It’s always good to keep an eye on what milestones your kid should be hitting just to make sure they’re on track and there’s nothing you need to worry about. There are lots of different things seven year olds should be able to do which include language, physical and emotional milestones.
These milestones tend to become less structured when they get older so don’t worry as much if your 7 year old isn’t hitting every single one of the milestones for 7 year olds – it’s a little different than if your newborn baby isn’t hitting milestones.
But this doesn’t mean they aren’t important so let’s jump in and take a look at what the 7 year old developmental milestones are.
Cognitive and Language Milestones for 7 Year Olds
The first thing your kid should be able to do by age 7 is to have a good sense of different types of time. What we mean is that they can tell you about the different seasons and understand that these are different bits of time that make up a year.
They’ll also understand that seconds make up a minute and minutes make up an hour. They’ll probably start learning how to tell the time by now if they haven’t already, so this is a good skill to focus on. Kids tend to also know the difference between days, weeks, and months and can tell you when things have happened or when they’re going to happen, for example, “I’m going to my friend’s house in two days.”
Another thing you might notice is that your 7 year old is expressing their preferences when it comes to how they want to learn new things.
Some kids might learn better when they’re doing an activity and they can see what’s going to happen. These kids might do better at things like science experiments. Other kids might prefer to read instructions or write stories on their own and work a lot better when they aren’t with people.
Their math skills will also start to improve by seven years old. Kids tend to work more on math in school when they hit this age so their skills very quickly pick up and you’ll start to notice whether language or math is their strong point. Kids at this age will be great at using different objects to work out math problems as well, which is something you can do at home to keep them busy for a little bit. You can use blocks, toys, or pasta to see how well your little one can work out simple math problems.
You’ve probably noticed this already if you’re a parent but when kids are 7 years old, they become a lot more sure of themselves. This means they’ll feel a lot more comfortable talking when they’re in a familiar situation.
Kids are becoming much better readers by 7 and can pronounce most words correctly without messing up sounds but might still have some trouble with spelling so don’t worry too much about that just yet.
Cognitive and Language Checklist
- Your kid has a good sense of time and knows the difference between seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, seasons, and years.
- Understand how they learn best and can express this to you.
- Math skills start to improve.
- More talkative in comfortable situations.
- Better readers but still have some trouble with spelling.
Physical Development of a 7 Year Old
There aren’t too many developmental milestones for 7 year olds when it comes to them physically as they aren’t growing as quickly now but there are still some things to keep an eye out for.
7 year olds are becoming more aware of themselves and therefore a lot more coordinated. They’ve probably mastered spinning as well as twisting and turning whilst they’re still standing in one place.
There are lots of different games you can play to help your little one improve these skills like the traffic light game or Simon says. Not only will these help them meet their physical milestones but it can also help them with memory and following instructions.
Your kid’s fine motor skills will also be on full display as they can now run around and kick a ball at the same time. You might notice these skills are even better if your little one has been playing a sport for a while. You might also notice their fine motor skills are improving through watching them dance to music. Kids love a good dance but when they hit this age it becomes more like a routine that your kid has planned rather than aimlessly spinning like you might be used to.
7 year olds are much better at using tools like pencils and paintbrushes now so you might also notice that they have a big interest in completing projects on their own.
They might show more interest in arts and crafts or want to get more involved in completing those projects you tend to get sent home with before summer break in school. If they aren’t interested in these things then they might show an interest in things like helping you decorate their room or other parts of the house. It’s good to let them have some creative control over things like this because it can help to improve those pencil skills even more.
Physical Checklist
- Your kid will be a lot more coordinated than before – mastered spinning and twisting on the spot.
- Fine motor skills are improving – can run around and kick a ball at the same time or enjoy dancing to music.
- Pencil skills are improving so they’re more interested in helping out with big projects.
Emotional and Social Milestones for 7-Year-Olds
There are a couple of emotional and social milestones you might want to keep an eye on just to make sure your 7 year old is keeping up with the rest of their class.
The first thing is whether your kid is becoming more independent from you and other members of your family. This is the age where they start to come out of their shell a lot more and you’ll see this in a lot of different ways.
They might be making new friends in school and after school clubs which is a really good sign. They might also be a lot more confident to ask shop workers for help finding items in store as well as taking charge when it comes to paying at the
Kids of this age will also start to think about the future a lot more. This might be thinking about things like what job they want to do when they’re older, where they’d like to go on holiday, or what kind of birthday party they’d like next year. These are all great ways they can show they’re starting to understand time as well.
A newer thing you might have noticed your child doing is understanding how they fit into the world. This can be harder to see at first but it includes things like understanding they’re your kid and understanding their grandparents are your parents. They’ll start to understand how much of an impact their actions have and that actions have consequences.
Another great milestone for a 7 year olds development is becoming more aware of how a team works. This is shown by understanding consequences and actions but they’ll understand that being part of a team means they do things for other people and then those people will do things for them.
They’ll start to understand how friendships form and what makes a good or bad friendship which will also help them make lots of new friends. This also means they’re now focusing a lot on being liked and accepted by these new friends so this is something you might want to keep an eye out for just to make sure they’re going about it the right way.
Emotional and Social Checklist
- Your kid is becoming more independent and is ready to try things on their own.
- They start to talk about the future more.
- They start to understand how they fit into the world.
- They’re becoming more aware of how a team and friendships work.
When To Get Help
If you have any serious concerns about your kid not hitting certain milestones then get in contact with your doctor as soon as possible. An important thing to remember is that every child is different and milestones aren’t as important once they hit this age so don’t panic too much if they aren’t hitting every single one. It’s important to seek help if you think they’re losing skills they once had but otherwise just keep a close eye on them and encourage them where you can.
7 Year Old Milestones
7 year old milestones are not so dramatic as when your little one was a baby and so you don’t need to worry quite so much. This is due to the fact that they are not developing and growing at such a fast rate at the moment.
Things you may notice is that they are becoming more mature, and they are more ready to help you with things – now no parent will say no to this one. Just keep an eye on them and remember you know your child the best.