Cognitive development in early childhood refers to how children think, explore, and figure things out. It is the development of knowledge, skills, problem-solving, and dispositions that help children understand the world around them. Cognitive development is part of brain development, and it is crucial to foster it from an early age as it provides the foundation for a childs success in school and later in life.
Some key points about cognitive development in early childhood are:
- Cognitive development refers to a set of intellectual abilities that researchers consider to be ‘normal’ for an infant, toddler, preschooler, or kindergartener.
- Cognitive development includes building skills such as pre-reading, language, vocabulary, and numeracy.
- Brain development is part of cognitive development, and infants acquire a tremendous amount of information about language in the first year of life, even before they can speak.
- There is a strong connection between the development a child undergoes early in life and the level of success that the child will experience later in life.
- To promote cognitive development, it is important to actively engage in quality interactions with children on a daily basis. Examples of activities that can promote cognitive development include reading books, playing board games, and encouraging stacking and sorting.
In summary, cognitive development in early childhood is the development of knowledge, skills, problem-solving, and dispositions that help children understand the world around them. It is crucial to foster cognitive development from an early age, and quality interactions with children on a daily basis can promote it.
