From the beginning of life, young children's learning and activities depend on their cognitive capabilities and development. To cope with the environment they live in, children need to learn about their physical and social worlds; acquire language; regulate their bodies, emotions, and thoughts; and gain competence in literacy, mathematics, science, and other knowledge domains. This collection of readings from books and Young Children articles outlines important dimensions of their early cognitive development and describes approaches for promoting it.

Part I: Cognitive development from birth through age 8 -- Cognitive development in the first three years of life / Zero to Three -- Cognitive development in the preschool years / Heather Biggar Tomlinson & Marilou Hyson -- Cognitive development in the kindergarten year / Heather Biggar Tomlinson -- Cognitive development in the primary grades / Heather Biggar Tomlinson -- Becoming enthusiastic and engaged / Marilou Hyson -- Part II: Approaches for promoting cognitive development in the early childhood classroom -- Section 1: Symbolic thought in the early years -- Chopsticks and counting chips: do play and foundational skills need to compete for the teacher's attention in an early childhood classroom? / Elena Bodrova & Deborah J. Leong -- Moving into uncertainty: sculpture with 3- to 5-year-olds / Carol Anne Wien with Bobbi-Lynn Keating, Annette Coates Comeau, & Barbara Bigelow -- Building foundations for spatial literacy in early childhood / Susan L. Golbeck -- Section 2: Executive function and the development of self-regulation -- Recognizing and supporting the development of self-regulation in young children / Martha B. Bronson -- Thinking out loud: development of private speech and the implications for school success and self-control / Becky A. Bailey & Carolyn Brookes -- How planning and reflection develop young children's thinking skills / Ann S. Epstein -- Developing self-regulation in kindergarten: can we keep all the crickets in the basket? / Elena Bodrova & Deborah J. Leong -- Section 3: Higher order, complex thinking -- Let's SQUiNK about it! A metacognitive approach to exploring text in a second grade classroom / Karen Capraro -- From high chair to high school: research-based principles for teaching complex thinking / Roland Tharp & Susan Entz -- Science in kindergarten / Ingrid Chalufour & Karen Worth.