Developmental Milestones for your Kindergarten Child
Lotus & Ivy Kindergarten Teacher, Ms. Smith, shares her expertise from over 17 years in the Waldorf Kindergarten.
It is important for parents to observe the developmental milestones of their children in early childhood. Children have incredibly malleable brains during early childhood. Waiting until a challenge is identified in grade school often means habits have become ingrained and are much more challenging to transform.
Below is a list of developmental milestones for kindergarten. It is best not to present this as a test for your child. Instead, spend some time having fun with your child while observing these skills. Try not to call attention to their actions as you watch their movements. It may take you multiple days to complete your observations. Remember, this is only a snapshot of your child’s developmental skills AT THIS MOMENT IN TIME. I implore you not to fret if your child cannot complete this list successfully yet.
By the time your child enters Grade 1, most of the skills on this list should be met, but in the meantime, having an idea of what they can/cannot do offers you a plan for additional activities that can support their development as they mature. In the Lotus & Ivy Kindergarten class, we incorporate activities throughout the year to prepare the child for meeting these critical milestones. For more about the Lotus & Ivy Kindergarten class, please visit: Kindergarten Class — Lotus & Ivy (lotusandivy.com)
Developmental Milestones for the Kindergarten Child:
Skip (How many skips? Does your child use alternating feet or gallop with only one forward-moving foot?)
Balance on one foot while standing still (Which foot for how many seconds, 3 of 5 times?)
Hop on one foot (How many hops, which foot 3 of 5 times?)
Kick a ball (Which foot in 7 of 10 kicks? Aim the ball toward different sides each time.)
When climbing/descending stairs, which foot automatically takes the first step?
Crawl (Are arms and legs alternating, or does your child crawl with the arm/leg on the same side?)
Ride a bike (With training wheels or without?)
Jump rope (How many jumps? Are feet together or landing at different times?)
Cross the monkey bars (How many bars?)
Ties a knot
Ties shoelaces into a bow
Zips a coat (including engaging the zipper initially)
Buttons a shirt with multiple buttons
Coloring/drawing (Which hand is used?)
Which hand is used with a fork/spoon?
Cut a paper shape with scissors (Which hand is used?)
Which ear does your child use when talking on the phone? (Please observe this multiple times, but not in a single setting. Instead, try handing the phone to different hands each time.)
Which eye does your child use when looking through a kaleidoscope or a peephole? (Please observe this multiple times, but not in a single setting. Try handing the kaleidoscope to different hands each time.)
What is your child’s Dominance? Hand R/L Foot R/L Eye R/L Ear R/L
Parents should familiarize themselves with midline crossing to help their children meet their developmental milestones.
“Midline Crossing” may be a new term for some parents. Still, it is vital to weave crossing movement into your child’s daily routine to support brain development, balance, and coordination, essential for future academics. For example, perhaps you could try to include midline crossing when you are doing circle, beanbag play, game movement, and even fingerplay activities by including movements through the various planes of space: left/right, forward/backward, up/down.
If you notice during this observation that your child is struggling to cross the midline, I encourage you to identify ways to support your child’s development now. Here is more information about midline crossing that I have compiled from many online sources.
Importance of Midline Crossing
“Crossing the midline activities develops a child’s gross motor skills such as coordination and balance. Gross motor development is also essential to maintain a child’s development with their peers. A child’s poor gross motor skills can also negatively impact their attention and working memory. For example, the child can be too preoccupied coordinating themselves to retain the information they need in their working memory. Attention and working memory are necessary for completing the more complex activities of daily living, such as dressing or writing (e.g., knowing the sequences of dressing themselves or having enough attention to complete a writing task). Therefore, therapists incorporate crossing the midline activities to address numerous avenues of up-skilling and learning for the children.”
“When children are not able to easily cross the midline, learning to write becomes a struggle (especially if your child exhibits ambidextrous writing tendencies). Struggle happens because they now have two less skilled hands rather than one stronger, dominant hand. Difficulty crossing the midline can also impact reading, writing, and language. When children have difficulty visually tracking moving objects from one side to the other, it delays their reading ability. Being able to track left to right is a critical skill when reading.”
Necessary building blocks for crossing the midline:
Bilateral integration—This is using both sides of the body at the same time.
Core strength—The muscles of the trunk are needed to stabilize your child’s body so that they can use their arms and legs with control.
Trunk rotation—This allows for fluid body movement without the need to continually reposition the body to accomplish a seated task.
Hand dominance—This allows advanced movement across the midline for tasks such as writing.
Planning and sequencing—This is the ability to complete multi-step skills.
Body awareness/sensation—Information from the body’s joints and muscles tells the brain about the body’s position.
If your child has problems crossing the midline, you might see:
Swapping hands when doing activities, e.g., drawing/painting, etc.
Delayed hand dominance – Using their left hand for activities on the left and right hand for activities on the right, with no crossing over.
Rotating their body rather than reaching across the imaginary midline.
Having difficulty visually tracking an object – i.e., following text when reading.
Having difficulty with complex gross motor skills –jumping jacks, skipping.
Having difficulty learning to tie shoelaces.
What you can do to help your child to cross the midline:
Encourage your child to use their two-handed skills, ex. dressing, catching a ball, threading beads, riding a bike.
Help your child strengthen their core – ex. playing “row, row, row your boat”; doing yoga; riding a balance bike; swimming; crossing the monkey bars.
Integrate crossing the midline while doing daily activities—ex. dressing, bathing, sweeping, raking, dusting, wiping tables, etc.
Some activities that you can do with your child to help cross the midline:
Craft activities – threading beads, painting, drawing, molding with play dough, finger knitting
Finger puppets – taking puppets on/off using the other hand
Playing with stickers—taking stickers off body parts on the right side using the left hand and taking stickers off body parts on the left side using the right hand.
Playing musical instruments
Marching games/yoga
Playing Twister and Simon Says using specific hands and feet
Crossing one foot over the other while walking sideways (dancing the Grape Vine)
Touching elbows to opposite knees (when standing, this activity helps with balance as well as midline crossing)
Hand clapping games – Patty Cake, Sailor Went to Sea/Sea/Sea, Miss Mary Mack
Passing bean bags or balls from hand to hand
Popping bubbles on opposite of body
Placing utensils on the opposite side of the plate/bowl, so they have to reach over to use them
Placing shoes on the floor on the wrong side of your child’s body, so when sitting, they have to reach over to pick up the shoes.
Scooping toys from the floor on one side of the body and putting them into a bucket on the opposite side of the body.
Playing balloon tennis while holding onto the racquet with both hands
Clipping clothespins to your child’s shirt (especially the sleeves) and having your child remove them.
When to get help:
If your child has difficulty with age-appropriate skills, i.e., buttoning buttons, threading beads, using scissors.
If your child has not developed dominance by 3-4 years of age.
If your child swaps hands when writing/drawing, i.e., cannot cross their hand over the midline to draw/write on the far most left/right side of the paper.
If your child has difficulty visually tracking objects across the midline.
If your child has difficulty with two-handed gross motor skills, ex. hitting a baseball and other ball skills.
Helpful articles to learn more about midlines:
https://therapiesforkids.com.au/importance-of-crossing-the-midline/
https://www.abcpediatrictherapy.com/the-importance-of-crossing-midline-in-children/
https://www.readingllcenter.com/why-is-crossing-midline-so-important/
Karen Smith, Lotus & Ivy Kindergarten Class Teacher
In 1999, Karen was smitten with Waldorf education the moment she walked into her four-year-old daughter's pre-school kindergarten class at The Waldorf School of Atlanta. The following year, Karen joined the WSA faculty as kindergarten assistant, and in 2001 she stepped forward to become a lead teacher in the kindergarten. She earned her Waldorf Early Childhood Teaching Certificate at Sunbridge College in New York, and she spent almost 17 years in the classroom guiding, laughing, and singing with her treasured students. She believes Waldorf education is able to meet the ever-changing needs of young children by honoring the unique gifts of each student.
Karen was born to older parents who took an early retirement just after her birth. With a 16-foot travel trailer hitched to the back of their car, the family drove across the country for two years, finally settling in rural Mississippi to live next door to her grandparents. Karen's family continued their love of travel, and they regularly enjoyed extended trips in their camper RV exploring the national parks of the West and Midwest. Telling stories, moving to music, making crafts, baking, and painting were activities that filled her life as a child. Although Karen didn’t have a Waldorf educational experience herself, living a simple childhood with much time spent outdoors filled her heart with fond memories and adventurous stories!
Before she discovered Waldorf, Karen attended Mississippi State University and graduated with a degree in graphic design. After moving to Atlanta, she worked at Turner Publishing for the next six years designing books of all kinds. She’s kept her hand in graphic design throughout her life, and after leaving her kindergarten classroom in 2017 for health reasons, she continues to help WSA with social media and occasional design projects.
Karen and her husband have two daughters who both live nearby in the Atlanta area. Her older daughter and her husband bestowed the title of grandmother on Karen, and she now has three precious grandchildren. Her younger daughter graduated from 8th grade at WSA, from 12th grade at Academe of the Oaks, Atlanta’s Waldorf high school, and recently from Auburn University where she studied Industrial Design.
These days, Karen’s two beloved dachshunds keep her chuckling, and she has noticed that Oscar and Remy's antics often remind her of exuberant kindergarten children! She spends quite a bit of time in her backyard garden growing vegetables, in her kitchen baking sourdough bread, and in her front yard greeting neighbors who’ve stopped by to claim a book at the “Little Free Library” she maintains.
By experiencing the rhythm of the seasons, celebrating simple traditions, observing nature’s quieter revelations, and enjoying the family-like feeling of a play-based kindergarten, Waldorf education offers the ideal platform for young children to build foundational skills that will help them evolve into well-rounded individuals. Karen is delighted to bring her genuine interest in the world around us to her online students in ways that create beauty and preserve their wide-eyed sense of wonder. She also feels it is equally important to work with parents and provide them with the same nurturing, guidance, and warmth as the children.