Thinking &
Problem-solving
How your child explores, learns, and begins to make sense of the world.
From the moment they’re born, children are curious. Every look, every touch, every dropped spoon is a learning experience. Thinking and problem solving develops gradually, from a newborn who stares at your face to a five-year-old who can count to ten, write their name, and tell you exactly what happened yesterday. Your everyday interactions fuel every step of that journey.
Infants: Birth to 1 Year
From the moment they’re born, babies are curious. Every look, touch, and sound is a learning experience, and your baby’s brain is growing faster in their first year than at any other time in life.
Your baby is taking everything in. They study faces, track moving objects with their eyes, and startle at new sounds. Even staring at a ceiling fan is your baby’s brain at work, noticing, comparing, and beginning to make sense of their surroundings. They’ll watch you as you move around the room and fix their gaze on a toy for several seconds at a time.
Babies start to realize their actions have effects. Kicking a mobile and watching it move, or cooing and getting a smile back, these moments teach your baby one of the most important early lessons: I can make things happen. Your baby is also exploring with their mouth, putting things in to learn what they are, and reach for toys they want.
Your baby is becoming an active explorer. They’ll mouth, shake, bend, and drop objects to learn what they do. They look for objects that have dropped out of sight and start banging two things together just to see what happens.
Your baby is starting to solve simple problems, figuring out how to get a toy that’s just out of reach, looking for things they watched you hide, and putting objects into containers. They’re also beginning to imitate what they see you do, which is one of the most powerful ways babies learn.
Something to Notice
Birth to 1 Year
Does your baby look for dropped or hidden things? Try different ways to explore a new toy? Watch carefully what you do and try to copy it?
Something to Try
Birth to 1 Year
Play simple hide-and-seek games. Hide a favorite toy under a cloth and watch your baby search for it. This builds memory, curiosity, and early problem-solving skills.
Toddlers: 1 - 3 Years
Toddlers are little scientists, They test, experiment, imitate, and figure things out through hands-on exploration and they need space and time to do it.
Your toddler is starting to use objects the way they’re meant to be used, holding a phone to their ear, drinking from a cup, turning pages in a book. They can put things into containers and stack at least two small objects.
Your toddler is copying your actions around the house, “helping” with chores, pushing a toy car the way they’ve seen you drive, pointing to pictures in books. They’re starting to understand what common household objects are for and playing with toys in purposeful, simple ways.
Problem-solving is getting more sophisticated. Your child can hold something in one hand while using the other, work with simple switches and buttons on toys, and play with more than one toy at a time. They’re beginning to sort shapes and colors, listen to short stories, complete simple puzzles, and match pictures to real objects. Their play is becoming more intentional and focused.
Pretend play is emerging, your child might feed a block to a stuffed animal as if it were food or use a banana as a phone. They’re also showing real problem-solving, standing on a stool to reach something, following two-step instructions, and beginning to identify at least one color. By 3, most children can draw a circle when shown how and are learning to recognize colors by name.
Something to Notice
1 - 3 Years
Is your child using objects the way they’re meant to be used? Imitating your actions? Beginning to sort, match, or pretend? Showing simple problem-solving?
Something to Try
1 - 3 Years
Give your toddler simple problems to solve, a shape sorter, stacking cups, or a basic puzzle. Resist the urge to jump in right away. Letting them struggle a little builds persistence and confidence alongside cognitive skills.
Preschoolers: 3 - 5 Years
Preschoolers are thinkers, planners, and wonderers. Their cognitive world is expanding rapidly, from colors and counting to storytelling and early literacy.
You child can name several colors, draw a person with three or more body parts, and tell you what comes next in a familiar story. They’re beginning to understand the concept of time, not fully, but in simple ways. They are starting to connect what they know to what they’re learning. They also understand basic safety, like not touching something hot when warned.
This is when early academic skills start to emerge, and they’re built on everything that came before. Your child is counting to 10, writing some letters in their name, and making letters when pointed to. They’re using time words like “yesterday” and “tomorrow”, paying attention for 5 to 10 minutes during activities they enjoy, and showing genuine curiosity about how things work and why. By 5, your child’s thinking is more organized, more flexible, and more connected, and tell you a storying with a beginning, middle and end.
Something to Notice
3 - 5 Years
Is your child counting, naming colors, and recognizing letters? Engaging in pretend play with a storyline? Paying attention for longer stretches? Asking lots of “why” questions?
Something to Try
3 - 5 Years
Follow your child’s curiosity. When they ask “Why is the sky blue?” or “Where does the rain come from?” take the question seriously, look it up together, talk it through, or find a book about it. Curiosity is the engine of learning.
Find Support
Explore these helpful resources to find friendly, expert support in your own community.
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Find Support
Explore these helpful resources to find friendly, expert support in your own community.