V

Cognitive Development

A

Understanding Stability and Change

Child recognizes and develops the ability to explain how material objects change and how they remain stable.

8–16 months – See this age across all domains Infants

Ways educators might support the child's development

• Read books like Where’s Spot? and encourage the baby to lift the flaps; share in the baby’s excitement
• Sing “Where is Thumbkin?” while slowly revealing your hands and fingers and then folding them away

B

Representing

Child uses symbolic thought to represent.

8–16 months – See this age across all domains Infants

Ways educators might support the child's development

• Provide materials for the child to imitate caregiving routines
  • Doll stroller
  • Brush or comb
  • Bottle
• P lay games with a script (“Where is Mommy?” “There is Mommy!” “Where is baby?” “There is baby… there you are!”)

C

Memory and History

Child develops the ability to store, retrieve, and share information about past experiences.

8–16 months – See this age across all domains Infants

Ways educators might support the child's development

• Create opportunities for repetitious play so that the child will say, “again,” and be willing to play the same game repeatedly
• Have designated places to put things; include pictures on the shelves to remind children where objects go
• Document everyday play in pictures and create photo albums or displays at child level; spend time talking with children about the pictures

D

Investigating and Exploring

Child becomes a scientific thinker by manipulating objects, asking questions, making observations and predictions, and developing generalizations.

8–16 months – See this age across all domains Infants

Ways educators might support the child's development

• Identify and create safe spaces and places for exploring new and different experiences
• Invite children to manipulate objects and feel their texture, weight, and size; this can include pine cones, rocks, leaves, and feathers, for example
• Join the child in paying attention to sights, sounds, smells, and textures
  • Listen to the birds together
  • Smell the hotdog stand
  • Feel the breeze while swinging

E

Understanding Cause and Effect

Child understands and explores the causes and effects of actions and events.

8–16 months – See this age across all domains Infants

Ways educators might support the child's development

• Respond promptly to the child’s efforts to initiate an interaction, for example, if the child makes eye contact with the educator and then covers their eyes, the educator may say, “You want to play peek-a-boo.”
• Push children on a swing so the motion of going away and coming back supports their developing sense of prediction

F

Engineering: Problem-solving with Materials

Child plans and uses hands, tools, and technology to solve problems with materials.

8–16 months – See this age across all domains Infants

Ways educators might support the child's development

• Create an environment with loose parts that the baby may freely explore
  • Water cooler jugs and balls that children can drop through the top
  • Containers with lids that children can attempt to pry off
  • Buckets, baskets, bags, and purses for carrying materials around
  • Boxes, blocks, and safe bean bags

G

Math

1. Comparing and Categorizing

Child recognizes some similarities and differences between familiar and unfamiliar people, objects, or experiences.

8–16 months – See this age across all domains Infants

Ways educators might support the child's development

• Describe objects by their size, color, and shape (“You are rolling the big, red ball.”)
• Talk about which objects go together during caregiving routines (“I am getting ready to change your diaper. I need a clean diaper, wipes, and gloves.”)
• Play language games that emphasize speech sounds; for example, repeat the consonant sounds that the baby makes

2. Number Sense and Quantity

Child understands and explores numbers and quantity.

8–16 months – See this age across all domains Infants

Ways educators might support the child's development

• Use comparative vocabulary as you interact with children (“Carla has more cars than Shante.”)
• Slowly count with children throughout the day. How many
  • Steps on the staircase?
  • Keys on a ring?
  • Wheels on a car?

3. Patterning

Child develops the ability to identify, describe, extend, and create patterns.

8–16 months – See this age across all domains Infants

Ways educators might support the child's development

• Talk to families about the rhythms of their caregiving routines, in order to reaffirm children’s sense of what comes next
• Play back-and-forth games with children
  • Rolling balls
  • Swinging
  • Handing objects back and forth
• Use vocabulary related to patterns: “my turn” and “your turn”

4. Spatial Sense and Geometry

Child understands how objects, points, lines, and shapes fit in space.

8–16 months – See this age across all domains Infants

Ways educators might support the child's development

• Encourage pointing at objects, and verbally acknowledge the item that is being pointed to
• Provide materials in the learning environment that support the development of spatial sense
  • Shape sorter
  • Nesting cups
  • Ring stackers
  • Simple knob puzzles
• Provide collections of objects that are the same shape
  • A collection of cubes, including boxes and blocks
  • A collection of circles, including rings, lids, and round pieces of paper