Remember that building your baby's receptive language (understanding spoken words) is more important than developing his expressive language (speaking) in infancy.Ħ. Modulate the tone of your voice, simplify or elaborate on story lines, and encourage toddlers to talk about books. Foster an early passion for books. Choose books with large and colorful pictures, and share your baby's delight in pointing at certain images or even making noises that correspond with the book - like glub glub when you see a fish. Toy Pick: Hand Pointers Set of 3 For little learners age 3 and up, these hand pointers make it even easier for you and your child to interact about topics of interest - and they’re also great for imaginative play, like pretend school!ĥ. This "joint attention" confirms how important your child's interests and observations are to you. Be attentive. When your young child points, be sure to follow with your gaze and remark on items or events of interest. Toy Pick: Narwhal & Jelly Finger Puppet Pair Make playtime hands-on with these fun-sized, dynamic duo of puppets, which spark the imagination of your child while providing hilarious, interactive play.Ĥ. Using your hands shows young children how we physically interact with our world - plus, hands-on activities are simply more fun for both of you! Play games that involve hands. Activities like patty-cake, peekaboo, this little piggy, or even puppets engage your baby and capture her attention. Your baby will absorb the many sounds of the English language as you talk about a baby shark, mama shark, and grandpa shark, and sing the melodic “Doo doo doo!” verses in between.ģ.
Remember: The areas of the brain responsible for understanding speech and producing language need your rich input.īook Pick: Baby SharkThis silly sing-along story based on a well-loved song can easily be read in parentese. Turn up the baby talk. Respond to infant coos with delighted vocalizations, and slowly draw out your syllables in a high-pitched voice as you exclaim phrases like "pretty baby.” This way of speaking is called parentese, and the exaggerated facial expressions and drawn-out vowels help your child absorb all the sounds of our language. Give your baby a good start before birth. Stay healthy while you are pregnant, and be aware that certain drugs can be destructive to your baby's brain in utero.Ģ. These easy tips, stimulating books and supervised, interactive activities will help make sure your young child’s brain is primed for years of learning ahead.įor more book and reading ideas, sign up for our Scholastic Parents newsletter!ġ. In turn, your baby will acquire rich language, reasoning, and planning skills. When you provide loving, language-enriched experiences for your baby, you are giving their brain's neural connections and pathways more opportunities to become wired together. And, amazingly, a toddler's brain has twice as many neural connections as an adult’s. Although an infant's brain does have some neurological hard-wiring, such as the ability to learn any language, it is more pliable and more vulnerable than a grown-up’s brain. Synapses that are not "wired together" through stimulation are pruned and lost during a child's school years. Pretty impressive, right?īut here’s the thing: The rule for brain wiring is to use it or lose it. During your baby's first years, they will grow trillions of brain-cell connections, called neural synapses. At birth, your baby's brain contains 100 billion neurons (as many as there are stars in the Milky Way!).
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