Common Materials to Facilitate the Cognitive Development of Preschoolers

Plastic laundry basket

Symbolic/pretend play: (inside) use as boat, car, raft, fire truck; (on top) use as canoe with ruler as oars; go on a hike and use as mountain; pretend to be doing the laundry like Mom and Dad; make into house for doll; use as puppet theater; make into cage for zoo animals; make into dog house, pet carrier, or pet bed; make into giant bird’s nest; use as a wagon to carry things.

Problem solving: decide how to “lace” ribbon between holes; pass small balls through the holes into a box; decide how far away to stand to get beanbag inside with one toss; use as support for unsteady sitters; decide how to make it into a wagon, car, nest, dog bed, etc.; decide how to make different handles.

Concept vocabulary: in/out; light/heavy; under/in/on/above/over; play Simon Says with clothing (“Put just one ____ in,” “Put all the ____ in,” etc.; blindfold child, drop objects into basket and child finds, labels an attribute such as size, shape, function.

Matching: objects that are plastic, objects that are the same color, objects that are rectangles; with hole in center; put items of clothing in pairs and have blindfolded/not blindfolded child find ones that “match” or are the “same.”

Sorting: put paper cards that are the same color as basket in basket, those that are not the same, in another basket; sort clothing items in two laundry baskets—winter/summer, big/little, dirty/clean, colors, items that have numbers on them and ones that do not; put in sets of three and have child find the ones that are different.

Classification: put pictures of things used in doing the laundry (detergent, clothes, etc.) in the basket, then pictures of clothes worn in the winter/spring/summer/fall; put boys’ or girls’ clothes in.

Seriation: (on top) stack boxes from biggest to smallest; (inside) nest boxes from biggest to smallest; glue different-sized objects to top and put in order of size; glue many together and sequence by size/height; line up socks/shirts/mittens from smallest to biggest/biggest to smallest.

Creativity: place paper on the outside and rub with crayons to create patterns; list all the things basket can be used for; make a backpack with straps; use as part of obstacle course; cover with blanket to make a tent; cover bottom with aluminum to make a “mirror”; use as drum in music band; make into the house for that week’s character from the story.

Imitation: wrap pipe cleaners around it with a pattern the child follows (red- blue- red); bang together to match beat; count them, teaching one-to-one correspondence; use to make patterns in Play-Doh; do something with the basket using a body part, and then have child do the same (“Put the basket on your knee like me.”)—after imitating, the child gets to do something the adult imitates.

Plastic film containers

Symbolic/pretend play: create a tea set; use as a boat for small doll; use as finger puppets.

Problem solving: stack with and without lids to make a tower; cut off bottom and drop small objects through or use as a tunnel; roll with and without lids down a wedge (ask child to predict which will roll faster); use as a nonstandard unit of measure; use as a Play-Doh/cookie cutter; display three small objects, place a container over one, ask child to identify hidden object.

Concept vocabulary: in/out; light/heavy; under/in/on; above or over; play Simon Says with a Cheerio and the container using positional words; big/little; same/different; full/empty; full/half full; more/less; rote counting; one-to-one correspondence counting.

Matching: match pattern of up-up-down; glue individual family pictures on each and create family units; assemble a set of containers with lids removed and have child match lids to containers; place shapes or colors on lids and containers and have child match.

Sorting: fill with beans/rice/sand for sorting by sound/weight; cover with paper and sort by color or shape; fill with spices and sort by smell; put cotton balls soaked in various scents to sort by sweet/sour or nice/not nice smells; glue pictures of children on outside and sort who is “in school” that day and who is “not in school”; assemble a collection of objects that will and will not fit into the containers and then predict, test, and graph results.

Classification: glue sandpaper, cotton, sponge, cloth, and silk on them and have child group by texture; hide objects under each and have child puts objects into groups such as foods.

Seriation: assemble a collection of containers and sequence them from large to small; small, medium and large; small to large.

Creativity: glue on paper to make toss game; make a mobile; spray different colors, thread string through the top of the container to make a necklace that can be used to carry a favorite treasure; make into finger puppets to re-create story; punch holes in top and use as a shaker for sand or glitter; make rhythm instruments.

Imitation: fill, scoop, pour, use to make sand castles using damp sand; make circle prints by dipping into paint and stamping; play toss and catch; toss into/at a target; add face and legs to make holiday ornaments; cut small holes in top and lace with shoe lace.