Brain development in kids & 11 must-try activities
What is brain development, why is it important, how to help, and 11 activities to try out!
As parents, we can marvel at how children grow up at a micro-level!
Imagine when your newborn began to babble…
Or, your baby began to toddle…
Or, even began eating solids.
“It seems like my baby is growing up so quickly! Where is the newborn who was there just yesterday?”
Every milestone your child reaches, at their pace, tickles your sense of wonder. Doesn’t it?
Then, this well-known line may come as no surprise to you — most of your child’s brain development happens within the first 6 years.
Therefore, it is paramount for us to provide a nurturing environment for them.
Let’s delve into brain development, how it exactly happens, its impacts, and 11 activities that you can try.
Brain development and how it works
Imagine how a plant grows — you plant the seed in soil and provide it with all the best conditions and water it.
As you nurture it, it grows into a sprout, a sapling, a young plant, and then maybe a mature plant or tree!
Pretty much, this is similar to how the brain absorbs, assimilates, and form intriguing neural pathways based on the environment your child is in and its impacts.
Synapses in the brain!
One of the integral parts or indispensable elements for our brain to function is a neuron. And, there are billions of them, which are communicating with each other through electrical impulses.
But, more importantly, for neurons to effortlessly communicate, they depend on synapses.
Synapses are minuscule connectors in the brain through which information flows from one neuron to another.
And, these synapses determine your child’s mental strength and abilities.
At any given point, there are trillions of synapses in the brain that are learning and re-learning.
That said, the neural connectors are the most active in the early years as the brain creates more synapses. But, if they are synapses that are often unstimulated, then those are pruned.
Pruning is said to start from 3 years, slows down by 8 years, and stops by adolescence.
So, it becomes essential to engage your child as much as possible at a younger age so that they stimulate as many synapses as possible.
How synapses impact your child
Imagine a scenario where a two-year-old has busy parents who don’t play or the child has excessive screen time!
What sort of experience does this child have? Is there an imbalance? What sort of synaptic connections is the child forming.
Now, let’s say the parents decide to take out time to play with the two-year-old, provide them with unstructured and structured playtime, and keep a tab on their screen time! What impact does this have on the child?
How would the impact on the child be? Would it be a healthier development of the child?
So, when you provide your child with an environment that nurtures their curiosity, it enables them to understand the information in their manner.
In a child with stimulated synapses:
- their cognitive abilities are enhanced
- their linguistic and emotional understanding is healthy
- their physical and social well-being is thriving
- their analytical and reasoning capabilities are tested
- their attention span and memory retention improve
Overall, they become a confident child who in turn becomes a well-rounded individual.
It is impertinent to understand that a child’s cognitive, emotional, and social abilities are intertwined. Any imbalance impacts their lifelong habits and experiences.
We, as parents, can look at activities that encourage overall brain development in our kids.
11 activities to stimulate brain development in children
1) Pretend play
Nothing can beat pretend play where you and your child take part in imaginative scenarios. You play scenarios to teach them empathy, impulse control, emotions, social cues, and much more. Imagination is the key and you have a whole variety of scenarios to play with! Tickle your creativity and come up with wonderful pretend play scenarios.
2) Storytime
What better way than to tickle your child’s imagination, language, emotions, and much more! A story is a wonderful way to introduce life lessons and it is a very nurturing activity. Settle down with a book or do a storytelling of a storybook your child chooses. Create props if you want, modulate your voice, and go on an enthralling adventure. Read a sleepy book at their bedtime. Make storytime, a gadget-free time!
3) Obstruction course
Stack those pillows, arrange those chairs, and maybe make a tent in the end for your child to exercise their gross and fine motor muscles and coordination. You can create simple obstruction courses depending on your child’s age. You can even add skipping and hopscotch depending on the space! It can be an indoor or outdoor activity.
4) Input games
How about a round of ‘Simon says’ or ‘I spy’? Games that give input enable your child’s comprehension and require them to be attentive. You can come up with your input games that are different and unique. They could be mealtime fun too! Your little one learns to follow the instruction, be patient, and become more observant. More importantly, it is a fun way to make them school-ready!
5) Messy art time
Be it art or craft! Sensory experiences are vital for a child’s overall development! From smearing paint with their handles to tearing papers to create art, allow free play. Settle down with your child for this. Once done, encourage them to help you clean up too!
6) Gardening
Sensory experiences play a vital role in stimulating the synapses of a child. Planting seeds of different sizes, nurturing the plants, playing with soil, and observing different creatures that hover about your garden impacts a child’s emotional, sensory, and cognitive capabilities. How about talking to the plants?
7) Body movement
Take out time to move around! You can teach your child a few exercises that can be stretches and Yoga! You may also sit down and move your arms in sync or listen to your breathing. Find your routine too as this makes your child comfortable being physically active.
8) Stack & play
Take out the blocks. You can make it a color, letter, or number game. Encourage your child to stack as you call out the colors, letters, or numbers and allow them to stack. This can be unstructured or structured play. This enhances your child’s reasoning, analytical, and cognitive abilities besides the motor movements.
9) Memory time
You can boost your child’s memory retention through simple games. It can be where you stack 2–3 things and encourage your child to name them. Then, ask them to call out the words without seeing the things. You can make it auditory, by calling out 2–3 words and prompting your little one to repeat in the same order. This enhances their attention and language as well. Come up with games suitable for your child’s age.
10) Music time
How about playing music together or dancing to tunes? This tickles your child’s creativity and makes them jolly and happy. They can use utensils or make simple elements to play some tunes. This enhances their creativity, sensory abilities, and in general, allows them to feel happy. When your child dances, it can be an unstructured time for them to explore body movements and it helps them feel grounded.
11) Spend time together
Take time out to spend with your child and allow them to choose an activity. This gives them a sense of comfort and togetherness. You get to nurture your child’s emotional abilities and make them confident with social interactions. You can also arrange playtime with your child’s friends.
Conclusion: Nurture your child’s brain development
When you provide your child an environment, which is open and healthy, your child’s brain develops and builds over time.
So, by the time your child is 6, they would form simple and complex connections in the brain, which would be difficult to re-learn and requires a lot more motivation as an adult.
Thus, watch your child in wonder and stimulate their synapses!
