As your toddler grows, there are a number of ways you can help them develop their cognitive abilities through early childhood learning. With continued practice, the skills you teach early on will help instill independence while teaching your child about the world around them. Here are three key ways you can help your toddler develop on a cognitive level.

3 Early Childhood Learning Techniques to Encourage Cognitive Development

1. Help Your Child Identify Shapes & Colors

Differentiating between shapes and colors helps us better understand the world around us. Helping your child identify shapes and colors can teach them how to sort and classify information. In addition, this can be a great vocabulary-building exercise that helps them describe and communicate ideas about their environment. There are a number of different ways you can do this, from asking your child to group together objects of the same color, to identifying colors in picture books, to pointing out colors and having them repeat them back to you.

2. Encourage Your Child to Make Choices

As your child develops, he or she will need to start making independent decisions. To start this process early on, have them start to make everyday choices. For instance, ask them what they would like for snack time or what picture book they would like to borrow from the library. This early childhood learning technique will help them develop a decision-making ability that can help them later in life. In addition, it will encourage them to build independence and self-sufficiency in the process.

3. Involve Your Child in Clean-up Time

When it’s time to put the toys away for the day, why not get your child involved in clean-up time? Instilling some basic organizational principles can help your child understand that items have a specific place when they’re not being used. As they start to put their toys away and learn where they go, they’ll begin to develop memory, learn about spatial relationships, and learn to correct their mistakes in the process. As they improve, they’ll learn to take pride in their efforts, which can motivate them to take on new skills.

If you’re looking to enroll your little one in a reputable early childhood learning facility, look no further than A Rising Star Children's Center. Proudly serving families in Cortlandt Manor and the surrounding areas for over 15 years, teachers work closely with parents to help their children develop both within their preschool programs and at home. Providing a focused learning style with daily objectives, lesson plans, and evaluations, the award-winning curriculum at this licensed daycare encourages children to become leaders in the classroom. For more information about their programs and preschool services, give them a call today at (914) 788-4582 or visit them online for more information.