According to Piaget's theory, what do children experience?

According to Piaget's theory, children experience distinct stages characterized by different cognitive capabilities. Piaget proposed that cognitive development occurs in a series of stages, each marked by specific patterns of thinking that are qualitatively different from one another. These stages—sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational—reflect how children’s ability to think and understand the world evolves as they grow.

In the sensorimotor stage, infants learn about the world through their senses and actions. As they progress to the preoperational stage, their thinking becomes more symbolic but still lacks logical reasoning. The concrete operational stage allows for logical thought about concrete events, while the formal operational stage introduces abstract thinking and hypothetical reasoning. This progression emphasizes that children do not merely accumulate knowledge; instead, they undergo transformative changes in how they perceive and interact with their environment at each stage.