Cognitive development refers to the process of increasing knowledge and understanding of the surrounding environment and how an individual interacts with that environment. Activities promoting cognitive development range from simple problem-solving or classification games for young children to more advanced information processing for older children. Adults also benefit from cognitive development
. activities by continuing brain stimulation throughout life. One foundation of cognitive development revolves around the process of growth and learning in this area. Growth and understanding occur in a sequential process. As a result, an infant or young child learns basic rules about their environment, language processing and information processing. As the child matures, additional knowledge layers on the early foundations and, over time, provides a basis for decision-making and intuitive conclusions. Providing a child with a strong cognitive foundation enables future growth and understanding. Playing simple games such as peek-a-boo with infants help develop cognitive skills as it teaches the child to recognize cause and effect of the game and that playmates appear and disappear. For older infants and toddlers, activities such as shape sorting games help develop problem-solving skills while simple puzzles and matching games help develop the ability to work through a problem intellectually. Even simple daily conversation helps cognitive development. Stating the names of items or descriptions such as color helps a child gain the vocabulary and knowledge of the surrounding environment. Regardless of age, certain activities continually improve cognitive development and skill. Activities such as reading, puzzle solving and memory games all contribute to continuing cognitive development throughout life. In adulthood, these activities provide additional benefits by keeping the mind engaged and active. In addition, anecdotal evidence points to a reduction in the risks of diseases such as dementia as a result, although this cause and effect is not certain. Finding age appropriate cognitive development activities only requires a few moments of research or a bit of creativity. Numerous suggestions exist online or in books, while daily activities provide even more opportunities to encourage growth and development. Whether using a formalized activity or just leveraging daily life, people of all ages benefit from continuing focus on cognitive development. http://humsci.auburn.edu/~abellel/beeprogram/links/resourceupdates/activities/activities.htm or http://www.healthofchildren.com/C/Cognitive-Development.html
