## North Carolina Early Learning and Development Progressions: Birth to Five

#### Domain: NC Foundations for Early Learning: Health and Physical Development (HPD)

#### Subdomain: Motor Development

#### Goal: Children develop small muscle control and hand-eye coordination to manipulate objects and work with tools.

#### Skill Progression: Arm movements

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List of Skills by Age

1-2 Months

Supine: Random windmill movements which stop in response to seeing object

Supine: Moves arms symmetrically

Prone: Weight on chest and flexed arms

2-4 Months

Supine: Brings hands to midline

Supine: Initially arms reach from side with elbow, wrist, and hand flexed; later, moves both arms toward object, elbows extended, hands partly open

Prone: Initially, limited head control, unsuccessful bilateral reaching, hands flexed; later, head lifts, hands partly open, and some weight shifting takes place, so one arm is freed to reach

4-6 Months

Supine: Initially both hands reach, elbows extended, hands open - one hand grasps other joins in midline; later, one arm fully extends with wrist straight and fingers extended - may over reach

Prone: Initially, hands slide forward, corralling object; later, reaches with one arm while weight is on other forearm

6-8 Months

Prone: Reaches with one arm, with weight on other extended arm

8-10 Months

Sitting: One arm reaches in direct approach, with wrist and fingers extended

10-12 Months

Sitting: Rotates hand up or down to orient to object

12-15 Months

Skills combined into Reach/Grasp/Release

15-18 Months

Skills combined into Reach/Grasp/Release

18-21 Months

Skills combined into Reach/Grasp/Release

21-24 Months

Skills combined into Reach/Grasp/Release

24-27 Months

Skills combined into Manipulation/Tool use

27-30 Months

Skills combined into Manipulation/Tool use

30-33 Months

Skills combined into Manipulation/Tool use

33-36 Months

Skills combined into Reach/Grasp/Release

36-42 Months

Skills combined into Manipulation/Tool use

42-48 Months

Skills combined into Reach/Grasp/Release

48-54 Months

Skills combined into Reach/Grasp/Release

54-60 Months

Skills combined into Reach/Grasp/Release

North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, 2015

©2015 by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/.