There is always that nice feeling of achievement once your child attains a particular milestone. Whether delayed or early the joy is indescribable.  According to the scientific study on child Cognitive development, all children grow at their rate and timing. Parents have the ability to propel the growth by introducing multiple developmental activities such as outdoor and indoor play.

Cognitive Development  

Child Cognitive development is the process in which our brains build, process, and develop information that allows us to understand the world and interact with it safely. It enhances developmental skills like thinking, memory, processing, and understanding, especially for newborn babies.

Play and Child Cognitive development

Play is an essential way to pursue Child Cognitive development in early childhood. The activity is impactful as it affects multiple areas of life.  Brain grows due to exposure to new experiences and use of senses to experiment. These activities often involve problem-solving to assist children in understanding how to use logic to process information and make decisions.

Benefits of Child cognitive development activities in children

To develop cognitively and introduce kids to the world of possibilities, you need to check out the ways to promote cognitive development in children and the benefits of playing;

• Promotes critical thinking skills.
• Reinforces memory capabilities and attention.
• Enhances the communication and language skills of the child.
• It encourages child exploration and investigation of new things.
• Cognitive development boosts imagination and creativity.
• It strengthens problem-solving.
• It creates a child's patience and sharing ability.

Best activities for cognitive development in childhood

Simple activities go along way to boost kids cognitive. Parents can utilize common items, which are readily available.

• Mobiles

Hanging a mobile with sharp contrast and simple patterns above a crib may help newborns advance their vision. In addition, giving infants something to focus on may also encourage them to learn in new ways. This allows them to elevate cognitive development in simple technology.

• Rattles

Holding a rattle or other object may catch the baby's attention. It also encourages eye movement in babies by holding a rattle from the baby's face, waiting for them to focus on it, and slowly moving it from side to side. The practice is pretty beneficial as it develops eye-hand coordination.

• Family photos

Taking photos may help babies strengthen their memory by watching videos or looking through pictures of recognizable faces. This offers an understanding of how the brain makes a memory.

• Hide and Seek

Games like a jack-in-the-box, peekaboo, and hide-and-seek with an object can advance children's cognitive skills. This game helps children to understand several levels of knowledge concerning the thing that is not the same as their own.

• Tea parties

Pretend plays may help cognitive development in childhood. Communicating with each other on the telephone, building a house of blocks using a plastic hammer, cooking in a toy kitchen, or arranging a tea party may be some activities that children can use to enjoy and develop.

• Singing songs

You can integrate songs and moves that help the child to develop cognitive skills. Singing songs may also act as pedagogical and didactic tools for the baby.

• Crossword puzzles

Crossword puzzle sharpens children's cognitive abilities. Building vocabulary and filling in letters to answer the questions can also be helpful in cognitive development.

• Sounds

 Helping your child differentiate sounds and listening to plays like birds, instruments, or paper crinkling can be vital for your child. 

• Reading

Reading can be one of the best ways to advance language skills. It helps children to develop their spelling, punctuation, comprehension, and vocabulary. Children may learn new words and improve their writing abilities. This is an important activity that helps them in school and their lives.

• Problem-solving

Problem-solving is discovering solutions to questions by applying logic and reasoning. Children can learn more about problem-solving by playing games or using tools to create a specific object. These activities boost multiple growths your child, and allow for critical thinking.

• Planning

Planning may also be a process of improving cognitive development in children. This helps them to develop a system of steps to accomplish and achieve goals. You can practice this activity by asking them to list things they need to do.

• Cooking

Children can learn how to cook certain types of food by watching or learning from others. They can also learn from their devices by playing games that need them to cook or bake. This specific game helps to develop a child's cognitive abilities in various ways.

Various stages of cognitive development

Here are some stages emphasizing more on child cognitive development;

• Formal Operational stages

Children start to be abstract in their thoughts and can hypothesize answers and also be logical with their responses.

• Sensorimotor stage

In this stage, children learn about things around them through basic reflexes, senses, and physical responses.

• Pre-operational stage

Children start to think symbolically and can use words and pictures to represent their ideas and thoughts.

• Concrete Operational stage

At this stage, children begin to think logically and organize their thoughts. They also become less egocentric and reasonable.

Conclusion

Children learn and develop from the simplest of things, meaning parents can utilize available materials for cognitive enhancement. It’s parent’s responsibility to improve the skills regardless of the timing or milestone. It’s great to note it’s not your fault if your child delays in a milestone, provide the necessary help and it will surely but steadily come.