What type of thinking is a child demonstrating when they say, "Look, the Sun followed us home," referring to the Sun as a big happy face?

The statement made by the child, referring to the Sun as a "big happy face" and suggesting that it follows them home, reflects animistic thinking. This type of thinking is characteristic of young children, typically seen in the preoperational stage of cognitive development, as described by psychologist Jean Piaget.

Animistic thinking involves attributing human characteristics and emotions to inanimate objects or natural phenomena. In this case, the child assigns a joyful personality and intention to the Sun, displaying a belief that it possesses feelings and behaviors similar to a living being. This illustrates a developmental phase where children engage with the world around them in a vivid and imaginative way, interpreting their experiences through a lens that merges reality with fantasy.

As children grow and enter more advanced stages of cognitive development, they typically move away from animistic thinking towards more logical and concrete forms of reasoning, which would involve understanding the scientific nature of the Sun rather than attributing human-like qualities to it.