10 Game-Changing Tips to Grow a Thinking Culture
As an educator, you have the incredible power to shape the future. Teaching children what and how to think gives them the tools to become creative, independent thinkers ready to tackle any challenge. These strategies aren’t just about boosting knowledge—they’re about empowering children to actively process, connect, and use that knowledge to solve real-world problems. Children who understand their thinking processes evolve from passive learners to proactive creators. This approach fuels critical thinking, resilience, and a lifelong passion for learning.
The vision? Children who don't just regurgitate facts but conceptualise, connect, and apply their knowledge in fresh and meaningful ways. They will grow into confident, adaptable thinkers—ready to take on a rapidly changing world with creativity, intelligence, and a deep sense of purpose. The strategies in this article are your toolkit for building this kind of future. Use them to help children grow into the thinkers and leaders our world needs.
10 Tips for Supporting Cognitive Development in Early Childhood Education
Understanding how children think and learn can revolutionise your teaching. Here are some practical, brain-friendly strategies for nurturing their cognitive development.
Create a Rich, Stimulating Environment
Fill your classroom with sensory experiences and hands-on materials that encourage exploration. The more engaging the environment, the more active the brain becomes in problem-solving and learning.
Teach Children About Their Brain
Explain how their brains work! Help children understand their thinking hardware. Teaching them about the brain’s functions boosts their ability to self-regulate and enhance their learning.
Focus on Thinking Skills
It’s not just about what children learn but how they learn. Teach them how to recognise patterns, make connections, and understand the steps in a process. These are the foundational skills of independent learning.
Emphasise the Phases of Thinking: Input, Elaboration, Output
Teach children the steps of their thinking process:
Input: Recognise and label information.
Elaboration: Understand how ideas fit together.
Output: Express that knowledge through different mediums (drawing, speaking, building). This structure deepens their understanding.
Build Focus Through Simple Tasks
Focus is key. Start with simple activities that require attention to detail, like sorting objects. These exercises train the brain to zoom in on the details and see the bigger picture.
Encourage Conceptual Learning
Go beyond memorisation. Help children make connections between ideas. Show them how different things, like rulers and scales, are all part of a bigger concept (measurement). This will help them apply their knowledge in any context.
Develop Relational Knowledge
Help children see how concepts relate to each other. After teaching what a ruler does, compare it with different measurement tools. The more connections they make, the more powerful and versatile their knowledge becomes.
Mobilise Knowledge Through Hands-On Activities
Give children opportunities to use their knowledge in real-world situations. Offer both closed-ended tasks (with a set goal) and open-ended projects (where creativity runs wild). This will deepen their understanding and fuel creativity.
Support Communication Across Subjects
Each subject has its language. Teach children the specific vocabulary they need to express their understanding in different areas—math, science, language—to help them become fluent in the "language" of learning.
Promote Metacognition
Get children thinking about their thinking! Ask reflective questions like, “How did you solve this?” or “Why did you choose that method?” This helps them become more aware of their learning processes and strengthens their cognitive abilities.
The Power of Loose Parts and Materials in Developing Thinking Skills
One powerful way to support children's cognitive growth is by providing a rich array of materials encouraging exploration and creativity. I had the privilege of leading a project called INFINI, where children were given a variety of natural and recycled loose parts to create collages. The materials offered were not structured or prescriptive; children were invited to connect and arrange them however they wished, unleashing their creativity. What emerged from this process were collages that displayed an incredible level of cognitive complexity, even from four-year-olds.
As children worked with the materials, concepts such as symmetry, patterning, spacing, and design began to surface. Shapes like circles, squares, and other geometric forms naturally emerged, along with ideas like enclosure, containment, layering, and intersecting. These ideas were not only intuitively explored by the children. Still, they were also deeply connected to their growing understanding of how objects relate to each other and how they can organise information. For example, one child created a design featuring a central cardboard ring surrounded by a ring of leaves. In contrast, another made an intricate, symmetrical design with materials spaced on a base of small white tiles. These designs showed an aesthetic sense and an advanced grasp of spatial reasoning and organisational thinking.
During the project, children were invited to talk about their creations, explaining their thinking and their connections with the materials. This practice of verbalising their thought processes helped deepen their understanding and strengthened their metacognitive abilities. They were also supported with age-appropriate language and vocabulary, allowing them to reflect on their work more complexly. These conversations highlighted how cognitive development isn't just about the materials children use but also about connecting, organising, and communicating their ideas, turning abstract concepts into tangible, meaningful learning.
Best wishes for all your teaching as you and your students grow a culture of thinking
together.
Lili-Ann Kriegler (B. A Hons, H. Dip. Ed, M.Ed.) is a Melbourne-based education consultant and award-winning 'Power of Play' and 'Roots and Wings' author. Lili-Ann owns Kriegler Education and writes to share the wisdom she has acquired through her training and 30 years of experience in education. She is a child, parent and family advocate who believes education is a transformative force for humanity.
Website: https://www.kriegler-education.com/
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