Our six child development stages are:
18-24 months
In this age group children may:
• Climb up and down the stairs with support
• Hold and turn book pages
• Build tower blocks using up to six blocks
• Thread beads on a string
• Participate in dressing and undressing themselves
• Wash and dry their hands
• Know a core vocabulary, able to form two-to-three-word sentences
• Say the names of objects
• Understand and follow simple instructions
• Begin to distinguish colours by name
• Let you know when they are wet or dirty
• Say when they are hungry or thirsty or when they want more food
• Engage in pretend play, such as ‘taking care of teddies or dolls’
• Express their wants and needs, sometimes through tantrums when their needs are not met
They can be expected to play:
• Short concentration games
• Colour, shape, object matching games
• Colouring games
• Block sorting and filling games
• Dress it up games
• Sound/instrument games
24-36 months
In this age group, children are developing lots of new skills and encountering many new experiences. They want to be increasingly independent. They enjoy being active as well as having calm time with you. They are able to concentrate for longer periods of time. Your child will start to become more confident and prepared to start school. Your child may be able to:
• Jump with their feet together
• Throw a ball up and over
• Pull up zips, fasten buckles and do up buttons with some help
• Train to use the toilet
• Steer a tricycle
• Pour solids and liquids from one cup to another
• Build a tower block with up to eight blocks
• Grasp a pencil properly
• Be safety aware on stairs and around a cooker
They can be expected to play:
• Longer concentration games
• Scenario related games
• Tracking games
• Word games
• 2-6 piece puzzles
• Sorting and matching games
• Colouring games
• Drawing games
• Dress it up games
• Sound games
• Popping bubbles
• Emotions related games
• Traffic lights
• Treasure hunting games
• Task games
3-4 years
In this age group children may:
• Know between 1000-1500 words
• Have an understanding of opposites such as big and small
• Often ask ‘why?’ or ‘what’s that?’ to facilitate their curiosity to learn
• Be able to balance on one foot for 5 seconds and also hop on one foot
• Draw and tell you what they have drawn
• Count to three and hold up their fingers to show you how old they are
• Know their full name
• Respond to simple questions
• Wait to take turns
They can be expected to play:
• Numerical games
• Concentration games
• Scenario related games
• Tracking games
• Word games
• Memory games
• Matching opposites games
• Drawing games
• Sorting and classifying games
• Find the missing piece games
• Instrument games
• Face recognition games
• 2-3 player games
• Task games
4-6 years / Preschooler
Between the ages of 4-6 children enjoy exploring and learning about the world around them. They will be settling into the infants’ school which provides an environment for them to make new friends and follow rules and routines. You still have a major role in their development where they need time with you and your support and encouragement. In this age group children may:
• Balance on one foot for 10 seconds and skip and hop on alternating feet
• Catch a ball bounced off the ground
• Draw a three-part body
• Dress themselves with some assistance; tying shoe laces and fastening back buttons.
• Wash their faces and brush their teeth with adult supervision
• Often ask why and how questions
• Know their colours and count between five to ten objects
• Be stubborn, make a scene and answer back
• Be imaginative, enjoy rhymes, making up silly sounds and names
• Start to understand time such as an hour, yesterday, tomorrow
• Know 2000 words by the time they are 6 years old
• Have knowledge of opposites and sizes and their superlatives
They can be expected to play:
• Numerical games
• Concentration games
• Scenario related games
• Tracking games
• Word games
• Spot the difference games
• Building games
• Decorating games
• Matching opposites games
• Timed games
6-11 years / Student
In this age group children may:
• Develop gross motor skills that involve big muscle groups and fine motor skills that utilise small muscle groups such as hands and wrists
• Start to think logically and differentiate reality from imagination
• Be more conscious about the feelings of others
They can be expected to play:
• Numerical games
• Concentration games
• Scenario related games
• Tracking games
• Word and spelling games
• Simple strategy games
• Drawing games
• Games with instruments
• Aiming games
• Racing games
• Dress it up games
12-16 years / Youth
This stage of development can be tricky for both children and parents. In this age group, children strive towards independence and this can sometimes feel like they are breaking away. The developmental milestones during this time can confuse both you and your teenager. They still require your support to help them understand and regulate their thoughts and feelings as well as the physical changes they are going through. Providing a safe and open space for them to confide in you can help safeguard them from getting into trouble. In this age group your child will experience:
• Physical changes due to puberty
• Major brain development and maturing which will begin with adolescence and continue on into their mid-20s.
Each kid's development is unique!
It is extremely important to note that each kid and their development are unique. These developmental stages are a rough guidance only. Each kid’s cognitive abilities should be assessed individually and the games should be chosen wisely. Some kids' abilities emerge earlier or later than the age groups stated here. It does not mean anything more than the uniqueness of the kids' development.
TAK Index categorises games into these six developmental stages. However, it does not mean that we encourage you to play these games at these stages. If you want your kid to play games at a much later age, please do that. Since these games are available, we only provide an evaluation of these games and let parents who might consider allowing their children to play these games know the different aspects of these games. Some people might consider playing games as a way to train their kids, some people might consider exposing kids to games early in age is dangerous. They are both beliefs we pretty much consider to be true. The information on our website is for you to use for your personal judgement.
