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By manipulating pieces and fitting them together, children improve their dexterity, which prepares them to perform actions requiring more precise movements. A variety of activities help develop dexterity. Threading, drawing, cutting and manipulating various modelling clays gradually helps acquire the skills needed to master everyday gestures such as buttoning, lacing and zipping up and prepares children for writing. Preschoolers who do these types of activities will find it easier to trace letters.

Logical thinking develops as children interact with their environment. Initially, they develop their reasoning through observations, comparisons and classifications of objects to then establish what distinguishes them or what unites them. Several activities require logical reasoning: solving a 3-D puzzle, doing a scientific experiment, building a model using instructions or playing chess. All of these activities require reflection and concentration and even call upon the ability to develop hypotheses and deductions in order to develop strategies. Exercising reasoning promotes the development of the ability to solve all problems.

Creativity is the ability to imagine, build and implement something new or to discover an original solution to a problem. It is, therefore, not limited to the arts alone and develops gradually from the age of 18 months. Given its importance in a child’s development, we should seize every opportunity to stimulate it daily. Indeed, a child who has learned to be creative will have good problem-solving and conflict-solving skills, expressing themselves, exploring and finding new ideas. All types of games and activities contribute to nurturing creativity. It is important to provide the child with a variety of materials that the child can explore and use as he or she pleases. In children’s games, an ordinary piece of fabric suddenly becomes a cape, a picnic mat, a blanket for dolls, and so much more! Books, nursery rhymes, dressing-up and improvisation games, for example, fuel the imagination in wonderful ways and inspire fun in the young and old alike.