Cognitive Development (over 3 years old)

Cognitive development is the development of perception, thought, memory, understanding and co-ordination.

By the age of two, toddlers have the ability to learn very quickly; absorbing information rapidly. Their memories are quite strong and this helps them learn rapidly. They start to put words together, learn language and start to make sense of the world around them. They are now able to work things out in their heads, solving problems by thinking about them rather than by trial and error. Toddlers now start to search for things where they left them and can pretend and copy what they see.

Here are some ideas below to support their development:

• Have an animal safari. Hide cuddly toys and ask child to find them.
• See how many plastic cups can be filled with a small bag of rice or jug of water
• Match up pairs of items that go together
• Do puzzles