There are two parts to cognitive learning:

1. Developing learning skills. Understanding cause and effect, knowing how to read, the ability to add and subtract, sequencing and thinking logically, and knowing how to find answers to questions, are all examples of cognitive skills.
2. Developing factual knowledge. The ability to name animals, plants, shapes, and colors, knowing the difference between something that is alive and something that is not, understanding what a number represents, and developing vocabulary are all examples of factual knowledge.

There are many ways to foster children’s cognitive development. Reading aloud, using video and computers, planning hands-on activities, allowing children time for free play, and incorporating learning strategies into your everyday routines, you can help children become excellent learners. There are literally thousands of resources designed to help children build cognitive skills and subject area knowledge. A good starting point is watching A Place of Our Own and visiting these websites:

http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/ect/roots.htm
Simple explanations of the basic philosophies of early childhood education and where the ideas came from is a great starting point for anyone caring for children.

Scholastic has developed a variety of resources for different learning areas:

http://www.scholastic.com/earlylearner/parentandchild/

science/7steps.pdf
A quick reference from Parent and Child magazine on how to promote scientific thinking.

http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/ect/

science_agebyage.htm
A quick reference on age-by-age recommendations for doing science with preschoolers

http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/ect/mathconcepts.htm

A very handy chart summarizing math concepts appropriate for various ages and stages.

http://www.pbs.org/wholechild/abc/cognitive.html

This thinking skills chart from the PBS series, The Whole Child, can help you know what children are capable of at various stages of development.

Language and Literacy

http://pbskids.org/lions/parentsteachers/resources/tips/
The PBS series, Between the Lions has created one of the most comprehensive sites online about literacy for beginning readers. Click here to find ten quick tips that can help you encourage children’s reading and language development.

http://www.famlit.org/ProgramsandInitiatives/HFLI/

hfli_working.cfm

Resources on reading and language development from the National Center for Family Literacy and the Hispanic Family Literacy Institute

http://www.rif.org/educators/advicetips/default.mspx

A very useful collection of tips, articles, and resources on reading and emergent literacy has been collected by the folks at Reading is Fundamental.

http://www.pbs.org/parents/bookfinder/

PBS, in cooperation with the American Library Association, provides annotated book recommendations searchable by topic for both children and adults on a range of topics relating to emotions, behavior, getting along with others, health and safety, healthy media use, difference and diversity, disabilities, reading and language development, etc.