Preschoolers Cognitive Development

One of the most observable signs of cognitive development in preschools is their continuous asking of questions. When an answer leads to more questions, this stage can often times be taxing on the child’s caregiver.
However, this stage is a valuable time for learning and these questions should never be discouraged. Caregivers need to know that it’s alright not to know the answer to every question. When this is the case, they should direct the child towards a resource where they can discover the answer. A great resource to direct children to are books. There are many age appropriate books written for children to help explain deeper concepts and can deeply aid in their development. Relying on books as more than just a source of entertainment
is also a wonderful practice to begin at an early age.
Making these resources available to children at this development state is best when the child is allowed to discover at their own pace. Forcing a young child to learn more advance concepts can lead to resistance to learning later on in development. This means the pace of learning should be set by the child and primarily fueled by self-discovery with only a small amount of facilitation by caregivers.
Providing a large range of opportunities for a child to learn is also important. Preschool age is a good time to introduce learning locations such as the zoo and museums (HealthyChildren).
Part of a preschoolers’ cognitive development process is also starting to grasp the concept of time.
This can be displayed by a child developing a routine. As they grow, children will often start noticing the routines of others who intersect their own. When they begin noticing other’s routines, they can be confused by the variances they see. An example of this would be a child being confused after noticing the mail man comes most every day but the garbage man only comes once a week (HealthyChildren). This is perfectly normal and can be used as a segue to talk to them about how different people have different jobs, abilities and talents.
During this stage of development, a child’s level of cognitive development only allows them to approach challenges from one angle. This means a child cannot solve a problem that requires them to access more than one factor at the same time (HealthyChildren).
A clear example of this can be seen when a child is tested with Piaget's conservation tasks. The basis of the test is there are two water glasses of equal volume, one tall and slim and the other shorter and wider. When water is poured from the short glass into the taller one, the child will say there is more water in second glass than the first. They respond this way because the second glass is taller and therefore, it must hold more. They are unable to see past the single factor of height to determine that both glasses hold the same volume of liquid. This is normally the case till around the age of
seven.
The cognitive development of young children is a wide subject, but one of the most important key factors to remember to let children learn and discover at their own rate. The development that takes place in a child’s preschool age range build a fundamental base for them to grow on, so its worth not rushing.