learn in school. Academic progress becomes essential to the development of self-esteem. Six and 7-year-old children spend a considerable amount of time learning to read. They start by reading familiar stories while using pictures to help them with unfamiliar words as they learn to “sound out” words they do not yet know. Eight-and 9-year-olds, with expanded sight-word vocabularies, begin reading longer books, memorize more, understand the organization of paragraphs, and start to read for meaning. And through the next years of childhood, they learn to understand different types of reading materials, including fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and articles.

Building on their preschool writing, 6- and 7-year-old children build their early spelling skills, as well as learn about capitalization and punctuation. Their sentences gradually increase in length, and in the next years of childhood they are expected to begin writing paragraphs and eventually put several paragraphs together to express their thoughts more thoroughly.

Mathematically, children emerge from the preschool years having a sense of numbers and counting. At 6 and 7 years of age, they begin to count greater numbers, understand number concepts (e.g., telling time), and begin using addition and subtraction. In the following years, 8- and 9-year-olds begin counting backwards, learn about multiplication, division, and fractions, and older children begin to approach more advanced mathematical concepts, including geometry and algebra.

Social skills development:

Children at 6 and 7 years of age may play alone, but they are also making friends, so playing together and being around preferred social groups becomes increasingly important. They know how to share and cooperate. Still, despite these positive attributes, it is not uncommon for children to be jealous or mean to each other. That is part of the process of shaping their own identity and not a truly discriminatory attitude towards their peers. Eight- and 9-year-olds start to mix friend groups and may start to have an interest in opposite-gender relationships and may start to realize their sexual orientation. As children grow to the end of their childhood and approach adolescence, they tend to maintain close and appreciative relationships with their caregivers, although expressing their affection mostly when in private settings, while friends play increasingly more important roles in their lives. This is also a critical time, when children develop an internal sense of what's right or wrong.

Emotional skills development:

Children at 6 and 7 become increasingly more aware of others' needs and feelings. They may experience shifts in mood without an apparent reason, especially when under stress. They tend to start expressing more worries about serious things, such as wars, illness, natural disasters, and money. At this age range, children usually work hard to control their temper, thoughts, and body. Around 8 and 9, children are able to understand and interpret others' emotions, since their ability to take the perspective of others improves. They tend to be able to regulate their own emotions and go through more intense emotional experiences, as well as to better communicate and express their feelings. At 10 and 11, children increasingly demonstrate self-confidence, use thinking to themselves to regulate emotions, and present with a growing sense of who they are that is based on an evaluation they do about themselves. Around 12 years old, children may challenge or question rules, be a little more difficult to read, and may not verbally share their emotions with family but rather try to work through strong feelings by themselves. 

Where can I find more information if I have concerns about my child’s development?

Development is not the same for every child, and some children move faster than others. A delay in one developmental area is not always a cause for concern.

However, if you are concerned about your child, additional information can be found at "I worry about my child, but how do I know what is going on?"

You can also find more information by pointing your phone camera at the QR code below or by clicking here.