ru en

What a child should be able to do at the age of 4

Knowledge and skills should be mastered gradually. It is important to start preparing for school, because this stage of your child’s growth is one of the most important.

from 3 years 6 months to 4 years 6 months

Preparation for school is not limited to the purchase of school supplies. And not even to teach your child to read by syllables and count to 20-30-50 before your first school day. Any skills and abilities will help to better adapt. The psychological readiness of the baby for new rules and new conditions is also very important.

To better master mathematics and other subjects in school, the kid should:


  • be able to count;
  • know how old they are, and show this number with fingers;
  • understand and distinguish polar concepts: a little – many, large – small, clean – dirty, and so on;
  • name and distinguish primary colors;
  • know the basic geometric shapes (circle, square, triangle);
  • be able to compare objects by size, color, shape, quantity;
  • be able to match a pair to an object with a given feature.

It is important at this age to help your child develop logical thinking, which is necessary not only for faster adaptation to school, but will also contribute to a faster assimilation of new material.

A four-year-old could be expected to:


  • be able to fold mosaics or cut pictures from parts;
  • know how to cut paper themselves (under the supervision of adults!);
  • know how to use pencils, markers, pens and so on;
  • draw circles, points, lines;
  • be able to outline stencils and color pictures, remaining within the boundaries of the picture;
  • be able to find discrepancies in the picture and explain why they are;
  • recognize an extra object and explain why it is superfluous;
  • easily find similarities and differences between objects;
  • remember several pictures (2-3);
  • be able to find pairs of objects or choose the right one from a bunch;
  • remember well and reproduce words that have been repeated several times by an adult (2-3 words at once);
  • remember and repeat the movements shown to them by an adult (2-3 times);
  • perform any task without distraction, at least 5 minutes.

Developmental standards for a four-year-old

It is necessary to pay attention to the speech development of the child. This is important for socialization in new groups – the kid will have to find their place in the class, make friends. And the level of speech development will affect the quality of communication with peers, as well as with teachers. Parents should understand that any difficulties with speech can turn into serious psychological problems.

A future schoolchild at the age of 4 is able to:


  • describe or retell what they saw or experienced;
  • compose simple sentences in speech and already move on to more complex constructions;
  • name the signs of any objects;
  • change the volume of their speech;
  • sing and repeat words after adults;
  • name the main activities of people, the signs and habits of animals;
  • clearly pronounce their first and last name.

Tell your child about the world around. This knowledge will become the basis for a better understanding of many school subjects.

The four-year-old knows:


  • names of domestic and wild animals and may distinguish them;
  • names of 3-4 birds, 3-4 fish and 3-4 insects;
  • names of common plants – 3-4 trees and 3-4 flowers;
  • differences between vegetables, fruits, berries, mushrooms;
  • names of different materials and can determine what the objects are made of;
  • seasons, time intervals – morning, day, evening, night;
  • different manifestations of nature – rain, snow, fog, dew, wind.

Do not forget to maintain skills and teach self-service skills that will help the baby adapt to the school period. At the age of four, the child should already be able to dress and undress independently, as well as know and follow the basic rules of personal hygiene.

Lists of skills and abilities, expected knowledge are just guidelines that should show you which direction of your child's development requires a little more attention. Do not forget that every kid is special, unlike others. And everyone has their own growth schedule.

Take a picture of the child at an interesting lesson, upload it to the application. Tell us how you prepare for school.

If you enjoyed this activity, you may also like the following activity, too

By signing up or otherwise using this website, you accept and agree to Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Content is available for users with Gold status

You can purchase it in mobile applications for iPhone and Android

Paywall illustration