Celebrating your toddler’s third birthday is certainly one of the highlights in the thirty-six-month-old developmental milestones. As he continues to explore the world around him, your three-year-old would ask you questions like, “Why does the dog bark?”.
Whenever you encounter such situation, try getting your toddler to share his thoughts before giving any explanations. Or you can even read books to find out the answers together!
To ease you through the developmental milestones, here are some useful tips and tricks for your daily life application while discovering what you can expect from your 3-year-old toddler.
Thirty-Six-Month-Old Developmental Milestones
36-month-old Sleep
Sleep plays a crucial role in the development of our little one. When your toddler has adequate amount of sleep, he would have improved attention, behaviour, learning, memory, and overall mental and physical health.
As for your 36-month-old, he should sleep for 10 to 13 hours daily during the day time and night time. If your toddler resists to take a one-hour nap in the afternoon, it is fine. Simply put him in bed earlier during the night time.
It is equally important for your toddler not to sleep for too long or late in the afternoon. This would certainly interfere his ability and quality of sleep at night.
On the other hand, if your toddler experiences night terror where he starts crying and screaming, worry not. Simply comfort him without waking him up. Put him back to bed while calming him down.
36-month-old Feeding
To ensure that your 3-year-old is fed with balanced diet, you can provide him with three main meals and two snacks every day. Offer healthy food options such as fruits and vegetables, grains, protein and dairy. Avoid junk food as much as possible.
Your 3-year-old would need the calorie intake of 1400 to 1480Kcal daily. However, this does not indicate that you have to count the intake very precisely. Your little one would know his own appetite and he would take in more when he experiences a growth spurt.
Here’s a guide for your little one’s daily meal intake:
- 3 cups of fruits
- 1.5 cup of vegetables
- 3 ounces of grains
- 2 ounces of protein
- 2 cups or dairy (it can be 2 cups of milk or 1 cup of milk with other dairy products)
- 1200 ml of water
Additionally, you should include these 10 food options into the daily diets of your 3-year-old for optimum growth and development:
Key Milestones in Growth
By the age of 36 months, your toddler should be able to master potty training. So, how should your 36-month-old toddler grow in terms of weight and height? Here are the averages that you can expect from your thirty-six-month-old toddler.
- Weight: Around 13.93 kg for a 36-month-old baby girl and 14.42 kg for a 36-month-old baby boy
- Height: Around 94.23 cm for a 36-month-old baby girl and 95.25 cm for a 36-month-old baby boy
Other than dental care, you have to look after your toddler’s nails. As long nails can trap dirt and germs, it is essential for us to keep his nails short. In order to make the nail trimming process much smoother, try out these tips and tricks:
Key Milestones in Skill Development and Senses
Key Milestones in Movement
- can climb and run with ease
- can string items such as large beads together
- can ride a tricycle
- can kick and throw a ball well
- can feed himself
- can dress and undress himself
- can walk up and down the stairs one foot per step
- can walk in a straight line
- can turn book pages one at a time
- can build a tower of more than six blocks
- can screw and unscrew jar lids
As your little one with bursting energy runs around the house, it is understandable to ask him to stop moving around and sit still. In order to let our toddler to burn off the excess energy and develop coordination, you should enjoy some outside time with him. Get him to run around and climb to enhance his physical skills.
On the other hand, you should resist the urge to feed your 3-year-old. Get him to use the cutlery himself and eat on his own as much as possible. To ease the cleaning process, you can spread some plastic sheet under his chair beforehand.
Key Milestones in Five Senses
- knows around 500 words
- can say three- or four-word sentences
- can follow simple commands
- can name most colours and shapes
- can show and understand a variety of emotions
- can share toys
- gets along with his peers better
- can complete puzzles with three or four pieces
- can pay attention for three to five minutes
As your toddler’s first teacher, you should guide him in developing his social and cognitive skills. In terms of language development, you should continue reading with your toddler. Ask questions to encourage your toddler to talk about the story.
Furthermore, you can speak to him in longer sentences. As you notice him making some mistakes in his sentences, resist the urge to correct him immediately. Simply repeat the corrected sentence back to your toddler.
Looking into his socio-emotional development, you can encourage your little one to play with other children. Since he is showing more interest in playing with other children, you can help him to learn how to get along with others.
On the side note, if you are concerned whether your 3-year-old is experiencing any developmental delay, you can look for the following signs:
Do consult your paediatrician immediately if your toddler displays any of the signs above.
36-Month-Old Toddler Activities
With his agile body and creative mind, you can prepare some interesting and beneficial activities for his daily routine. It is recommended that these activities can help to prepare him for his pre-school life.
Here are some fun activities and games for your 3-year-old:
In addition, limit screen time to no more than 1 hour per day for your toddler. He learns best when he talks, plays and interacts with his peers and adults.
Embrace Exciting Moments with Your Toddler in the Thirty-Six-Month-Old Developmental Milestones
Learning new things about life is what your 3-year-old does every day. Thus, helping him to answer his questions about the world and exercise his expanding imagination can support his growth and development.
Simply be patient and supportive throughout the milestones and you will see your happy toddler growing up in a thriving environment. You’ve got this, mummies!
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