The Most Important Factor

The one thing children definitely need to succeed in proper cognitive development is love.
A love guardian to show that they care, make sure the child follows a proper routine, help them with homework, teach them new things...everyday little things such as blowing bubbles and tying shoes means more than parents can imagine.
A child that is secure with the love they receive from their parents will be secure with themselves, thus giving them a head start in life. Love can provide the drive a child needs to succeed, to want to learn and better themselves.

Arts & Crafts

Utilizing a fun activity such as arts & crafts can be very educational. A child can learn hand-eye coordination, creativity, patience, and to socialize. By making things other of play-doh, painting, playing with clay, making t-shirts, building bottle rockets...the list goes on. Imagination is key. Children need to learn creativity, it makes them unique and helps them develop a sense of self.

Learn by Experience

Children thrive for knowledge. They are constantly asking "What's that?" "Why?" "How does that work?" Exposing children to things will open up even more questions, and more learning.
Places to go in the Philadelphia area:
Philadelphia Zoo: http://www.philadelphiazoo.org/
Elmwood Park Zoo: http://www.elmwoodparkzoo.org/
Please Touch Museum: http://www.pleasetouchmuseum.org/
The Franklin Institute: http://www2.fi.edu/
Adventure Aquarium: http://www.adventureaquarium.com/

All have education programs set up just for children so they can learn about music, animals, and how things work.

Musical Instruction

Introducing music to a child can never happen too early. A child's mind loves to explore, and music helps them do that.

Once a child reaches age 3, they can begin lessons. They may not pick it up right away, but studies have proven that musical instruction is directly related to spatial–temporal reasoning abilities.

Spatial–temporal reasoning abilities include putting puzzels together, and recognizing shapes. These skills are crucial for a child, and help them develop into their best potential.

Early Language Development Site: Starfall.com

http://starfall.com is a fantastic tool for parents to use to develop language skills in young children. They will learn the pronunciation of letters, the different sounds they can make, and then lead into reading.
It also provides numerous worksheets parents can print out, sign language instruction, and curriculum's already pre-made.
The site is very entertaining for children, and fun for the parents to participate in and watch their children learn before their eyes.

Healthy Cognitive Development: Proper Nutrition

Proper nutrition isn't just good for the body, it's good for the mind. A child needs a balanced diet to succeed in school, because it promotes healthy brain development. A child that feels good physically, will feel good mentally. Parents who set a good example for their children, will give their children the tools they need to consistently eat a healthy diet for many years to come.

Interview with Jess & Ben, 23 months old

I had the opportunity to ask some questions to a mother I admire greatly. Her son is one of the most intelligent little boys I have ever encountered. His verbal skills are tremendous. Jess, his mother, with her special parenting has expanded her young sons knowledge; exceeding the expectations of a normal 23 month old.

-How old is your son? 23 months

-What do you feel are his greatest achievements so far with cognitive development? That's a hard question. His ability to observe, remember and dictate scenarios impresses me. His ability to to spend an hour "in character" when playing pretend. That he speaks, not only in full sentences, but in full paragraphs. That he reads some words, can spell others out loud, and can tell you what some words you spell out loud are just by letter recognition. I think by far the most impressive at the moment is that he's able to take one toy off of his shelf at a time and then put it back when he's done, before he removes another. But that may just be because I'm lazy.

-What have you personally done to enhance his learning? Any specific programs or a learning technique? I try to follow through with anything he's interested in. I explain things, probably further than any mom of a 2 year old needs to, but he soaks it up. We follow a modified "letter of the week" curriculum that includes a "learning poster" with the theme, letter, shape, color and letter-words of the week. We do activities based on the theme/letter (i.e. rainbows, we paint a picture of a rainbow or the letter D, we read books about dogs, dragons, dinosaurs, etc.) that are age and interest appropriate. He's also done "Your Baby Can Read" on and off since he was 6 months. I found that he gets bored with it quickly and seems to learn new words easier when he shows an interest in a specific word and we work on learning it from there.

-What do you think has been most beneficial for Ben when it comes to his cognitive development? His never-ending interest and that everyone follows through on that interest as far as we can take it. If he wants to know how a something works, we teach him how to use it. If he asks, I answer. We try to keep him constantly busy, otherwise he gets bored and frustrated. With things going all the time, I spend a lot of time interacting with him. I think that helps quite a bit.


-Do you plan to homeschool? Will you be using "unschooling"? We do plan to homeschool and we are planning on using a modified unschooling. We're quite taken by Montessori, as well, and have been using a mix up to this point.

Early Language Development: Baby Talk

This is a video of my son at 16 months. You cannot understand a word he is saying. We were never once concerned with his language development. Our Pediatrician told us to not encourage the baby talk, so we would pretend our son was talking normally. But in his mind, he was talking to us, he made up his own language that I still to this day can't tell you what he was saying!

It is tempting to use baby talk, but refrain from doing so. It's okay when the child is very young, but when they start repeating, it's best to use actual words. The child will not use the entire word "bottle" but will shorten it on their own to "baba." This is okay. They have assimilated the word "baba" with "bottle" which is most important.

Continue to talk to your child as if they are an older child, explain to them what things are and if they ask for something explain to them what they should say, such as "please" and then the object. They cannot form complete sentences instantly, it takes time.

Reading!

Reading. Such a simple thing you can do with your children everyday to instill a lifetime of love for learning.

You can never start to early. Reading to a child is how they learn to speak, read, and associate words with objects.

While reading, point to the objects that the story is referring to such as "red ball" or "green fish." This will help the young child learn colors and objects.