Preschool Cognitive Development
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3 Year Old
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Short sentences
896 Words
Great growth in communication
Tells simple stories
Uses words as tool of thought
Answers questions
Imaginative
May recite few nursery rhymes
4 Year Old
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Uses complete sentences
1540 words
Asks endless questions
Learning to generalize
Highly imaginative
Dramatic
Can draw recognizable objects
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Which way is the bus below traveling?
To the left or to the right?
Can't make up your mind?
Look carefully at the picture again.
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90% of the pre-schoolers said:
'The bus is traveling to the left.'
When asked, “Why do you think the bus is
traveling to the left?”
They answered:
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“Because you can't see the door to get on the bus.”
How does it make you feel?
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Common household objects being put into
categories according to similarities.
Examples
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Blocks, buttons, silverware, colored items, laundry
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Grouping nature objects into categories
according to their similarities.
Examples:
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Rocks, boys/girls, bathrooms, people characteristics,
animals, things in nature
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Organizing objects according to increasing or
decreasing qualities.
Example
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Age, height, weight, length, lining up, building a
snowmen, your lockers
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Step by step pattern of event put into correct
order.
Example
Directions in cooking, a story,
 a snowman being built and then melting into water,
 following correct order to performing a task
 Your class schedule or job responsibilities
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Building or doing and then undoing it
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Example
Zip and unzip,
 build a sand castle and wreck it,
 block tower and wreck it,
 tie and untie
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Understanding that an objects physical
dimensions and amounts remain the same even
though its appearance changes
Example
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Pouring liquid from one cup into another shaped
cup. Smashing a cookie dough ball or play dough, 2
different shaped cookies or containers of food.
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Changing an object’s
state.
Example
Popcorn
Water into ice or ice into water,
powder jello mix into jiggly jello and then adding hot
water to the jello to turn it back into a liquid,
 growing older with age,
 a seed into a plant,
 dough into bread
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1. Unfinished Picture
2. Matching terms
- How many do you know?
Pop popcorn
Inquisitive
Symbols
Comic-why
Reading stories
3 little pigs
YES and NO
Everyday
Experiences
Picture questions
Make-Believe Play
Opinions
Tea party
Egocentric
Experiment
Popcorn maker
Parental Attitude
Limited Focus
Test
Bunny math
Talk
Conservation
Language Ability
Comic-dough
Chores
Check list
Preoperational
Stage
Comic-bug
Problem Solving
Flour/flower
PREOPERATIONAL THINKING
Words learned
Child asking
Concepts learning
Caregiver asking
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1. Language ability
Q. This reveals a child’s intellectual development: how they think, their interests,
and their personalities.
2. Preoperational Stage
A. Jean Piaget said that preschoolers are in this cognitive stage
3. Experiment
L. Allow children to explore and _________. This is how they learn about their
world.
4. Parental Attitude
O. This largely influences a preschoolers enjoyment in reading, learning, school,
art, music…
5. Everyday Experiences
F. Preschoolers learn best by participation and involvement in these.
6. Chores
K. Preschoolers need to be included in ______and daily clean up tasks around the
house.
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7. Symbols
B. In the preoperational stage, a preschooler learns that these represent objects and words.
8. Limited Focus
E. A preoperational form where kids find it hard to concentrate on more than one feature of an
object at a time.
9. Problem Solving
P. Preschoolers begin to develop this skill as their cognitive abilities improve.
10. Reading Stories
N. Spending time doing this with kids is an effective way to introduce them to reading. It makes
learning easier and more fun.
11. Talk
G. Look for opportunities to ___________ with a child about what they are seeing, doing, and
experiencing. This will increase learning.
12. Egocentric
D. Viewing the world in terms of their own ideas and wants shows this preoperational stage.
13. Opinions
I. Ask a child’s views or ________ on subjects to increase their learning.
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14. Conservation
R. A cognitive skill where a child understands that even though one
property of an object changes, the other property still remains the same.
15. Inquisitive
H. Children are naturally this way. They ask a lot of questions because
they are curious and want to understand the world around them.
16. Test
M. Success of a child depends upon qualities like motivation,
determination, creativity, and self-confidence, not on _________ scores.
17. YES and NO
J. Ask questions to a preschooler that requires more than these type of
answers to increase learning
18. Make-Believe play
C. This preoperational characteristic is imitating real-life situations in
fantasy play