any idea how i can help a 5 year olds cognitive development?

Answer 1

Talk to him/her about all kinds of things - how things work, what you'll be doing or going and why, ideas, anything at all.

If you picture the child's world as a store like WalMart, and imagine how everything in his/her home/school falls into a category, you can see what there is to talk about if you think in terms of departments.

There are things in the home that would fall under "electrical" (how lights work, how the power comes into the house, where it comes from in the first place, etc.). There is "plumbing". How the water comes in and goes, where the pipes are, how a toilet flushes, how a washing machine works, etc. There is "gardening". There are office and school supplies (how computers do one things or another, how the paper goes through the printer, how inkjets work, how people used to use typewriter and carbon paper, etc.). There is "home improvement" (how wallpaper is put up or made, what paint is for what, what deck stain is, where carpets come from, etc. There is "home decorating" (why you like green drapes in your dining room, why kitchen and living room curtains are different, colors, artwork, anything.) There are health products and personal products. You can talk about who uses what for what and why it may be better to use one thing or something else. You can talk about first aid or how old girls should be before they wear make-up.

If you think of the departments in a store or even the aisles in your supermarket you can think of things to talk about with a child. If you talk about things like how batteries work it will give them a headstart in that particular area of science. If you talk about how much milk and bread costs and let them see the grocery slip it will give them a head start on things like money, change, how the register shows what you bought and even the cashier's name.

Talk about weather, the sky, the ocean, and animals.

Play word, letter, and number games.

Talk about why you have to go to the Post Office, bank, car insurance office, mechanic, vet, or wherever else you may be going that day.

It doesn't have to be a matter of "teaching" or lecturing all day long. If you just talk about what you're doing, what they're doing, and things that pop into your mind while you're driving, shopping, or just spending time together it all adds up to building their "information bank".

If they've had some exposure to things like science, math, words, and history those subjects will be very familiar to them later; and they will meet those subjects with at least some basic exposure to them (which always helps).

In addition to talk, make sure they have a wide range of activities/toys which include toys that encourage cognitive skills, fine motor skills, large motor skills, social skills, and imagination. Have plenty of books around for them to browse (stories for young children or even just picture books that show any number of interesting things (adventure picture, animals, mechanical things, etc.)

Answer 2

Over the course of development, children use more and more
sophisticated methods to remember, and their memory performance improves as a result. Although young infants (before 3 months of age) demonstrate memory capacity when they recognize and remember familiar people, smells, objects, etc. in their environment, the use of intentional strategies for remembering have not been documented until around two years of age. These early strategies for remembering include: looking,
pointing, and naming.
The most rapid cognitive development takes place during the first few years of life when the brain is growing rapidly. As a following sections on Piaget's theory and memory development
indicate, however, cognitive development is best described as a life-long process.

Jean Piaget (1896-1980) spent most of his adult life describing the cognitive development of children. Although Piaget was never trained as a psychologist (his schooling was biology and zoology)
his theory of cognitive development has had dramatic impact on how we view the abilities of children.
Piaget felt that cognitive development proceeded through four stages:
Sensory Motor Stage: last from birth to ~18 months of age
Preoperational Stage: last from 2-7 years
Concrete Operations: covers the years 7-12
Formal Operations: extends to 12 years on.

Answer 3

Lots of love, interaction, and positive reinforcement. Make learning fun too and keep tasks short and snappy because children of this age have short attention spans.

Reading with children is a must and discussing what is in the corresponding pictures is a good way to make it interactive.

When they say or do something good, get excited and show them you're really proud with affection and lots of verbal encouragement. They'll be more inclined to keep impressing you that way.

Be wary of too much TV and when they do watch it, sit with them and talk about what is going on. Try not to just have it on in the background at home. Same as us, if TV's on then the little person will be less inclined to think for themself or use their imagination.

Answer 4

the best option is to get hold of a book by the sweedish pyschologist Jean Piaget. His work contains tasks for children in the preoperatinal stage which is children under 7 years old, or even search google for some of these tasks : prespective taking task or the conservation task. Also work from David Wood explains the improtnace of parent - child interaction

Answer 5

I have a few million ideas but I'll keep it simple.
As much experience as you can offer the child
five year olds are at a perfect age for fiddly contruction toys to aid fine motor development.
Painting for motor skills and emotional expression and color recognition and understanding materials

READ LOTS

more and more complex jigsaws but remember
There is what is knows as a proximal zone of development. PZD

This is the place a child reaches to move smoothly to the next area of development
Put simply he wont learn if you give him a four piece jigsaw at 5 yrs old
Neither will he learn if you give him a 5000 piece jigsaw.
watch and see what level of ability and understanding he is at and gently move him to a higher one

Answer 6

Make sure that they are loved and that they feel that they are loved. Don't push to hard, if the potential isn't in them then you can't force it in to them. Essentially what you have to do is make sure that all their basic needs are met. These being the real basics like that they are well fed, that they feel secure, that they have safe and warm surrounding. check out Maslow's hierachy of needs when it comes to providing environments conducive to improving cognitive development.

I'm not really one for Piaget, most of his research was a little flawed as he chose to carry it out on his own children. This meant that they're reacting to him not as a random tester, but as a close relative. I much prefer the work of Vygotsky and following on from that, Bruner. It may be worth checking out Bruner's notion of the spiral curriculum.

But please remember one thing, not everyone is a genius, not everyone wants to be. Don't push or force children to do things or to perform to targets which are identified by you, let them set their own boundaries. Children, particularly younger ones, learn most when they are at play and they are enjoying themselves through practical experiences. So to help them best just spend time with them, play with them, share their lives, and you'll benefit from it as much as they will. The only other key point is make sure that they know that it is ok to fail. I don't mean just tell them that it is ok, I mean when they fall (literrally or metaphorically) be there to pick them back up, making mistakes is the best way we learn and if they are affraid to make mistakes then they won't learn as much as they could do through taking chances. Remember the man who never made a mistake, never made anything.

Answer 7

Wow he is really smart! I would say continue what your doing and when he turns 3 get him a tutor so the tutor can focus on him and only him.

Answer 8

1) Play with them

2) Read to them

3) Love them

and they will turn out pretty well.