25 Activities To Build Better Brains Ages 0-5

Building Better Brains and Behavior In Children Ages 0-5

Lynne Kenney, PsyD

Feel The Beat

• 1 2,1 2,1 2, 1 2• 1 2 3, 1 2 3, 1 2 3, 1 2 3• 1 2, 1 2 3 1 2, 1 2 3 • 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

How The Brain is Built and Why It Matters

www.lynnekenney.com

How Big Is Your Brain?

The mature human brain consists of approximately 100 billion neurons (which is as many cells as there are stars in the Milky Way). Each mature neuron has somewhere between 1,000 and 10,000 synapses, equaling about 1 quadrillion synapses. If all the neurons in the human brain were lined up, they would stretch 600 miles. By comparison, an octopus has 300,000 neurons, a honeybee has 950,000, and a jellyfish has no brain at all.

How The Brain Builds

In the brain, the neurons are there at birth, with some synapses. As the neurons mature, more and more synapses are made. At birth, the number of synapses per neuron is 2,500, but by age two or three, it’s about 15,000 per neuron. The brain eliminates connections that are seldom or never used, which is a normal part of brain development. During the first year of life your baby’s brain doubles due to the trillions of synapses it grows.

It’s About Connections

Sending and Receiving

Feed Me.Change Me.

Love Me.Help Me Sleep.

Hold Me.Talk To Me.

Baby’s First Year

Baby’s First Year

Cognition: Motor control enhances ability to engage and learn.Social-Emotional: Having a responsive parent improves intelligence.Motor: Motor development precedes cognitive development. Provide opportunities for child to move.

Baby’s First 6 Months

Touch, hold & hug meSmile at mePlay face to face with meSoothe and attend to me

Children Are Musical

• Rhythm begins at 8 weeks gestation.• Infants can move to the beat at 24

weeks gestation.• The cerebellum triples in size the first

year of life.• Rhythm is a precursor to language

development and learning.

Get In Time With Your Child

Notes Cards

Be The Music

Brain Insights

Baby’s First Year - Know

Baby’s First Year - Know

4-12 Month Activities

• Lift me, turn me, lay with me on the floor (Roll with me)

• Show me the angles (above, beside and below – peek a boo)

• Stack with me• String for me

Baby’s Second Year

Cognition: My language and social development are soaring.Social-Emotional: Frustration can set in for toddler. Focus on using language and movement to help toddler get his needs met.Motor: Get outside, go to the park, climb, swing and move to enhance brain development.

12-24 Month Activities

• Look at picture books with me• Read to me• Help me say sounds “moo”• Ask me to show you “What does

the kitty do?”• Play pretend with me (telephone,

feeding the dollies)• Help me build• Help me climb, swing and ride

the slide

Teach Me How To Regulate

Your toddler gets frustrated easily, because his brain is connecting and his skills are growing.

Help him with co-regulation.Refrain from harsh voice tone and punishment.Show him how to do it.Describe how to do it.Do it for him, when needed.

Have a BALL!

Ball Activities For Years 2-5

• Roll the ball, fast, medium, slow (use your notes and count them out)

• Kick the ball, kick and fetch, between the two of us

• Pass the ball• Throw the ball• Catch the ball

www.sparkpe.org/scope.pdf

Baby’s Third Year

Cognition: I am really starting to learnSocial-Emotional: I am interested in othersMotor: I can really move!

24-36 Month Activities

• Play with shapes• Play pretend• Count with me• Build a lot• Play outdoors with me• Pick a crayon, match the colors

to objects in my home• Dress up and play make-believe• Be silly

Hands On As We Grow

Living, Loving and LearningThe Preschool Years I

Help me feel safe and secureHelp me feel calm by making my home peacefulKeep routines consistentKeep your responses consistentHelp me manage my feelingsMeditate with meDo yoga with me

Living, Loving and LearningThe Preschool Years II

Teach me the alphabetHelp me count to 100Do puzzles with meHelp me solve simple problemsHelp me do one thing at a timeHelp me sustain my attention to a taskHelp me slow downHelp me manage my physical spaceHelp me play next to othersHelp me play with othersHelp me share

Believing we need to consequence children into new behaviors.

Don’t Get Caught in The Discipline Trap

Show Them The Way

NEW THOUGHTSNEW WORDSNEW FEELINGSNEW ACTIONS

Bloom Mantras

Resources

BOOKS:• What if Everybody Understood about Brain Development by

Rae Pica• The Developing Mind by Dan Siegel• A Moving Child is a Learning Child by Gill Connell & Cheryl

McCarthy• Bright Baby by Richard Woolfson• Bloom: 50 things to say think and do with anxious, angry

and over-the-top kids by Lynne Kenney & Wendy YoungLINKS:handsonaswegrow.comZerotothree.orgBrain InsightsKidlutionsKenney DigitalLynneKenneyKiboomu