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Where our questions and activities come from
Kidora's 580 milestone questions come from published developmental checklists, chiefly the Portage checklist together with CDC milestone guidance. The 263 activities come from 17 named organisations including NAEYC, ZERO TO THREE, Reading Rockets and AOTA. Nothing on this site is invented by us.
The questions
The milestone questions are drawn from the Portage checklist, a developmental checklist used by early intervention services, alongside CDC milestone guidance and profession-specific material from occupational therapy and physical therapy bodies.
Each of the 580 checkpoints sits in an age band and one of six areas. When you take a check, only the checkpoints for your child's age band are asked — which is why a one-year-old's parent is never asked whether their child can hop on one foot.
Why the questions are worded the way they are
The original clinical wording is written for professionals. "Individually takes out six objects from container" is precise but hard for a parent to judge, so each question also carries a plain-language example of what it looks like at home. The milestone itself is unchanged — only the explanation is ours, and it is reviewed before it goes live.
The activities
When a check shows a milestone your child has not reached, we suggest activities that build towards it. Every one of those activities comes from a published source, and the report shows which. Here is the full list, with how many activities we use from each.
| Organisation | What they publish | Activities |
|---|---|---|
| NAEYC | National Association for the Education of Young Children — play and early learning | 80 |
| ZERO TO THREE | Early development guidance for parents, birth to three | 59 |
| Reading Rockets | Early literacy and language development | 34 |
| AOTA | American Occupational Therapy Association — fine motor and sensory | 24 |
| Head Start | US early childhood programme — learning environments | 18 |
| Illinois Early Learning Project | Early maths and language tip sheets | 14 |
| NHS Occupational Therapy | UK children's OT self-care and motor guidance | 8 |
| Harvard Center on the Developing Child | Serve-and-return, executive function | 6 |
| Raising Children Network | Australian parenting service — play and pretend play | 5 |
| Pyramid Model | Social and emotional practices for young children | 4 |
| Oxford Health NHS | Fine motor development guidance | 3 |
| Royal United Hospital NHS | Children's therapies activity sheets | 2 |
| APTA | American Physical Therapy Association — paediatric physical therapy | 2 |
| CDC | Learn the Signs. Act Early. milestone guidance | 1 |
| ECTA Center | Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center — family practice guides | 1 |
| UNICEF | Play and child development | 1 |
| UK Department for Education | Help for early years providers | 1 |
Those 17 organisations account for 38 individual published pages and documents. Every activity in your report names its organisation and links to the page it was taken from, so you can read the original before trying it.
Who reviews it
Ms. Tehreem Talat, Consultant Clinical Psychologist, is the clinical lead for this site. She checks that every question sits in the right age band, that the activities suit the age and skill they target, and that report wording tells a parent what needs attention without frightening them.
What we do not do
- We do not invent activities. If it is in your report, it came from one of the organisations above.
- We do not diagnose. A screening check can show that an area needs attention. Only a qualified professional can say why.
- We do not sell your child's data. Answers are used to produce your report. You can take a check without giving an email address at all.
- We are not paid to recommend anything. No activity is included because a brand asked for it, and activities that need a purchased product are avoided where a household alternative exists.
Found something wrong?
If you think a milestone is in the wrong age band, or an activity does not match its source, tell us at [email protected]. Corrections are reviewed by our clinical lead and the page records when it was last checked.
Check your child in eight minutes
Free, no account, and every question comes from the sources above.
Start the free checkLast reviewed 4 September 2026 by Ms. Tehreem Talat, Consultant Clinical Psychologist.