Attention, problem solving, memory and early reasoning.
Size is relative, not fixed — the middle cup is both big and small depending on what it sits beside. Grasping that a label can change with context is a real…
8 minSearching for a known number of items requires holding the target in mind while scanning, which is sustained attention with a goal attached. Keeping the count…
8 minNesting forces every item to be compared against every other, which is ordering by size done physically rather than abstractly. The container either fits or it…
10 minMatching one item to one place is one-to-one correspondence, and it has to be in place before counting means anything. A child who recites numbers without it is…
10 minRotating an object to match an opening is spatial problem-solving with instant, honest feedback: it either drops through or it does not. The child adjusts…
12 minVarying one thing — the slope — while keeping the objects the same is the shape of a controlled comparison. At this age the child is not reasoning about it…
12 minSorting by one property while ignoring others is the foundation of classification, and doing it on a real chore means the rule has a visible purpose. Ignoring…
10 minOrdering a familiar routine requires holding a whole sequence in mind and comparing it to what is in front of them. Being the one who spots the adult's error…
10 minThis requires holding a mental image of what was there and comparing it to what is there now — an early exercise in visual working memory, and one of the few…
10 minMatching an object to its outline means recognising it by shape alone, with colour, weight and texture stripped away. That reduction to form is the same…
12 minMatching identical items is the simplest form of the comparison that underlies all later classification. Attaching the word 'same' at the moment of the match is…
12 min