Infant Toddler Learning & Development Foundations

8 months
Foundation: Cause-and-Effect
The developing understanding that one event brings about another
At around eight months of age,
children perform simple actions to
make things happen, notice the
relationships between events, and
notice the effects of others on the
immediate environment.
For example, the child may:
• Shake a toy, hear the sound it
makes, and then shake it again.
(5.5–8 mos.; Parks 2004, 58)
• Loudly bang a spoon on the
table, notice the loud sound,
and do it again. (By 7 mos.;
American Academy of Pediatrics
2004, 210; 8 mos.; Meisels and
others 2003, 21)
• Watch the infant care teacher
wind up a music box and, when
the music stops, touch her hand
to get her to make it start again.
(5–9 mos.; Parks 2004, 58)
• Splash hands in water and
notice how his face gets wet.
(4–10 mos.; Ginsburg and Opper
1988, 43)
• Push a button on the pushbutton
toy and watch the figure
pop up. (6–9 mos.; Lerner and
Ciervo 2003)
• Put objects into a clear container,
turn it over and watch the
objects fall out, and then fill it
up again. (8 mos.; Meisels and
others 2003, 21)
• Clap hands and then look at a
parent to get her to play pata-cake.
(8 mos.; Meisels and
others 2003, 21)
Chart continues on next page.
18 months
At around 18 months of age, children
combine simple actions to
cause things to happen or change
the way they interact with objects
and people in order to see how it
changes the outcome.
For example, the child may:
• Try to wind the handle of a popup
toy after not being able to
open the top. (15 mos.; Brazelton
1992, 161)
• Drop different objects from various
heights to see how they fall
and to hear the noise they make
when they land. (12–18 mos.;
Ginsburg and Opper 1988, 56)
• Build a tower with the big cardboard
blocks and kick it over to
make it fall, then build it again
and knock it down with a hand.
(18 mos.; Meisels and others
2003, 37)
• Use a wooden spoon to bang
on different pots and pans,
and notice how the infant care
teacher responds when the
child hits the pans harder and
makes a louder noise. (18 mos.;
Meisels and others 2003, 37)
36 months
At around 36 months of age,
children demonstrate an understanding
of cause and effect by
making predictions about what
could happen and reflect upon
what caused something to happen.
(California Department of
Education [CDE] 2005)
For example, the child may:
• Communicate, “She misses
her mommy” when a child
cries after her mother leaves in
the morning.
• Make a prediction about what
will happen next in the story
when the infant care teacher
asks, “What do you think will
happen next?”
• Answer the infant care teacher
when she asks, “What do you
think your mom’s going to
say when you give her your
picture?”
• See a bandage on a peer’s
knee and ask, “What happened?”
• Push the big green button to
make the tape recorder play.
(By 36 mos.; American Academy
of Pediatrics 2004, 308)
• Walk quietly when the baby is
sleeping.
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COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT