4 Year Old Boys Developement

I understand how you wonder where your child is at. I work full time as well, and my son is in a full time pre-k program that they offer to children of teachers through the district I work for that is so great. That being said, I wonder about his development compared to his peers, so I was curious about your responses.

J turns 4 in March. He can:
write the alphabet
color in the lines
write his first and last name
draw all of his basic shapes
no bike (but he is getting one for his birthday)
he can shoot a basket w/a kids sized hoop
he can read short words, and he is obsessed with street signs
for chores he clears his table space after dinner, makes his bed, pulls the recycling bin up from the curb after recycling/trash day, picks up toys, and takes out recycling

I'm looking forward to the rest of your responses!

I have one son that was riding a two wheeler without training wheels at 3...a daughter that could tell you what the square root of 81 is and what pi is at 2...and a son that is still struggling to write the letter G (first letter in his name) at 4. The spectrum is wide :). Don't stress too much...altho' comparing has it's place...sometimes it just makes us obnoxiously proud or kind of depressed that we're not doing 'enough' or not doing it 'good enough'. It's hard enough being a mom without guilt! (I should take my own advice more on this subject...lol...)

My son turned 4 in November. He can write his name. He recognizes all the letters can write most of them. He can count to at least 30. I am homeschooling him for preschool and we are beginning to focus on letters having a sound. I don't push him too hard. Four is still little. I like to let him play and explore. I agree with what S. H. said. He will be fine. One of the best things you can do for him is to read to him lots and lots. Reading is a great way to spend time together too.

When my son was 4 (he's 5 now), he was not real spot on with it.
Versus my daughter at that age was.
Might be a gender difference.

Anyway, with fine motor skills/writing, practicing in a fun way is helpful.
Coloring books and tracing type books, too, will work their fine motor skills/dexterity etc. For example.
Once my son was in Preschool and now Kindergarten, he can write and is on par with his classmates.
I did not hound him about it. It was just a developmental based progress.

Per gross motor skills, ie: riding a bike, well my son is not riding a 2 wheel bike. He uses a training wheels bike.
He is good at sports and has good coordination and per large motor skills/movements.

My son is also good at Math.

Spelling: kids at 4 years old, do not spell. Like an older child, They are not even reading or sounding out words, by themselves. They need assistance.
In Kindergarten, they WILL be doing that. A Teacher, will tell you if your child is not on par or is.

my son is 4 (bd 6/11/07). he is very smart but seems immature.. he can ride a 2 wheel bike, he can write letters.. (but cant sit still very long to write them) He can do simple math.. (but cant sit still long enough) He can read on first grade level. He cant dress himself. He cant wipe his own butt. He carries his blankie around and sucks his thumb.

He will start kindergarden in fall of 2012. I am very concerned that although he is very smart and ready to go to school.. he is very immature.. I was hoping taht he would get 1/2 day kinder but they are pushing all kids into full day (7 hour days) and I think that will be a bad choice for him.

You have to remember that all children will develop at their own rates. Rather than compare to other kids, see if you can get a checklist from your pediatrician or something to help determine what the average 4 year old boy can do.
There is a great questionnaire called "Ages & Stages" that can help evaluate where your child is in relation to where he should be. You can try to find it online, or ask your son's doctor or teacher if they can access it.

To answer your specific question, my son can write most of his letters, though not are all clear and easy to read. He can write his full name (first and last). He rides a bike with training wheels and we might try taking them off soon. He plays soccer & t-ball but is not super coordinated. He can do basic addition and a little subtraction. He can read. He can spell 3- and 4-letter words. Academically, he is ahead of most of his peers. But many of his friends are more athletic than he is.

Loaded question! You're right, all kids are different, but it would be nice to know, since we working moms don't get to see all of the playground/pre-school dynamic.
I'm a working mom too, so my son goes to a fantastic pre-school/daycare 5x per week 8-5. He's 4.5, and made a HUGE developmental leap in the last 6 months.
He can write his name. It's legible, but pretty rough. We're working on fine motor skills, got the leap frog (or Vtech?) letter writer game, and we're doing more playing with the tiny legos to build some finger dexterity.
He can count to about 50 with help here & there with the number patterns (i.e. can't remember what comes after 39.
He can read and spell some basic words like Zoo, Dog, Cat, Book, Truck, Stop, Open, his own name, the names of the kids in his class, etc. He's sounding some things out, but gets bored too quickly to sound out a whole sentence or story. I'll have him sound out key words on the pages that will be repeated in the book, so he sounds it out once or twice and then starts to recognize it by sight.
His school uses the Zoophonics program where every letter has an animal character that makes the sound. They learn the animal & sound, and then associate the letter with it. Each week there's a new letter of the week.
Also they use Handwriting Without Tears to learn to write. HWT boils down every letter into 4 main "strokes": Long line, short line, Big curve, little curve. (So a "B" is Long line down, little curve, little curve). They practice making the letters with straight & curvy sticks, practice tracing in shaving cream, with glue and glitter, etc. Then start doing markers, pencils, crayons, to trace and then write on their own. His grip isn't correct, but we're working on it.
One of the big social skills that his teachers brought up is to role play as a group. Example: If the kids are playing house, they designate who is playing dad, mom, baby, dog, sister, etc. They are just starting to do that. Up until now, most group play has been like tag, or everyone chase a ball together, not really cooperative play.
I'm curious to see what other responses you get! :-)