Promoting Healthy Cognitive Development in Children
What is the nature of children’s knowledge? How does it change as they grow? These fundamental questions revolve around cognitive development. Cognitive development refers to how a child explores, thinks and gains an understanding of his or her surroundings, and the development of the skills required to do so. This edition of CreoVille magazine talks about the importance of cognitive development in children, especially in early age, and how we can help them enhance their cognitive skills.
A child’s incredible mind starts growing and changing the moment he or she is born. A child is inquisitive, always eager to learn and make sense of the world around him/her. To put simply, he/she is constantly developing cognitively. Children’s cognitive skills improve when they try to seek answers to the pool of questions emerging in their mind. The process of questioning, discovering, evaluating and finding solutions helps children become lifelong learners.
Cognitive development encompasses a child’s attention, memory as well as their ability to manage and respond to everyday experiences and information.
As an educator, it is important to foster cognitive development in children to lay the foundation for their success in school and eventually, in life. For instance, an article in this issue elucidates how teachers act as active collaborators in facilitating cognitive development in children.
To promote cognitive development in children, it is important to actively engage with them in quality interactions on a daily basis, such as singing and reading along with them, exposing them to books, puzzles and mazes, and providing answers to their what/why/how/when/where questions.
Another way to foster cognitive development in children is to encourage them to explore different ways of solving problems. One of the best ways to build their problem-solving ability is through mazes and puzzles.
Young children view the world in a unique way and acquire logical thinking through their experiences and interactions with their surroundings. As an educator/parent, we need to encourage and provide opportunities for them to learn, enhance and practise their new and emerging cognitive skills.
