Study guide
2.2 Physical Development (Functional Area 4)
Child Development Associate CDA
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1 Introduction to the CDA Credential
1.1 About the CDA Credential 1.2 CDA Eligibility & Requirements 1.3 The 6 Competency Standards & 13 Functional Areas 1.4 The CDA Exam & Credentialing Process 1.5 How to Use This Study Guide
2 Supporting Physical and Intellectual Development
2.0 Principles of Child Growth and Development 2.1 The Developmentally Appropriate Learning Environment (Functional Area 3) 2.2 Physical Development (Functional Area 4) 2.3 Cognitive Development (Functional Area 5) 2.4 Communication Development (Functional Area 6) 2.5 Creative Development (Functional Area 7)
3 Safe, Healthy Environments and Social-Emotional Development
3.1 Safe Environment (Functional Area 1) 3.2 Healthy Environment (Functional Area 2) 3.3 Self-Concept and Emotional Development (Functional Area 8) 3.4 Social Development (Functional Area 9) 3.5 Positive Guidance (Functional Area 10)
4 Families, Program Management, and Professionalism
4.1 Building Reciprocal Family Partnerships (Competency Standard IV) 4.2 Observing and Recording Children's Behavior 4.3 The CDA as Program Manager (Competency Standard V) 4.4 Professionalism and the NAEYC Code of Ethics (Competency Standard VI) 4.5 Building the CDA Professional Portfolio
5 Exam Strategy and Final Review
5.1 Test-Taking Strategies 5.2 Applying the Competency Standards to Scenarios 5.3 High-Yield Final Review and Exam-Day Checklist
2.2 Physical Development (Functional Area 4)
Key Takeaways Explain This Topic AI
Gross-motor skills use large muscles (running, jumping, climbing); fine-motor skills use small muscles (grasping, cutting, writing)
Development follows two predictable directions: cephalocaudal (head-to-toe) and proximodistal (center-to-extremities), so head control precedes walking and arm control precedes finger control
The CDC revised its milestone checklists in February 2022 to a 75% threshold — what most children can do; it removed crawling and moved 'walks alone' to about 15 months
The pincer grasp (thumb-and-finger pickup) emerges around 9 months and is the foundation for later writing and self-feeding
Perceptual-motor skills link the senses to movement (hand-eye coordination), developed through play like ball games, beading, and obstacle courses
Last updated: June 2026
Functional Area 4 (Physical) measures whether you provide the equipment, time, and activities children need to build strong bodies and coordinated movement. The CDA exam frames physical development around two ideas you must keep straight: the two types of motor skills , and the predictable patterns in which they appear. Get these right and most physical-development questions become straightforward.
Gross Motor vs. Fine Motor
Gross-motor skills use the large muscles of the arms, legs, and trunk for whole-body movement. Fine-motor skills use the small muscles of the hands and fingers for precise work. Both matter, and both need daily, intentional support.
- Type Muscles Used Examples
- Gross motor Large (legs, arms, trunk) Running, jumping, climbing, throwing, balancing, pedaling
- Fine motor Small (hands, fingers) Grasping, stacking, cutting, beading, buttoning, drawing
- How Physical Development Unfolds
Motor development is not random — it follows two well-established directional patterns the exam may name:
Cephalocaudal (head-to-toe): control develops from the head down. A baby controls the head and neck before sitting, and sits before walking.
Proximodistal (center-to-extremities): control develops from the body's midline outward. Children control the shoulder and arm before the wrist, and the wrist before individual fingers — which is why scribbling comes long before writing.
A third principle is differentiation : movements go from broad and reflexive to refined and intentional (a whole-arm 'rake' to grab food matures into a precise pincer pickup). These patterns explain why you should never push a skill out of sequence — for example, demanding handwriting before a child has the wrist and finger control built by scribbling and grasping play.
Milestones by Age — and the 2022 CDC Update
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) publishes the most-cited milestone checklists. A change you should know for 2026: in February 2022 the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics revised the checklists for the first time since 2004. The new lists describe what about 75% of children can do by a given age (the older lists used a 50th-percentile 'average'). Two specific edits matter: crawling was removed as a checklist milestone (some healthy babies skip it), and 'walks alone' moved from 12 months to about 15 months . Treat the ages below as typical ranges, not deadlines.
Age Gross-Motor (typical) Fine-Motor (typical)
Infant (0-12 mo) Lifts head/chest, rolls over, sits without support (~6 mo), pulls to stand Reaches and grasps, transfers hand to hand, pincer grasp ~9 mo
15 mo Walks alone (CDC 2022), stoops to pick up a toy Scribbles, drops objects into a cup
Toddler (1-3 yr) Runs, walks up stairs, kicks a ball, jumps in place Stacks blocks, turns book pages, uses a spoon
Preschool (3-5 yr) Pedals a tricycle, hops on one foot, catches a bounced ball, skips (~5 yr) Cuts with scissors, draws shapes, copies some letters, buttons/zips
Perceptual-Motor Development
Perceptual-motor skills connect what children sense to how they move — chiefly hand-eye coordination (catching a ball, threading a bead), body awareness (knowing where the body is in space), and spatial/directional awareness (over/under, left/right). These are built through play, not drills: catching games, pouring at the water table, lacing cards, and obstacle courses that require crossing the body's midline all strengthen perceptual-motor links that later support reading and writing.
Supporting Physical Development Through Play
The CDA expects you to plan for both motor types every day:
Gross motor: obstacle courses, dancing and movement songs, ball play, parachute games, climbers, riding toys, and ample outdoor time.
Fine motor: playdough, beading and lacing, puzzles, tongs and tweezers, drawing, cutting, and small-block building.
Underpinning all of it are rest, nutrition, and hydration — bodies grow and skills consolidate only when children get adequate nap/quiet time, nutritious meals and snacks, and water throughout the day. Always pair active periods with quiet ones so children do not become overtired. Equipment must also be safe and age-appropriate : climbers sized to the age group, resilient surfacing beneath them, and adaptations so children of all abilities can take part.
Worked Example: A teacher worries that 4-year-old Mateo grips a marker with his whole fist and tires quickly when drawing. Rather than drilling handwriting, she plans fine-motor play that strengthens the hand and refines the grasp from the proximodistal direction: a week of squeezing playdough, using tongs to sort pom-poms, threading large beads, and tearing paper for collage. She also breaks crayons in half (short crayons force a tripod grip). Two weeks later Mateo holds the marker with three fingers and draws longer. This shows the CDA principle that fine-motor skill is built through purposeful play that follows the natural sequence, not through forced writing practice.
When to Share a Concern — Without Diagnosing
Because milestones are typical ranges, occasional lateness is normal; a pattern of missed milestones is a flag. The CDA-consistent response is never to diagnose. Instead you (1) keep objective records of what the child does, (2) share specific observations with the family in a strengths-first conversation, and (3) suggest a referral to the pediatrician or the state early-intervention / Child Find program for screening.
'Developmental red flags' the AAP highlights include loss of skills a child once had, no babbling by 12 months, and not walking by about 18 months — but you report observations, not labels. The wrong exam answer is 'tell the parent the child has a delay' or 'wait and see indefinitely.'