Infants string sounds together to imitate language. Later they use these sound strings to represent things in the world (baba for bottle). As toddlers they progressively build vocabulary and begin to learn the principles of word order (red ball, not ball red).

Rhyming songs and stories help children recognize the different sounds in words. Rhymes direct a child's attention to the similarities in words (hat sounds like cat), which helps them learn to read.

Children progress from a simple observation of action and reaction (spin the wheel to hear music) to a deeper understanding of cause and effect (germs make you sick). Cause and effect is important because it signals that a child can perceive hidden or abstract forces on objects.

Learning color names and matching them consistently to the right color develops by around the age of 2 to 3 years. When children eventually come to understand the concepts of color they can then use that information to categorize shapes, patterns and other visual information.

Toddlers use their curiosity and logical reasoning skills to solve everyday problems. By investigating all sorts of possibilities, they develop unexpected solutions and creative problem-solving strategies.

Matching develops early logic and reasoning skills and is a component of early math and literacy.Children match like objects, shapes, patterns, pictures and stories, letters to sounds and pictures to words.

From birth, children love music and even prefer it to speech. Apart from the obvious joy of music there are a number of surprising benefits to listening to music: it helps develop language, problem solving skills, memory, and physical coordination.

The development and coordination of small, refined muscle movements allow infants and toddlers to use their thumb and forefinger to grasp small objects, paint and eventually learn to write.

At around the age of 2 children begin to develop self-esteem. Children who feel loved and have their opinions valued have a sense of self worth. It also gives then the confidence to learn, build strong relationships and respect other people.

By their first birthday children are engaging in social play. They begin to act out every day situations, like talking on the phone. Acting out different everyday scenarios helps children learn how to behave in different social situations.

Identifying and manipulating shapes lays the groundwork for geometry by giving children concrete experience with angles, symmetry and relative sizes.

Children first come to understand about part-whole relationships through sharing. It is only later that this knowledge becomes formalized and builds the foundation for learning decimals, fractions and precentages.

Young children are naturally intrigued by animals and animal facts. Very early on children begin to categorize animals by species and learn interesting facts about them. This early interest in animals provides the motivation for later work in life sciences.