4 year old girl with a fur-trimmed hood closes eyes and laughs. There are many milestones to look forward to with your four-year-old, including an increase in social emotional skills.

You Have a 4-Year-Old! Here's What to Expect

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  • A mother's hands chops up chocolate as her 4-year-old assists. Doing activities together in the kitchen can be a fun and educational experience.

    10 Fun & Safe Ways to Involve Your 4-Year-Old in the Kitchen

    Involving your 4-year-old in the kitchen can be a fun and educational experience for both of you. It's a great way to teach them about healthy eating and develop their motor skills, creativity, and confidence. Furthermore, it gives them a hands-on education about measuring and following directions. It's essential to ensure that these activities are safe and age-appropriate.

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  • 4-year-old girl lies on the grass with a huge smile. There are plenty of fun ways to play with rhyming words that will strengthen your child's literacy skills as they start to read.

    5 Simple Rhyming Games to Play with Your Preschooler

    Playing rhyming games with your preschooler is a fantastic way to develop their language and literacy skills. Rhyming games help children learn about sounds and patterns in words, which lays the foundation for reading and writing.

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  • Mother converses in the bed with her 4-year-old son, who is holding a Storypod and Puss in Boots Craftie. Having regular conversations with your 4-year-old is important for their language and social development.

    Conversing with Your 4-Year-Old

    Talking with a 4-year-old is usually a fun experience, but it can also be challenging at times (yes, we're talking run-on sentences and stories with no ending!) As a parent, caregiver, or educator, it's essential to encourage their language development and social skills during these conversations despite these challenges. At this age, your little one will have a vocabulary of about 1000 words and will be able to speak sentences of around 4-5 words. The more conversations you have with your child, the more opportunity they have to strengthen and expand their skills.

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  • Mother sits on a bed with a toddler on her lap and her 4-year-old daughter by her side. Practicing reading comprehension skills even before your child can read will give benefit your child greatly.

    Reading Comprehension with Your 4-Year-Old

    Even though your child hasn't started reading on their own quite yet, preschoolers delight in being read to by their parents or care providers. And with good reason. Their little minds are taking in a lot! From absorbing the illustrations to using context clues to learn vocabulary, your 4-year-old is building their reading comprehension skills each time you read them a book!

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  • A pair of child's hands build an imaginary apparatus with Legos. Imaginative play is crucial for a 4-year-old's development.

    Why is Imaginative Play So Important for 4-Year-Olds?

    Imaginative play, also known as pretend play, is a type of play that allows children to create their own stories and characters, and act them out in a make-believe world. This includes playing dress-up, building their own worlds using blocks, and using dolls and toy animals to create scenarios. This type of play is particularly important for 4-year-olds, as they are deep into the "Magic Years," a period between 3 and 4 years of age that is rooted in imagination and discovery. Playing pretend helps them to develop a number of important skills that will be useful to them throughout their lives.

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  • Smiling 4-year-old boy raises his hands in excitement. There are many ways to manage over-excitement when big events are on the horizon.

    Managing Excitement: Helping Your 4-Year-Old Regulate Big Feelings

    Children are naturally enthusiastic, so itā€™s no surprise that excitement runs high when big events like birthdays or holidays come around. While your little oneā€™s excitement can be lovely to witness, there are times when these feelings can become too intense and lead to agitation, hyperactivity, and even disappointment. Look out for the signs of overexcitement and try out a few strategies when your childā€™s big feelings start to get a bit out of control.

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  • Preschool girl sits in yoga pose outside, eyes closed. Teaching children how to be mindful is important for their social emotional development.

    Cultivating Mindfulness in Your Preschooler

    Mindfulness is the ability to be present and fully engaged in the current moment, without judgment. And, in our modern world of stimulation and distractions, itā€™s as important as ever to cultivate in our young children. Preschoolers who engage in mindfulness activities are better able to manage their emotions and behavior, as well as sustain their focus for longer periods of time.

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  • 4 year old girl with a fur-trimmed hood closes eyes and laughs. There are many milestones to look forward to with your four-year-old, including an increase in social emotional skills.

    You Have a 4-Year-Old! Here's What to Expect

    Four is an exciting age, filled with milestones like lengthening back and forth conversations and the emergence of rhyming abilities. As the other half of the ā€œmagic years,ā€ your 4-year-old child will continue to bloom in the areas of imagination, discovery, and wonder. Thereā€™s plenty to look forward to, so read on to find out what to expect from your little one this year!

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  • 4-year-old boy on a bike at the playground crosses his arms and wears a displeased expression on his face. Identifying emotions is an important skill for a young child to have.

    Why Identifying Emotions is so Important for Young Children to Learn

    Small children arenā€™t immune to big emotions. Events that can seem trivial to adults can give way to strong feelings, like disappointment at a broken toy or anger when a friend doesnā€™t want to share. While there are many techniques for training a child to manage their feelings, identifying emotions is actually the first step in self-regulation. It allows the child to recognize when they feel a certain way and why. This self-awareness and emotional regulation can help children manage their behavior and make better decisions.

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  • Toddler sits on bed with book on his lap and a Storypod beside him

    Leaning on Illustrations to Strengthen Reading Comprehension Skills

    While, ā€œDonā€™t judge a book by its cover,ā€ may be an old adage that holds true in some cases, it turns out that when it comes to actual childrenā€™s books, illustrations may play a bigger role in early literacy than we think. Everyone knows that illustration does wonders for capturing attention and engaging the minds of our little ones.

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  • Kindergarteners raise their hands in the classroom

    7 Social Emotional Skills Your Child Should Have Before They Start Kindergarten

    When parents wonder if their child is ready for kindergarten, they are often thinking of academic expectations that they will need to meet in order to be successful. Although this is important, studies show that a childā€™s social emotional skills have more of an impact on their overall success than anything else.

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  • Child and mother's hands play a game of Jenga indicating bonding

    Promoting Development with Family Game Night

    Aside from the obvious benefit of family bonding, a game night actually develops important skills in your children. From motor skills to lessons in self-regulation, the rewards of engaging in this weekly practice will compel you to pull out the board games right away!

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