Did you know that 90% of your child’s brain develops by age 5? Your little one’s experiences in the first few years have a lasting impact on their ability to succeed in school and in life. These years provide the best opportunity to develop brain connections needed for higher-level abilities like problem solving, motivation, self-regulation and communication.
Engaging activities like interactive play, reading, verbal and gestural communications are critical for your child’s learning and development.
Here are a few ways in which you can create an enriched environment for your kid’s brain development:
Social interaction
Social activities like singing, reading, talking and playing with hands has a profound effect on your child’s brain. Experts say that reading out loud is one of the best ways to encourage growth in the kid’s language center of the brain.
Making eye contact and responses with high-pitched voices and delighted vocalizations like “that’s awesome”stimulates the brain. Drawn-out vowels and exaggerated vowels strengthen brain connections and help little ones absorb the sounds of your language. Remember that their area of the brain responsible for producing language and speech requires your rich input.
Singing nursery rhymes like “Wheels on the Bus” with gestures and building with blocks encourages pretend play and fosters their imagination.
Physical activity
Research shows that exercise in your child’s early years contributes to a bigger hippocampus and improves cognitive function. Games like “One for you one for me” teaches toddlers how to share. Obstacle courses, hokey-pokey and scavenger hunt gets your little one running and jumping around — positively impacting their health.
Build trust with attention and focus
Instead of catching up with work while your toddler plays, spend time interacting with them. Kids invest more energy in learning, exploration and discovery if they are emotionally attached to their parents.Day-to-day engagements, cuddles, and calm holding signal emotional security to your child’s brain.
Make sure to provide clear responses to your toddler’s actions. Responding in reassuring, predictable and positive ways helps developing brains make sense of the world. Moreover, model emphatic feelings towards others to help your little one learn about feelings, kindness, caring and sharing. This creates brain connections for emphatic responses and helps with your toddler’s positive emotional skills in addition to cognitive learning!
Our day care center Warrington provides the perfect combination of kindness, care and discipline for young learners. You can rest assured that your children are secure and safe with our caregivers while we work on promoting their cognitive development. Come in for a tour or contact our academy, for more information on our Abacus toddlers program and action-packed summer camp program Chalfont!