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Play permits the child to resolve in symbolic form unsolved problems of the past and to cope directly or symbolically with present concerns. It is also his most significant tool for preparing himself for the future and its tasks.
--Bruno Bettelheim, child psychologist
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Cognitive Development
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The beginning of cognitive development comes with intentionality, the discovery that they can perform an action on purpose. Learning that the individual can produce a behavior volitionally and that such behavior has an effect on the world around him or her is a major accomplishment.
The next step is Means-End Behavior. Sometimes people think of “cause and effect” when thinking of this type of activity, but it is not limited to that sort of play and exploration. For a child, means-end behavior can also be enhanced by a responsive social environment where their signals of communication or discomfort are responded to quickly by the caregiver.
Trial and Error Exploration is about developing the child’s ability to learn from experience and to develop problem-solving skills. It’s different from teaching a child how to do a specific task. It has more to do with the process, letting the child’s actions lead to self-directed learning and the discovery of new solutions.
Object Permanence is a concept which children usually develop near the end of the second year. They start the exploration with early activities like playing peek-a-boo. Eventually they discover that objects and people continue to exist even when they are out of sight. Through the development of this concept the child will move into other forms of cognitive development such as memory and mental representation.
Once these more basic skills have been established, the child is entering a stage where the beginning of memory skills and imitation skills, the ability to recreate an action observed at a previous time, (deferred or immediate) lead to the development of language skills.
Depending on the level of ability of the child, cognitive development will proceed toward academic readiness with alphabet recognition, number recognition and concept, matching, classification, association, etc.
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Toddler Tote - Lots of activities for the toddler on the go. A great toy for toddler travel or to take along to restaurants or wherever. Comes with large and small geometric shape puzzles, 3 animal puzzles (all of which you can use as stencils), 2 mini-pegboards and 7 Tall-Stacker™ pegs – all in its own 9” carrying case with handle. Age 2-5
By Lauri |
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Shape and Color Sorter - A fun activity for working on colors, shapes, sorting, counting and fine-motor skills. Kids have fun with the 25 chunky Crepe Rubber Shapes (5 each of 5 colors and shapes). Comes with 5 removable wooden pegss and a 11 1/2” long sorting board. How many different ways can the shapes be grouped? What patterns can you make? Age 2-6
By Lauri |
Primer Pak
A sampling of more challenging Lauri manipulatives for at home or on the go. This pack includes an 8” alphabet puzzle, 4 Fit-A-Space mini puzzles with shapes for stringing, 3 lacing shapes cards (with laces) and 25 crepe rubber octagon pieces for construction – all in its own 9” carrying case with handle. Age 3-6. By Lauri |
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Things in my House. - Let’s Play! Each player chooses an attic and a playing board, which features a house with four rooms. Place all of the room cards face down in an area where all players can reach them. Then, taking turns, draw one of the room cards to see if it matches with your house. If it does, place the card over the matching room, if it doesn’t, show the other players and return it face down to where you found it. The first player to find all of the room cards that match their house wins. Four additional game variations are included in the rules. What Do You Learn? Memory skills, verbalization, visual discrimination, association
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Sound Tracks
Unusual lotto game challenges kids to match clear pictures with sounds of familiar things like a baby's cry and a toilet flushing! Includes 4 multi-pictured cards, place markers, and a clear, well paced cassette of sounds. An ideal game for children with auditory processing challenges. Through Dragonfly Toys |
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Play acts as an integrating mechanism which enables children to draw on past experiences, represent them in different ways, make connections, explore possibilities, and create a sense of meaning….It integrates cognitive processes and skills which
assist in learning. Some of these develop spontaneously, others have to be learnt consciously in order to make learning more efficient. We would all like children to
become successful learners.
--Bennett et al. (1996)
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