24 - 36 Months

Sequence of Skills and Learning Goals

Communication / Language

Receptive language

Expressive language

Awareness of differences in sounds

  • Listening to and making zoo animal sounds

Receptive language

Expressive language

Awareness of differences in sounds

  • Making demonstrated animal sounds

Receptive language

Expressive language

Awareness of print and pictures

  • Participating in book sharings focused on how books work

Receptive language

Expressive language

Awareness of print and pictures

  • Using book words and pictures to engage in guessing

Receptive language

Expressive language

Awareness of print and pictures

  • Using book words and pictures to learn about colors

Cognitive

Object inquiry skills

  • Building pretend roads with blocks

Problem-solving

Object inquiry skills

  • Pulling apart and putting together objects that connect

Problem-solving

  • Guessing what is hiding in a picture book and a bag

Problem-solving

Object inquiry skills

  • Sorting and matching by color and type

Object inquiry skills

Problem-solving

  • Building pretend houses and boats with blocks

Self-Regulation

Concentration

  • Coordinating actions with words in a song

Self-control

  • Breathing slowly and deeply with or without a prop

Executive Function

  • Watching and remembering where a toy frog is hiding

Concentration

  • Matching animal picture cards

Self-control

  • Breathing slowly and deeply while watching our stomach

Social-Emotional

Social interaction skills

  • Taking turns with peers while playing with animal figures

Social interaction skills

  • Taking turns and sharing with peers

Social interaction skills

  • Watching and imitating actions of a caregiver and peers focused on using play dough
  • Engaging in pretend play with peers

Social interaction skills

  • Engaging in open-ended play with a caregiver and peers focused on telling others what we are doing

Social interaction skills

  • Engaging in open-ended pretend play with a caregiver and peers

Physical / Health

Fine motor development

Gross motor development

  • Practicing different physical movements

Gross motor development

  • Stepping up and down

Fine motor development

  • Manipulating sensory materials

Fine motor development

  • Making marks and circles with different colors

Fine motor development

Gross motor development

  • Practicing different movements and stopping upon request

Communication / Language

Receptive language

Expressive language

Awareness of print and pictures

  • Using book words and pictures to make predictions and talk about in and out

Receptive language

Expressive language

  • Connecting book words and pictures to toddlers’ experiences

Receptive language

Expressive language

Awareness of print and pictures

  • Understanding and enacting actions of characters in a book

Receptive language

Expressive language

  • Exploring a book about wind

Receptive language

Expressive language

Awareness of differences in sounds

  • Creating sounds and images of items featured in a book

Cognitive

Problem-solving

  • Carrying balls to and from baskets

Problem-solving

Object inquiry skills

  • Making or distributing one item for each hand or toy

Problem-solving

  • Finding items that are the same

Object inquiry skills

  • Identifying and manipulating different types of clothing

Problem-solving

Object inquiry skills

  • Pulling apart and putting together play items that connect

Self-Regulation

Executive function

  • Taking apart and putting together a puzzle

Concentration

  • Focusing on body movements that correspond to a song

Self-control

  • Watching and practicing a tree pose (yoga)

Executive function

  • Moving and freezing our bodies as music plays and stops

Concentration

  • Matching vehicle picture cards

Social-Emotional

Social interaction skills

  • Imitating actions of staff and peers

Social interaction skills

  • Participating with peers in a shared play activity

Social interaction skills

  • Engaging in pretend play focused on a bus trip and toy vehicles

Social interaction skills

  • Talking about how children can be the same and different

Social interaction skills

  • Looking at and describing what children in a book are doing together

Physical / Health

Fine motor development

  • Manipulating a ball of play dough

Fine motor development

Gross motor development

  • Ringing bells to words in songs

Fine motor development

Good health practices

  • Dressing felt bears and toy dolls

Fine motor development

  • Manipulating water and dry material

Gross motor development

  • Practicing how to jump

Communication / Language

Receptive language

Expressive language

  • Touching, naming, and moving parts of our bodies

Receptive language

Awareness of print and pictures

  • Connecting visual symbols to items, activities, and songs

Receptive language

Expressive language

Awareness of print and pictures

  • Connecting book text to pictures

Receptive language

Expressive language

Awareness of differences in sounds

  • Remembering words in a song and rhyme

Receptive language

Expressive language

  • Talking about the story of a very hungry caterpillar

Cognitive

Object inquiry skills

Problem-solving

  • Building simple houses for different types of toy animals

Object inquiry skills

Problem-solving

  • Sorting familiar items

Problem-solving

  • Engaging in movements that emphasize different spatial relationships

Object inquiry skills

Problem-solving

  • Comparing clothes worn by people and by animals

Object inquiry skills

  • Putting together different types of blocks

Self-Regulation

Self-control

  • Watching and practicing a frog pose (yoga)

Executive function

  • Watching and remembering the location of a moving toy car

Concentration

  • Watching and doing movements suggested in a song

Self-control

  • Watching and practicing a downward dog pose (yoga)

Executive function

  • Taking apart and putting together a puzzle

Social-Emotional

Social interaction skills

  • Talking about activities and saying our names

Social interaction skills

  • Working cooperatively with others

Social interaction skills

Awareness of emotions

  • Exploring ways to share

Social interaction skills

  • Caring for items in our room

Social interaction skills

  • Engaging in pretend play with peers

Physical / Health

Fine motor development

  • Practicing hand movements to a song

Gross motor development

  • Moving our arms in different ways

Fine motor development

  • Drawing on smooth and textured surfaces

Fine motor development

  • Putting together materials with both hands

Gross motor development

Fine motor development

  • Exploring underhand and overhand ball throwing

Communication / Language

Receptive language

Expressive language

  • Talking about the actions of little ducks

Receptive language

Expressive language

  • Talking about and showing how construction trucks work

Receptive language

Expressive language

Awareness of differences in sounds

  • Talking about children from different countries singing the same song and saying “hello” in different languages

Receptive language

Expressive language

  • Pretending to row a boat

Receptive language

Expressive language

  • Talking about and acting out speckled frogs eating delicious bugs

Cognitive

Object inquiry skills

  • Matching pictured and real items

Problem-solving

  • Exploring different spatial concepts

Problem-solving

Object inquiry skills

  • Putting together toy bears that are the same and different

Problem-solving

Object inquiry skills

  • Exploring identical wooden figure toys that can fit together

Problem-solving

Object inquiry skills

  • Exploring novel fit-together blocks of different sizes

Self-Regulation

Concentration

  • Paying attention to pictures to determine whether they are the same or different

Self-control

  • Calming down by pretending to be a cornstalk moving in the wind

Self-control

  • Practicing ways to calm our bodies and minds

Executive function

  • Clapping and freezing our arms and hands in response to an orange circle

Self-control

  • Calming down by pretending to be seaweed moving in the water

Social-Emotional

Awareness of emotions

  • Talking about and making different facial expressions

Awareness of emotions

  • Naming and describing some common feelings

Awareness of emotions

  • Talking and singing about different feelings

Awareness of emotions

  • Talking about feelings experienced by a little fox

Awareness of emotions

  • Talking about feeling up and feeling down

Physical / Health

Fine motor development

  • Manipulating different types of puzzle pieces

Fine motor development

  • Moving shakers in different ways to music

Gross motor development

Fine motor development

  • Tossing and catching colorful scarves

Gross motor development

  • Exploring and practicing how to kick a ball

Fine motor development

  • Using tongs to manipulate small blocks

Communication / Language

Receptive language

Expressive language

Awareness of pictures and print

  • Talking about and remembering the search for a puppy that is hiding

Awareness of pictures and print

Expressive language

  • Connecting a printed word to objects and pictures

Receptive language

Expressive language

  • Talking about and pretending to be an animal inside an egg

Receptive language

Expressive language

  • Telling stories with a wordless book and props in a “story bag”

Awareness of differences in sounds

Expressive language

  • Talking about sounds featured in a book and heard in our room

Cognitive

Problem-solving

Object inquiry skills

  • Participating in games that promote the concepts of one and two

Problem-solving

  • Engaging in different types of pretend roles and play

Object inquiry skills

  • Putting together a Potato Head toy

Object inquiry skills

  • Talking about and acting out opposites

Problem-solving

Object inquiry skills

  • Sorting and matching by color and type

Self-Regulation

Executive function

  • Watching and remembering the location of a rabbit that hops and hides

Self-control

  • Calming down by pretending to be a tree moving in the wind

Concentration

  • Focusing on one of two characteristics of picture cards

Executive function

  • Pretending to sleep, wake, and act like a specific animal in response to the words of a song

Self-control

  • Pretending to be a tree moving slowly in the wind with music and standing still when music stops

Social-Emotional

Awareness of emotions

  • Talking about and practicing ways to calm down when we feel upset

Awareness of emotions

  • Talking about how the main character of a story might feel in response to different events and situations

Social interaction skills

  • Talking about and using our hands to do good things for ourselves and others

Awareness of emotions

  • Talking about different feelings and reasons for different feelings

Social interaction skills

Awareness of emotions

  • Talking about loud and quiet voices, and being quiet

Physical / Health

Gross motor development

Fine motor development

  • Engaging in physical movements that include crossing the midline

Gross motor development

  • Practicing different ways to jump

Fine motor development

  • Manipulating and creating with play dough

Fine motor development

  • Using fine motor skills to practice pincer grasps, manipulate tongs, and cut with scissors

Gross motor development

  • Practicing walking on a low balance beam