Jean Piaget’s stages of child development

The developmental stages of children, as defined by psychologist Jean Piaget, outline how cognitive reasoning evolves from infancy through childhood. Piaget’s research focused on how children’s logic differs significantly from that of adolescents and adults.

The first stage, the sensorimotor stage, occurs from birth to age 2. During this period, infants begin to understand sensations and realize that their movements impact their environment. Initially, movements lack specific purpose, but children soon learn to interact with objects, such as reaching for toys. A key characteristic of this stage is that infants may believe objects or people cease to exist when they are out of sight.