Social and emotional development timeline of 0-7 years old by Lilli Buck

0-3 months old

100236226 — 2025-10-01 11:02:58 UTC

In this early stage of life a newborn will develop a social smile to show when they are feeling happy and enjoy playing with you and will probably cry if this playing stops. Over these 3 months a baby will form an attachment to their parents which is their first social bond. A baby will start to imitate facial expressions and simple movements and start to show who they like and dislike smiling and cooing to show affection.

3-6 months old

100236226 — 2025-10-01 12:50:05 UTC

At this age babies will start to understand some of your expressions and will smile and laugh if they know you are happy. They will cry when they’re upset and seeking attention from parents. They express their needs by using different cries. They enjoy interacting with parents and may even like interacting and smiling at strangers. Although babies overall seem to enjoy life mostly the can easily get overstimulated from too much excitement and may need calming down if they start to cry.

6-9 months old

100236226 — 2025-10-01 14:33:58 UTC

In this age range babies will start to gain more awareness of themselves and their feelings. They may become shy around strangers for awhile and even uncomfortable with people they know. But this will soon change and they will start to love to play games like peek a boo and chat (babbling) with others. They will start to show their emotions like anger and sadness more clearly.

9-12 months old

100236226 — 2025-10-01 14:44:43 UTC

Babies will start to become even more aware of the people that are around them experiencing separation anxiety when away from their parents/caregivers and they will also start to have favourite toys. They will start to form attachments to other family and not just parents. They are starting to form opinions of what they like and don’t like and will show you when they are upset about something e.g having their nappy changed and may kick their feet to try and stop you.

1-3 years old

100236226 — 2025-10-01 14:56:18 UTC

Toddlers will learn to express their feelings more and engage with others slowing become more independent from their parents.They may begin to have temper tantrums to express frustration as they are unsure of how to handle new emotions like fear and embarrassment they are starting to experience and they are not afraid to show how they are feeling. They will also start to want to engage in pretend play especially with other children after beginning to play with parallel play (playing beside another child) at first.

3-5 years old

100236226 — 2025-10-01 17:04:33 UTC

In this age range children start to develop empathy for others and become more aware of their feelings and start to develop friendships with other children.They will be able to manage their feelings much better than before and have less temper tantrums.Their independence will begin to develop even further and they may want to start doing more things by themselves. They will start to become proud of their achievements and enjoy positive feedback from their parents and they will also show starting more affection towards them.

5-7 years old

100236226 — 2025-10-01 19:14:42 UTC

By this age children will be able to communicate with others without any help from parents and will learn to share and take turns when playing with other children.They will start to express their emotions more effectively before and asking for help, they gain more self confidence around this age. They will start to become more comfortable in unfamiliar places even without their parents.