What Are the Skills in Cognitive Development?

Preschoolers, or children between the ages of 3 and 5, are entering a whole new world of cognitive development. They are beginning to notice and learn about the world around them. They are also learning concepts such as color, shape, size and time. They are learning how to count and how things work. All of this learning means that the preschool years can be both an exciting and exhausting time for parents and children.

  1. Pretending

    • Even though preschoolers are still primarily concrete thinkers, their pretend play becomes much more elaborate. Your preschooler may reenact situations that happen in his life as a way of processing or working through feelings and challenges. You may hear him talking to his cars with the same words that you use. This is also the age where your child learns how to play with other children, and pretend play is excellent for helping him to work together with his friends.

    Why?

    • Of course, the most noticeable feature of a preschooler is his love of asking "why" seemingly hundreds of times each day. Preschoolers are curious about the world around them and ask questions about everything. Do your best to answer the questions in ways that your child can understand. For questions that you can't answer, have your child help you try to find the answer in a book or online. Even when you get tired of answering questions, try to be patient since your child is just learning about the world around him.

    Problem-Solving

    • Preschoolers are increasingly skilled at problem-solving. They can work more complex puzzles and are constantly trying to figure things out. If you give him a new toy, he will figure out how it works and may even try to take it apart. At this age children spend a great deal of time trying to reason out how the world works. They excel at solving problems by sorting and categorizing objects or situations and by imitating what they see adults doing.

    Egocentricism

    • Although your preschooler is doing more elaborate creative or pretend play, he is still an egocentric thinker. This means that he has trouble imagining situations from any viewpoint other than his own. He may not realize that taking a toy hurts his friend's feelings unless you relate it to a time when his feelings were hurt by a friend. He may also do things like making you a snack when you are hurt because the snack makes him feel better.

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