Cognitive Infant & Toddler Activities
The first years of a child's life are an amazing time of growth, not only physically but also intellectually. Parents can take advantage of this period by engaging their child in activities that will promote cognitive growth.
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Play Hiding Games
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Use baby's towel or blanket to play a hiding game. Young infants are born with the idea that the only things that exist are the objects in their sight. According to Healthy Children in "Cognitive Development: 4-7 Months," at around the six-month mark a baby will begin to understand that even when something disappears from view it continues to exist. To encourage this learning and growth, hide objects under a light blanket or scarf, and model finding the object for the baby. Before you know it, the baby will understand how to move the scarf and find great enjoyment in finding the hidden object.
Toddlers who have a firm grasp on the concept of object permanence still enjoy hiding games on a more complicated level. Hide an object under several layers of scarves to see whether they can figure out how to get to it, or hide an object somewhere in the room and make a game out of searching for it. These hide-and-seek games encourage cognitive growth by using problem-solving skills, and when they are successful, children will become even more confident in their learning.
Cause-and-Effect Activities
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A toddler learns that pushing the car will make it roll. Much of the learning that infants and toddlers do is experimental. Through their activities and toys, they are constantly hypothesizing with cause and effect. The best thing parents can do is provide toys and materials that allow children to experiment until they have figured out the pattern with absolute certainty.
Infants need an assortment of toys around them to experiment with. They will figure out that when they push the button on the steering wheel it makes a honking sound. When they turn the shape sorter upside down, the shapes will fall out. Provide any safe item for an infant to experiment with, such as a spoon to bang on the high chair tray. An infant will repeat the same activities over and over until they have figured out the cause and effect, and then they will move on to something new.
Toddlers continue on with cause-and-effect experimentation, and when they are a little bigger, parents can provide different materials to work with. Toddlers will make cognitive gains when they see what happens when they push their finger in a ball of Play Doh, or how wet sand will hold its shape but dry sand will not. Provide several blocks for toddlers to stack up so they can see what happens when the tower starts to tip. While all of these activities seem like simple play, infants' and toddlers' brains are working hard to build a strong foundation of cognitive learning.
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Read Books Together
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Reading to children promotes language development. Start reading to children from the time they are infants. Even though they may not sit still for long, or even appear to be focusing on the story or pages, the sound of a parent reading will fill their brain with language and vocabulary that they will store away and eventually use.
According to BabyCenter's "Your 15-Month-Old's Language and Cognitive Development," toddlers can sit still for longer periods, and in addition to reading the story, talk to the toddler about things such as colors and shapes you see on the page. Ask the toddler questions like "Do you see the blue ball?" to encourage a child's comprehension and ability to follow directions.
Encourage Language Use
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Talking with an infant or toddler as you go about your day will encourage communication. One of the biggest things children learn in the first two years of life is communication. Verbal communication grows tremendously in the preschool years, but even by age 2 children should know several words. According to Baby Center's "Your 24-Month-Old's Language and Cognitive Development," they will be able to put together in short phrases. Parents can encourage this communication by speaking with their children from the time they are a small infant. Keep up a running commentary about what is going on around them on subjects ranging from the weather to the antics of the family pet. An infant can understand much more than they can verbally express, and this immersion in language can help communication skills to develop even more quickly.
For some, verbal language comes slow, which is no indication of cognitive ability. To avoid frustration, many parents teach their infants some sign language to allow them to communicate before they have the words to do so. Learning the signs for drink, more, hungry, please and thank you can be a useful tool in communication.
Encourage Imagination
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Imaginary play such as talking on the phone is part of cognitive development. Part of cognitive development is the ability for a child to use his imagination. From a very young age, infants with a toy phone will role play putting it up to their ears and "talking" with the person on the other end. Provide infants with items like spoons and cups, and they will go from using them as noisemakers to pretending to feed their dolls.
Toddlers really get into imaginary play, and parents can encourage this developmental stage by simply providing materials for children to use. A toy kitchen, dress-up clothes, stuffed animals and a toy doctor's kit can provide hours of play for a toddler, which sparks their imagination and encourages cognitive growth.
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References
- Photo Credit baby image by Yvonne Bogdanski from Fotolia.com baby with blanket image by Photoeyes from Fotolia.com baby and car toy image by Maxim Petrichuk from Fotolia.com grandfather read book with children image by Pavel Losevsky from Fotolia.com mother with baby carriage image by Vladimir Melnik from Fotolia.com baby with phone 2 image by Pavel Losevsky from Fotolia.com
