Hesperian Health Guides

Increasing your child's thinking skills

In this chapter:

a man thinking as a child sits on his shoulders touching a tree branch.
I’ll put Raimon on my shoulders so he will know how big the tree is.

As your child develops, he must learn to use his skills to form more complete ideas about the world around him. You can help by providing him with many different opportunities to learn about his world.

To increase your child’s thinking skills

Help your child learn more about objects by teaching him to feel the whole object, even when it is very large. Encourage him to identify the object’s size, shape, weight, and feel.

If your child can see a little, ask him to describe objects to you or to draw them. This way you will know if he sees well enough to understand what the object really looks like. If he has not seen the object correctly, explain what it is like.

a woman speaking to a boy standing near a dog.
What a nice dog.
Can you tell me
what he looks
like?

Help your child learn about all the different parts of an activity. For example, take your child with you to explain all the things you must do to prepare a meal.

a woman speaking to a child as she gathers tomatoes.
Armando, first I get tomatoes from the garden...
the woman gathering eggs.
...and eggs from the chickens
the woman speaking as she works in a kitchen.
Then I can chop the tomatoes and cook eggs for supper.

Help your child learn how objects can change. For example, in the cooking example above, the child can also learn how the vegetables and eggs change and feel different after cooking.

the woman speaking as she cracks an egg into a a bowl.
Armando, remember the hard, round egg we got from the chicken? Feel how slippery and wet it is inside.
the woman handing the child a bowl.
And here is the same egg, cooked. Now it is soft and warm for you to eat.

Help your child connect one experience with another. For example:

a man speaking as a child puts his hand in a river.
Juan, feel how cold the water in the river is.
the man and child putting their hands in a basin next to a barrel.
This is water, too, Juan. But it’s warmer from being in a barrel in the sun.