For children aged 6-7:
- Asking questions: Children ask a lot of ‘Why?’ and ‘How?’ questions. This shows their curiosity and desire to understand things. For example, they may ask, ‘Why is the sky blue?’.
- Active participation: They are often actively involved in conversations, asking curious questions and wanting to provide their own answers.
- Spontaneous thinking: Children can make surprising connections while playing or telling stories. For example, when reading a story, they can immediately explain what they think happens next.
- Concrete thinking: They tend to think in concrete terms and struggle with abstract concepts. Their critical skills often focus on what they can observe directly.
- Cause-and-effect: They begin to understand that actions have consequences. For example, they may come up with an example such as: ‘If I don’t clean up my toys, I won’t be able to play with them anymore.’
- Story comprehension and analysis: They can retell simple stories and ask questions about characters’ choices. For example, ‘Why did the hero decide to run away?’
- Simple statements: They can express their thoughts, but often in simple ways. For example, ‘I like this book because the pictures are beautiful.’
- Personal preferences: Opinions are strongly based on personal experiences and preferences, without much argumentation. They can say what they like or dislike, but do not yet explain many reasons.
- Creative thinking: While playing, they often invent new game rules or ways to solve a problem, such as how to overcome an obstacle in a game. This promotes their ability to think creatively and explore alternatives.
For children aged 8-10:
- Active discussion: They participate more often in group discussions and debates, not only expressing but also defending their ideas and opinions.
- Collaboration: They work better together on projects, learn to listen to each other and develop respect for different points of view.
- Complex questions: They start asking deeper questions about topics, such as ‘What if…?’ This shows their ability to consider scenarios and analyse possible outcomes.
- Forming opinions and arguing: Children can support their opinions about books, films or events with reasons. For example, when describing a book, they can explain which aspects they liked best and why.
- Logical reasoning: Children begin to make more logical connections and understand more abstract concepts. For example, they can think about how certain choices have long-term consequences.
- Hypothetical thinking: They are able to fantasise about ‘what if’ scenarios, which helps them explore possible outcomes and solutions.
- Problem-solving thinking: They can think of multiple solutions to a problem, such as how to resolve a conflict with a friend, and can weigh up the pros and cons of each solution before deciding what to do.
- Information analysis: They learn to compare and evaluate information, such as using different sources for a school project. They can ask questions such as ‘Is this correct?’ or ‘How do we know this is correct?’.
- Critical evaluation: Children begin to look at information more critically. They may ask questions like, ‘Is this even true?’ or ‘What could someone else say about this?’ This shows that they are considering different perspectives.
- Simple reflection and evaluation: After group activities or projects, they can reflect on what went well and what could be improved. They can formulate answers like, ‘I liked that we worked together, but we should have started our task earlier.’