School Age Timeline

  • Age 12

    Age 12
    Milestones:
    Physical: Hormones change as puberty begins. Most boys grow facial and pubic hair and their voices deepen. Most girls grow pubic hair and breasts, and start their period.
    Emotional: Experience more moodiness. Show more interest in and influence by the peer group. Express less affection toward parents.
    Intellectual: They are capable of perspective taking and understanding and considering others'perspectives.
    Cognitive: They begin to think hypothetically.
  • Age 11

    Age 11
    Milestones:
    Physical: These changes are breast development, axillary and pubic hair, body odor, acne, and growth spurts.
    Emotional: It becomes more emotionally important to have friends, especially of the same sex. Experience more peer pressure.
    Intellectual: Typically think in concrete ways. But they are gradually starting to grasp abstract and symbolic concepts.
    Cognitive: Start to see that issues aren't just clear-cut and that information can be interpreted in different ways.
  • Age 10

    Age 10
    Milestones:
    Physical: Have gained control of their large and small muscles. They are able to enjoy activities that use these skills, such as basketball, dancing, and soccer.
    Emotional: Start to form stronger, more complex friendships and peer relationships.
    Intellectual: Can read and understand a paragraph of complex sentences. Are reading books with chapters.
    Cognitive: Children are still largely concrete thinkers but are able to think in more abstract ways, and about more abstract concepts.
  • Age 9

    Age 9
    Milestones:
    Physical: Start to show a growth pattern related to gender.

    Emotional: Start to form stronger, more complex friendships and peer relationships. It becomes more emotionally important to have friends. Become more aware of his or her body as puberty approaches.
    Intellectual: Know that objects have uses and can be grouped into different categories.
    Cognitive: Can show genuine empathy for another's experiences and feelings.
  • Age 8

    Age 8
    Milestones:
    Physical: Increase in small-muscle coordination, allowing them to learn complex craft skills. Refinement of finger control. Increased stamina
    Emotional: Desire for increased independence from parents and siblings, and their increased desire to be seen as intelligent and knowledgeable.
    Intellectual: Have well-developed speech and use correct grammar most of the time.
    Cognitive: Know how to count by 2s. Knows what day of the week it is.
  • Age 7

    Age 7
    Milestones:
    Physical: Can perform more difficult movements such as twisting, turning or spinning while standing in one place.
    Emotional: Become more aware of and sensitive to the feelings of others.
    Intellectual: Have a solid sense of time. Understanding of seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, seasons, and sometimes years.
    Cognitive: Developing their oral language skills, acquiring new vocabulary and sentence structures.
  • Age 6

    Age 6
    Milestones:
    Physical: Has good balance and like to run, jump, skip, and try other forms of physical play.
    Emotional: Able to use their words to express dissatisfaction, anger, or sadness.
    Intellectual: Are able to describe a favorite TV show, movie, story, or other activity.
    Cognitive: Can count to and understand the concept of "10."