Here’s a quick & easy way to track children’s gross motor development.
This simple tool allows you to:
- Track the achievement of gross motor milestones of all children in your service
- Produce automated individual reports on children’s development
- Share children’s progress with families in an easy to understand report
- Tailor your environment and intentional teaching to children’s individual physical development
- Engage families in their child’s physical development at home through the provision of tailored activities and skill information
The physical milestones contained in this reporting tool and the expected age of development are referenced from the Early Years Learning Framework Practice Based Resources - Developmental Milestones.
Remember that the age at which each child will develops milestones can vary greatly, however the order in which they develop these milestones remains the same for most children.
Important: This is not a clinical assessment tool. KIDDO’s milestone reporting tool is intended to help you understand the importance of the development of physical literacy. If you are at all concerned about a child’s physical development, please encourage families to consult their GP or child health nurse.
How to use KIDDO's milestone reporting tool.
Step 1: Create your milestone report
Go to the reports tab on KIDDO dashboard.
- Select the children you would like to report on
- Select the milestones you would like to report on for these children
- Save the report
Step 2: Observe the children
Observe the children you are reporting on over the course of a day or a week in your indoor and outdoor environment. Provide plenty of opportunities for children to explore milestones such as catching, kicking and throwing by planning activities and providing beanbags and balls for children to play with.
Step 3: Complete your milestone reports
For each of the children, based on your observations the previous week, mark each child as Unable, Exploring or Achieved for each of the milestones you have selected.
- Unable - not able to perform the milestone
- Exploring – able to perform parts of the milestone, but not regularly and completely
- Achieved – is regularly observed performing this milestone
Step 4: View milestone reports and share with families
In the ‘Children’ section of the dashboard you can view each child’s milestone report by clicking on the graph icon next to the child’s name.
Add the contact details of each child’s families so they can receive an individual login to KIDDO’s Parent Hub and then access their child’s milestone report. Go to the selected child and on the right side, click on the ‘invite parents’ text. Once you add the parent’s details, they will be sent an email inviting them to login to the KIDDO Parent Hub.
Step 5: Use the results in your programming and planning
Go to the ‘Insights’ section to see the results for all the children in your room. Use the results to plan your indoor and outdoor environment and intentional teaching.
FAQS
How often should I compete the milestone reports?
You can choose how frequently you choose to use the milestone reporting depending on the capacity within your service. We recommend due to the rapid rate of development in young children you complete a milestone report the report every three months. Alternatively, you may choose to complete a report as you observe a child achieving a milestone.
Should I report on one child at a time or all the children in my room?
KIDDO recommends scheduling your observations and completion of the milestone reports every three months for all children to ensure children are not missed.
I saw a child achieve a milestone but then have not seen it since, how should I report on that one?
This is an expected part of a child’s development, often they achieve a milestone such as walking however then return to crawling and do not walk again for a period of time. In this case it is better to mark the milestone as ‘exploring’ until you regularly observe the child performing it.
How long should I observe a child for before reporting?
In most environments you may be observing these children on a regular basis and as such be aware of which milestones the children have developed or are exploring. We would suggest in order to get an accurate picture to specifically observe the milestones you are reporting on in the children for at least one day prior to reporting.
Why are some milestones greyed out?
Milestones that are not expected to be developed until an older age are displayed ‘greyed out’ on the screen. If the child you are reporting is achieving or exploring this milestone you are still able to report on it by clicking on the relevant buttons ‘exploring’ or ‘achieved’.
I am worried about one of my children’s milestone development?
It is important to remember that this is not a clinical assessment tool. The milestone reporting tool is intended to help you understand the importance of physical development and plan your teaching and learning environment in line with a child’s physical development.
If you are concerned about a child’s development, you should talk with your colleagues and with the service director and support families to make an appointment with their local family health nurse or a GP who will carry out a full developmental check.
Which milestones should I report on?
Below is an indication of the different milestones children might be achieving in these age brackets. This is not a definitive guide and you can add or remove milestones from this list for the children you are reporting on.
For children aged 0-1 years:
- Head and neck control
- Rolling
- Grasping
- Sitting
- Crawling
- Standing
- Throwing
- Walking
- Climbing
- Balance
- Kicking
For children aged 1-2 years:
- Crawling
- Standing
- Walking
- Throwing
- Climbing
- Balance
- Kicking
- Jumping
- Running
- Galloping
For children aged 2-3 years:
- Standing
- Throwing
- Climbing
- Balance
- Kicking
- Jumping
- Running
- Galloping
- Skipping
- Catching
For children aged 3-5 years:
- Throwing
- Climbing
- Balance
- Kicking
- Jumping
- Running
- Galloping
- Skipping
- Catching