Childcare Crafts for Cognitive Development in Children

The first few years of a child's life are a whirlwind of cognitive development. The childcare setting is an opportunity to help children maximize that development and reach their full potentials. There are a variety of educational craft activities that childcare professionals can use to enhance the cognitive development of their students while entertaining them at the same time.

Sensory Activities

• Sensory activities engage the child's senses to enhance cognitive development. Use cardboard tubes and paper and beans to make shakers. Put the beans inside the tube and staple the paper over the ends of the tubes for almost-instant musical instruments. You can also staple two paper plates together with the beans inside to make a sort of tambourine. Children also learn by getting messy. Finger painting, glue and glitter, modeling clay or dough, gluing with pipe cleaners, tissue paper, pompoms and beans are also useful. Making a bird feeder by covering a pine cone with peanut butter and birdseed is another sensory activity that is also educational. These activities stimulate the senses while teaching cause and effect and problem-solving.

Basic Concepts

• Basic concepts are those cognitive skills that allow individuals to understand the world around them and make meaning out of language. Children learn categorization by cutting out farm and zoo animals and gluing them in the appropriate place. Allow children to color a sheet of paper gray and glue a cotton ball on top for a game of "The bunny is on top of the rock/on the bottom of the rock." You could also play the game by not gluing it on the paper and play "Make the bunny go over the rock/ under the rock, on the rock/off the rock, in front of the rock/behind the rock."

Imaginative Play

• Children love to play imaginative games. Imaginative play increases problem-solving, creative thinking and social skills. Use paper to make hats to use for play. For example, make a cone shape with a sheet of paper for a princess hat. Make a zig-zag pattern for children to cut out and staple the ends together for a crown. Then allow the children to make up a play activity to act out. Make puppets with paper lunch bags. Allow the children to simply draw faces on the bags or provide them with dog ears, cat ears and rabbit ears to cut out and glue on.

Building Activities

• Children can use household items to build things to develop a variety of skills such as problem-solving, visual and spatial discrimination and social. Help them make a city using cardboard boxes or containers. This activity is also useful for teaching community skills by allowing children to create fire stations, schools, hospitals and other community buildings. Allow them to work together to maximize social skills. Use craft sticks or sugar cubes to build a house or castle.