Which stage of Piaget's cognitive development theory includes children using symbols to think?

In Piaget's cognitive development theory, the preoperational stage is identified as the period where children begin to engage in symbolic thought. This typically occurs between the ages of 2 and 7 years. During this stage, children start to use language and pictures to represent objects and ideas, which signifies an important shift in their cognitive abilities. For instance, a child may use a broom to represent a horse in play, demonstrating their ability to operate with symbols.

Additionally, in the preoperational stage, children exhibit imaginative play and can manipulate symbols in their minds, though their thinking is still intuitive and egocentric, meaning they may not yet fully grasp different perspectives. This foundational ability to use symbols is crucial for further cognitive development, as it lays the groundwork for more complex functions that appear in subsequent stages.

The other stages—sensorimotor, concrete operational, and formal operational—represent different cognitive abilities, but it is specifically in the preoperational stage that the significant use of symbols to represent the world around them becomes evident.