By 3 years, what should my child be able to say and do?
Say
Uses a vocabulary of several hundred words.
Uses describing words, such as 'fast' and 'small'.
Combines 3 or more words into a sentence; for example, "what's daddy doing?".
Talks about things that are not present.
Do
Understands instructions containing 3 keywords; for example, "get the spoon and the big cup".
Plays imaginative games such as pretending a block is a phone.
Takes an interest in other children's play and sometimes join in.
Takes an interest in playing with words; for example, rhyming words.
Is starting to recognise a few letters.
Is understood by unfamiliar adults most of the time; for example, the librarian or relatives they don't see often.
What are some tips to help my child's communication development at 3 years?
- give your child plenty of time to speak
- focus on what they are saying, not how they are saying it
- have fun reading books – talk about the story and characters and make it exciting
- point to keywords in books as you read
- involve your child with lots of everyday routines – talk about what you're doing and introduce new words; for example, "sweeping" when sweeping the floor
- add extra words to your child's sentences; if they say "my car", you could say "that's right, it's a big car"
Acknowledgements
The content on this page has been produced in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and adapted from Much more than words | Manuka takoto, kawea ake (2014).
References
If you would like to look at anything in more detail, this list of references might be a good starting point.
