preoperational reasoning
Preoperational Reasoning From 2 to about 7, the child is in the preoperational stage of development. ... Piaget emphasized that during the preoperational period, childrens abilities are limited. One pervasive limitation of childrens reasoning during the preoperational period is egocentrism, the inability to take the perspective of another person. ... The next stage is the period of preoperational thought (roughly two to seven years), during which the childs representations become ever more numerous, rich, and complex, but are not yet organized by a set of mental rules or "operations.