Children’s brains are like sponges – soaking up everything they see, hear, feel! If you want to encourage and stimulate child development to help them develop their skills to the fullest extent, here are some fun learning experiences you can incorporate.
The Importance of Brain Development in the Early Years
The human brain is one of the body’s most powerful and complex organs, and it should come as no surprise that the early years are pretty important in terms of brain development. Brain development in children accelerates rapidly between birth and three years of age, and positive interactions with caregivers and a stimulating learning environment contribute to this process.
Play-based learning can be especially handy to stimulate child brain development. During play-based learning, children are focused on having fun, but what they don’t realize is they are also learning valuable skills. Through learning experiences rooted in fun and play, you can help advance communication abilities, creativity, and problem-solving. Everything a child experiences through play helps them to be eager and engaged for a lifetime of learning!
Fun Activities to Stimulate Child Development
Ready to stimulate your child’s brain? Here are some learning experiences that help encourage child development.
Play Games
Playing games with your child can teach them quite a few valuable skills. Turn-taking, following directions, and hand-eye coordination skills, to name just a few. Games don’t have to be complex, either! Even simple games like patty-cake and using puppets can still do a lot of teaching because they engage your child’s brain and hands. As a bonus, activities like those also build communication and language skills with adults and peers.
Enjoy the Arts
Getting into art helps develop cognitive, motor, and social abilities in children. Drawing with crayons, finger painting on canvas, and squishing and modeling clay teach children art is fun whilst stimulating their brains. Art play can also help children:
- Build independence
- Learn about primary and secondary colors
- Make decisions
- Use their imagination
Just remember, art can sometimes be messy, and that’s okay! Just be prepared for some clean-up time when using art as a learning experience.
Read Books
Reading is a wonderful way to stimulate child development. Even before your child can recognize words or letters, reading kick-starts their communication and language skills. Hearing words and seeing pictures connect the two together in your child’s mind. Through reading, you can also help your child develop listening skills, impart good values, and spark creativity.
Listen to Music
We’ve mentioned art being a great way to stimulate development, but painting and drawing aren’t the only ways to incorporate arts into a play-based learning environment. Dance and music build motor skills and allow children to practice self-expression – an essential piece in growing self-confidence. Music can also enhance attention and concentration, language through rhyme and new words, and math skills as they begin to understand rhythm.
Learning Another Language
Learning another language at any age has big benefits for the brain. For fluency, the best time to learn another language is before the age of ten. Bilingual children must learn how to access different parts of their brain when speaking their primary and secondary languages.
If you don’t know a second language, take on this learning experience with your child! It can make it more fun for children to learn a new language with you. Even if you both only learn a few words or sentences, it’s a fun activity that enhances communication skills. Not only that, but it can also help your child see the world from a different perspective.
Visit Interesting Places
Who doesn’t love a good adventure? Outdoor activities are even more effective for brain development in children. Excursions like going to the zoo, museum, or aquarium are fun for children to explore, but you don’t need to take your child on a big trip every day. Even a trip to your local park can have the same brain-stimulating effects. Outdoor activities can be a valuable learning moment for young minds. Some scientists go as far as to call it the superfood for young minds! Whether big or small, incorporating day trips is a great way to glean the benefits.
We implement play-based learning in all our curricula to aid in your child’s brain development and growth.
Giggle and Grow is Here to Help Your Child Grow
Another way to help stimulate child development? Choosing a daycare center that emphasizes play-based learning to help reinforce the concepts you teach at home. After all, a young child’s brain is pretty much under construction, so giving your child an enriching environment that promotes healthy development is crucial.
At Giggle and Grow in Gilbert, Arizona, we stand by the research and implement play-based learning in all our curricula to aid in your child’s brain development and growth. We focus on the needs of very young children and will help your child grow with guidance and encouragement from our teachers. We strive to make a positive difference in the life of every child by partnering with parents to provide an environment that is safe, nurturing, educational, and individualized. Let us help your child learn, play, and grow.
