First Five Nebraska is an initiative of Early Futures Partnership
First Five Nebraska is an initiative of Early Futures Partnership
Do you remember songs from your childhood? Does hearing a particular song evoke memories of people, events or places in your past? Dick Clark said music is the soundtrack of our lives, and just as music can have a powerful effect on us as adults, it can have an equally strong impact on the developing brains of young children.
When kids get to be kids—explore their environment, interact with their parents and caregivers, and learn through play—they flourish with curiosity and happiness. Like the little boy in the picture who is peeking for ducks, flowers and maybe even a frog as he explores the National Garden at the U.S. Capitol, children enjoy and grow in environments that are safe and full of enriching educational opportunities.
It’s the state basketball championship game at the Pinnacle Bank Arena, and your team is down three points with one minute to play. You have the ball and one timeout. Both teams are in the double-bonus.
What’s key to a child forming healthy attachments? “Somebody’s got to be crazy about that kid. That’s number one. First, last, and always,” said developmental psychologist Urie Bronfenbrenner.
Speaking directly to babies and toddlers in rich, complex sentences like this one will help them build language and vocabulary skills by connecting words and meaning, and learning through context, said Stanford researcher Anne Fernald at a symposium last week.
Nebraska would save $25,419 in victim, court and incarceration costs for every child enrolled in full-day, center-based early childhood education programs, says the University of Nebraska‒Lincoln’s Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families and Schools (CYFS).
Taking turns, following instructions, getting along with others and dealing with distractions—all of these are components of an important set of skills that help children succeed in school and later become independent, self-sufficient adults.
It is in Nebraska’s best interest to ensure that our children enter kindergarten with the experience they need to become successful students. A child’s first five years are critically important for healthy brain and social/emotional development, and First Five Nebraska is committed to supporting legislation that helps children get the start they need to grow into confident, capable, productive citizens.
Simple things can make a big difference. Studies show that time spent playing board games boosts the math skills of children in early childhood programs.
Researchers tell us that by the time children from low-income homes enter kindergarten, they have heard 30 million fewer words than their more affluent peers. The result of this word deficit is a smaller vocabulary, which leads to slower learning. Children learn words spoken directly to them, and the more words they hear at a very young age, the better prepared they’ll be when they start school.
Families that play together build strong relationships. Whether it's reading together, playing board games during cold, blustery days or playing outside in the summer, interacting with young children helps build the strong neural foundation and social-emotional skills they'll need to succeed in school and later in life.
Babies are born ready to learn. At birth, the brain contains about 100 billion neurons that are connected by synapses carrying electrochemical signals in response to stimuli from the world around us. During the earliest years, those synapses are firing at an astonishing rate, and they become the neural foundation upon which everything else is built.