Cognitive Development Activities for 3 to 5 year olds

November 29, 2007

Once your child gets past the early preschool activities and you are stumped for what to teach them i.e. they seem to have picked up life things already, try some of these things: Verbal Games (usually very good for in the car)

Guess What?: Guess what has four feet and a long hairy nose? Inventory Questions: Yesterday, what did you have for breakfast? Yes or No: The sky is yellow. Which One Doesnt Belong, and Why? newspaper, book, computer, or birthday card? Follow My Directions: Crawl under the tablemove two steps to the left (Works even better
if you hide an M&M at the end.)

Categories: sockshoeshirt (the child says, Clothes!). Or you can do the reverse game
where you name the category, and the child thinks of as many items that fit. We used to use a sing song or silly pattern to give them time to think, i.e. Doo Dee Daa Daa shoe. Doo Dee Daa Daa shirt.). You can also play this game on paper while drawing pictures, if your child is visual, and take turns if you have multiple siblings.

Finish It: I like to What Comes Next?: tree flower flower tree flower flower (the child says tree!) What Did I Repeat?: pig horse pig chicken (the child says, pig!) What Do You Do If?: What do you do if you get locked outside? (kindergarteners) Activities Hide and Seek (and variations: count by twos, fives, tens) I Spy (colors, shapes, textures, smells, other adjectives) Charades Simon Says Twenty Questions w. increasingly helpful clues Hotter/Colder (hide something and guide with clues to proximity) Pictionary (not the real board game, but just you and your child with a piece of paper) shell and pea game popsicle stick crafts (birdhouses, bridges, etc) Highlights or Puzzlemania magazine (some activities are too hard, but others are fine) sorting laundry by proper owner making a grocery list (based on observation) workbook pages with Complete the Pattern exercises Board Games Memory Connect Four

 Dominoes Dot to Dot game Tic Tac Toe Battleship Old Maid Uno Candyland (the easiest) Chutes and Ladders (slightly harder) Guess Who? (harder)
Toys

Megafort (strategy, imagination) Tangrams or mosaic-type games harder Lego sets (deduction, directions) puzzles (25 pieces for beginners, up to 300 pieces for a 5 yr old) Sensory/Motor Mouse Trap Domino Rally Elefun Marble Run (Quercetti) obstacle course putting away silverware (no sharp knives obviously) matching/folding socks filling dishwasher (plastic items) What Do You Feel?: blindfold and feel/identify objects in sand, rice, beans, or brown bags Remember that with cognitive development, you are trying to grow and exercise thinking skills not acquire information! Academic activities like Brain Quest help your child get smarter, but they do not necessarily grow their cognitive skills, although some of the spatial games and riddles are an exception. Real cognition is not adding more content, but more structure. It is not information but the neural infrastructure that makes the content come alive connections, conclusions, etc. So you want games which encourage comprehension (what and why?), analysis (breaking information down), synthesis (putting information together), and evaluation (So What? or Is it good?). Dont confuse making your kid smarter with exercising their brain. Of course the two go together, but there are specific ways to get the thinking skills to stretch and grow that strategy games/toys force while academic learning does not. You dont have to buy stuff if you dont want to, but if you dont, youll need to make up for it with even more verbal one-on-one time. Kids this age thrive on skill-building.
Most cognitive development occurs in tandem with language so that your talking to your child with more reasoning-based or refined analysis will teach the child how to reason/analyze. But dont confuse this with your childs talking (expressive) ability, which may not match their cognitive ability. Three year old boys are ready to learn this stuff, even if they cant talk. This is easy to forget. Talk through the Who/What/Where/When/Why/How as if they understood it all. Youll be amazed how much it will start coming back to you by the time theyre four and five. Also remember: All Problems are Opportunities. The more problems your child encounters and works out, the smarter she will ultimately be. This is because little children learn a lot by memory and

routine. When something is thwarted, however, the routine is interrupted and they are forced to think up new options. They are also forced to consider outside information like house rules or consequences. My husband and I stage problems sometimes to make things into learning opportunities. (Uh-oh. The power went out. Why did it go out? What could we do? or Uh-oh. I cant reach the game I want. And Daddys not here to help me. What do I do?) That said, here are some more (free!) ways to encourage problem-solving around the house 1. Simple chores and house projects are great teachers. Real-life applications with, almost always, problems to work through. 2. Reason through their own situations with themask the right questions and wait for them to respond, dont just fix everything or tell them the right conclusion.

3.

Be prepared to be in the moment. Learning opportunities come up frequently with

preschool children where theyre open to your guidance/moralizing, but you have to be prepared to do it on their timetable (usually never yours!) 4. Allow your child to make harmless mistakes and learn from them. Preschoolers often want their own way but are capable of realizing that adult advice makes more sense when shown. So work with their initiative. For example, they dont want to wear a coat so let them outside in the cold and see. They want a certain game that is too hard without supervision and you dont want to play, so let them see that they cant do it on their own and change their minds. Dont be cruel or unsafe. Just let their brains figure it out. Sometimes YOU will be the one who is surprised at their ingenuity! 5. Work on a project from beginning to end. This can teach a child so much. But it can also take a long time. For example, talk about needing enough food, go to the pantry to see, make a list of what you want to serve, whats in those things, go to the store to get them, take them home and put them away, start cooking the food, then eat it. Whew! (Try this with just one item or one easy meal first, like pizza.) 6. Tell them something isnt right and let them guess. As in, We cant go to bed until were all ready. But were not ready yet. What do we have to do?

7.

Always, always, always ask questions like, What do we do next? What should

you do? What do we need? This teaches children to think before they act, cry, or seek help. Most three to five year olds verbalize their thinking aloud rather than silently, so you can figure out whats making them upset or stuck. Older children may be able to answer Why? or What If? scenarios, which gives you a chance to get inside their thinking process and embellish or refine it as necessary.

Provide some colorful scrap paper and a small hole puncher for your toddler to punch as this allows her to develop her hand grip muscles. It also provides some colorful fun.
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Play a game of bean bag toss with him to stimulate hand and eye coordination.

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Language and Cognitive Skills

Bring a brown bag as you take a walk in the park or around the neighborhood. Encourage your toddler to pick up interesting objects that he finds along the way. Ask him open ended questions about what he observed and picked up. Help him study, feel and discuss the things he collected.
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Teach her about opposites. Cut out materials of different sizes, texture and shapes for her to feel and match or describe the difference.
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Have him listen to sounds made by different things. Ask him to describe the thing that made the sound.
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Play scavenger hunt with themes such as shapes, opposites or textures with your toddler.
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Tell her simple riddles and have her guess the answers.
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Play pretend with your toddler. This will stimulate her imagination and creativity.

Listening and Memory Skills

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Play a memory game or a matching game.

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Buy jigsaw puzzles with large pieces to play with your toddler.
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Play a game of "Simon Says." It helps with your toddler's listening skills. Besides, he will love all the action and mimicking.

Creative Expansion

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Play with play dough or clay dough, or let her help you bake some cookies.
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Let him draw, color and paint.

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Listen to a variety of music with her and dance along with the music.

Read more: How to Create Stimulating Activities For Toddlers | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_2047028_create-stimulating-activitiestoddlers.html#ixzz2BigpHWTi