Final answer:
In early childhood, children develop symbolic thinking and the ability to engage in pretend play. By age five, they have improved literacy and numerical skills, and their motor skills are more developed. As they grow older, their cognitive abilities enable them to process complex ideas and plan for the future.
Step-by-step explanation:
Children also become increasingly capable of symbolic thinking and complex cognitive tasks in early childhood. Around the ages of 3-5, children's cognitive development is marked by an increase in curiosity and the ability to engage in pretend play, humor appreciation, and symbolic thinking. They start to understand time concepts, sequencing events, and can predict the outcomes of simple stories.
By the age of five, their cognitive abilities expand to include basic literacy skills, such as recognizing letters and words, as well as counting and understanding basic numeric concepts. Their motor skills also improve, allowing them to engage in activities like riding a bicycle and various sports.
As they move into middle and late childhood, cognitive skills further develop, enabling children to process more complex ideas like addition and subtraction, cause and effect, and the understanding of past, present, and future. Their attention spans grow, and they begin to plan and work toward goals.