The ability to problem solve using newly-acquired information is an important achievement for kindergartners. Your kindergartner should learn to approach new problems with curiosity and creativity, seeking potential solutions that can be explored through experimentation. She should also demonstrate persistence in finding the solution that best solves the problem. For a mathematical example, if you tell your kindergartner that half the students in his class have brown hair and ask her to generate the number of students that equals, she should be willing to explore different methods for ascertaining that number.
Also important are your kindergartner’s developing logical thinking skills. These skills can include the ability to classify objects by a specific property, like color or shape; being able to compare objects based on their characteristics, such as size or weight; or recognizing simple patterns and being able to recreate them, such as identifying a correct sequence of numbers. Your kindergartner can demonstrate this, for example, by grouping a series of objects by their physical properties as she explores the early scientific study of weights and measures or as learns to count money in math lessons.
Your kindergartner should also exhibit burgeoning symbolic thinking skills, meaning she should be able to both incorporate stand-in props for real objects. For example, she could use a wooden spoon as a symbolic representation of a magic wand. She should also be able to create representations, either drawn or built, of specific objects, such as a house or car.
Your kindergartner should apply these thinking skills to exploration and play within their daily environment. This active, sensory exploration and play can both enhance cognitive development and can also help in your child’s developing self-awareness and behavioral skills, such as listening or following directions. Her symbolic thinking skills, for example, should translate into creative expressions of emotions or ideas and show interest in new and imaginative approaches to play and activities. Simultaneously she should show blossoming social skills as she uses her problem solving and logical thinking skills to adapt to new social environments and form friendships.