Cognitive Development in Early Childhood Education

Early childhood education class’s focus on many aspects of a child’s learning including emerging cognitive skills. Cognitive skills include many things such as pretend play, role playing, social skills and pre-literacy skills. These cognitive skills help children to prepare for a more formal education once they reach elementary school.

Pretend Play & Role Playing

This form of cognitive skills causes metacognition which is the ability to think about the thought process involved in pretend play. Children are encouraged to think about their role and determine the appropriate response according to the role they are playing. Although pretend play and role playing seem like child’s play, when children are playing house or playing doctor, this pretend play is very important for emerging cognitive skills in early education.

Social Skills

Social skills are also very important to the cognitive development of early childhood students. Interacting with peers promotes an awareness of others feelings and the development of empathy in young children. This awareness helps children to expand their thought process to include the feelings of others around them as well as their own desires and needs. Another cognitive skill that emerges during the early childhood education years is the ability to manage conflict appropriately.

Pre-literacy Skills

Connections begin in early childhood that leads to a child’s understanding of pictures and symbols and how these represent an item or object that they recognize. This cognitive development is necessary for children to develop literacy skills once they reach elementary school age. Children begin to recognize basic words such as their name or the name of their favorite cereal during these years. Although phonics have not yet been introduced in place this symbolization is an important cognitive skill that emerges during the early childhood education years.