Cognitive skills in children evolve and progress with their interactions and experiences in life. The early childhood development of object permanence is the most critical milestone to aid further in attention, memory, retention and learning. Children as early as one month may start showing understanding of object permanence. This is critical for their learning and normal cognitive development ahead. A number of activities and toys in addition to parental communication, help in building strong foundations for sensory, motor, language and cognitive skills in children. Children learn more and more by being a part of and moreover by doing the activities themselves.
[Read: Stages of Cognitive development in Children]
It is of increasing importance to introduce and provide some extremely stimulating and inducing cognitive activities and other learning toys to children from newborn stage itself. Add colors, sounds and communication from as early as birth. The cognitive skills would lay a strong foundation for more elaborate skills of leadership, decision making and problem solving in addition to intellectual competence. Cognitive skills enable the child to process sensory and motor skills and coordinate the two in addition to motor and language skills for evaluating, analyzing and remembering.
[Also Read: Problem solving activities for Teens]
Some age specific activities and learning toys for developing strong cognitive skills include:
1- For infants:
This is a relatively drowsy phase for the child and the mother. But this stage is far important for making the child up to a routine. There must be an alignment between the activities for a day and the child’s interests. We must begin to talk and read stories from as early as birth. Children who are read and talked, are known to develop language and cognition way ahead than their peers. Start with toys which are colorful, bright and with some sounds. You may hang some cute noisy stuff in their car seat, stroller, crib and bathtub. A mirror is known to stimulate and make the children active from as early as one month. Singing songs and moving the toys or things in different directions also helps in cognition, in addition to peekaboo.
2- For toddlers:
Try adding more and more blocks, stacking toys, shapes and peekaboo in addition to daily story times. Children must grow from seeking help to more independent accomplishments of activities in games and toys. Matching, sorting and stacking are some extremely useful toys and make these more practical life activities by involving children with daily household stuff. Come up with more fun filled activities with textured food items like matching color, shape and taste. Some more interesting activities include organizing different kids of cereals, fruits and vegetables into groups and even arranging the dinner table and clearing it all by themselves. Water play and splash pad fun has been the most important for sensory and motor development. Add more and more splash time and let children imagine fun and learning from it. Crayons and markers must be introduced early, as soon as kids get a hold or grip. Make more fun with chalks and water colors. Some more exciting and fun activities can be made from puzzles too
3- For preschoolers:
Children at age 2-4 show immense growth and advancement in terms of their language skills and other cognitive skills. There are a variety of tasks and activities that help in enriching their cognitive skills further. Alphabets and numbers must be spoken and written repeatedly for children to learn. By15-18 months a child is seasoned for speaking the rhyme or alphabets and numbers in the order they have learnt it out of reflexes. So keep adding more and more to their learning and language development by introducing newer toys and games. Give more choices to kids with activities and toys set up in their reach. A more Montessori inspired toy shelf setting will enable quicker and stronger cognitive skills in children. Take children to interesting places in addition to regular times at park and outdoors. Keep adding further levels in their activities of puzzles, sorting, blocks in a sequential and progressive way.
4- For Kindergarten kids:
Add more and more mathematical and analytical approaches to their existing toys. A mega-blok is not just for stacking or building up towers and Planks or Dominos aren’t just for lining up. Give more exact specifics for a design and make them work it out by themselves. Some lego and pegboard designs from online prints can be provided and children must try and finish the challenges with parents. Make them more and more interesting and challenging with geometric and magnetic additions like tangram, magnetic blocks and other planks. Some additions of lights and shapes make their analytical and logical thinking rise further. Children must also begin sports and art activities as a hobby and certainly develop their interests too. Make music and dance a part of their routine to bring even more learning and fun
5- For elementary aged children:
More and more pretend play and make believe activities must be added to the child’s routine now. Now is the time focus on building concentration in our children. They must hold to a task until they finish it, this is little tricky as children at this age are more distracted than ever. IQ games and activities must be a part of our child’s routine. Perplexus, Rubiks cube, knex, circuits, robotics, lego, Minecraft in addition to family board games must all be introduced and enjoyed as family. Some more fun with math and logic games must be introduced and progressive enhancements must be done for uplifting their skills further.
[Read: Summer Science Program for Academic and Intellectual Development]
Children must be given positive stimulation and enrichment by more hands on experiences from early on in their lives. The more they get the drive to build up on their cognitive skills more will be their intellectual development ahead. As a mother i do believe that the stronger foundations of learning and memory early on in a child’s life will actually help in richer intellect and more mental strength. A child who learns to conquer distraction and stay focussed for longer time will be more headstrong and have a stress free life. Fears of depression and complexities arising from mental illness would not hurt much if concentration, active play and intellect are built upon by focussing on cognitive skills.
Keep enriching the experiences of your little ones. Let them explore and get stimulated in a progressive way. Make their summer a more enhancing experience with campnavigator, check our summer camp and programs list to add further to enriching their experiences this summer.
By Minu Manisha
