First and foremost, the senses are a common language we all share. If you think about it, all societies and cultures are built on the tacit agreement of what things are and what they are called. That’s probably why so much of early learning and all of early language acquisition centers around identifying people, places and things – the tangibles in our world that children can understand through their physical and sensory experiences.

 

But more than just knowing the names of things, the senses hold the key to significant advancements in your child’s cognitive processing.

 

Learning How to Analyze & Reason

Children come to understand things by connecting new ideas with what they already know. For instance, raspberries (new) are like strawberries (known). Both are small, red, juicy, and sweet. These sensory similarities give the brain clues to understanding the new information and decide what to do about it. If you like strawberries, you may want to try raspberries.

 

As simple as that sounds, CLASSIFICATION is an essential critical reasoning skill that comes in handy all day, every day. For instance, ask your child, ”Please, put your toys away.”  If your child doesn’t understand that their dolls and their blocks are both “toys,” they will not understand your request.