<![CDATA[Background: Cognitive abilities are essential for supporting children's logical thinking, pattern recognition, symbolic thinking, and problem-solving skills. However, initial observations at Al-Ikhsan Kindergarten Bontojai indicated that children aged 5–6 years experienced difficulties in recognizing patterns, grouping objects, and solving simple problems, highlighting the need for more meaningful learning strategies. Objective: This study aimed to examine the effect of mini craft activities on the cognitive abilities of children aged 5–6 years. Methods: This study employed a quantitative approach using a pre-experimental one-group pretest–posttest design. The novelty of this research lies in the use of mini craft activities as a structured manipulative learning strategy that simultaneously stimulates pattern recognition, logical thinking, symbolic thinking, and problem-solving skills. The participants consisted of 15 children aged 5–6 years (6 boys and 9 girls) selected through purposive sampling. The treatment was conducted in eight learning sessions over four weeks. Data were collected using a validated and reliable cognitive development observation sheet and analyzed through descriptive statistics and the Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test using IBM SPSS version 25. Results: The findings revealed a significant improvement in children's cognitive abilities following the implementation of mini craft activities. The mean score increased from 8.93 in the pretest to 14.80 in the posttest. The Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test showed a significant difference between pretest and posttest scores (Z = -3.430, p = 0.001). All participants demonstrated score improvement (positive ranks = 15; negative ranks = 0). Conclusion: Mini crafty activities effectively improve the cognitive abilities of children aged 5–6 years and can serve as an innovative manipulative learning strategy to support cognitive development in early childhood education.]]>
