Brain building activities for Newborns

Support your baby’s development from day one

A newborn’s or infant’s brain develops faster than at any other time in a child’s life.  Research shows that during this early period, back-and-forth interactions with caregivers, also known as “serve and return” interactions, strengthen neural connections in the brain. These connections are important for early learning and they establish pathways for future learning.  Relationships with nurturing and responsive caregivers are foundational for early learning and beyond.

Resources

• 5 Steps for Brain-Building Serve and Return
  This resource, by the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, details five steps for serve-and-return interactions with an overview video and downloadable PDFs in English and Spanish.

• InBrief: The Science of Early Childhood Development
  This brief from Harvard University’s Center on the Developing Child is part of a series that summarizes the Center’s essential scientific findings on human brain development.

• Baby Games Calendar
  Enter the baby’s date of birth on this website to find age-appropriate activities, milestones, and games or get them by email.

• “My 1st Year” and “Discovering Feelings” Books
  Download these PDF booklets to help better understand a baby’s development, recognize important milestones, and record experiences.

• Learning, Play, and Your Newborn
  This Nemours Foundation resource describes what newborns are learning and how caregivers can support them. Also available in Spanish.

• How to Play with Babies
  This article from Zero to Three offers fun ways to interact with newborns and describes common signals that indicate when they want to stop the interaction.

• Nurse-Family Partnership
  This national non-profit provides free support to first-time moms with regular nurse visits from pregnancy through the child’s second birthday to keep mom and baby healthy and safe.

The Salve for these times is connection

Becoming a parent can shake you to the core. It can, almost instantly, change your identity, turn your daily rhythms on their sides, & force you to learn new things (whether you like it or not).

And becoming a parent can be fulfilling in unimaginable ways. You created a person. This beautiful new creature is learning and changing every day and the connection with them when you gaze into their eyes fills you with a potent combination of hope, pride and love.

Having a space to gather with other new parents, to share your story, to hear how other people are experiencing similar changes, and to gain some new tools is a game changer.

Connection combats loneliness. Connection impacts mental health, and mental health impacts the health and wellbeing of offspring.

creating hubs for connection

Recess’ mission to create spaces for folks to come together has held strong over the past 14 and a half years. As we look forward to the next 14, our goal is to create supportive gathering spaces for the sole purpose of encouraging human to human connection. Parent-child connection, Parent-parent connection, and family-family connection with resources.

reflection

I was listening to a podcast recently. Tara Brach shared a beautiful analogy to the fundamental importance of community. In talking about the dark times our country is in, currently, where a powerful few are taking away the rights of many. She says:

if there's despair, acting is the antidote. 

- voting
- talking with friends
- talking and bridging with those of difference.
- writing letters.
- whatever ways you can contribute your time, money, or heart to the world.

and we can't navigate the dark ages alone.  we really cant. 

just being with others and naming the truth of what we're feeling...it ends up creating a heart space that's large enough to hold what's going on.  we need to connect.

i was in the redwoods.  these massive trees.  and they have very shallow roots.  and what allows them to survive the winds and so on is that the root systems are completely interwoven.  they hold each other up.  and we need to do the same with each other.  

If you’d like to listen to the whole episode, here it is.

Parents: An invitation to sit back and relax

Do less, observe more, enjoy most. - Magda Gerber

Children's brains are truly fascinating. They are constructing knowledge about their world from day one, and when given the opportunity to explore, they learn even more. It may seem counterintuitive, but allowing a child (yes, even a very young infant!) the space and freedom to play autonomously, and narrowing our role as parents to one of "observer" is a powerful shift. 

As simple as it sounds, taking a step back, and truly letting your child be can feel surprisingly difficult. If you're anything like me, you probably have an impulse to assist babies, to teach them "how" to use a toy, and to lead them through ways they can (should?) play.

You might hear yourself taking the lead and informing your child, "this block goes on top of this one," "Look at how neat this is," etc.  But when we intentionally stop and let them do the discovering it's pretty incredible what starts to happen!  

Observation helps us to understand what they are communicating, it allows us to realize the difference between our babies’ needs and our projections, to figure out what they’re really up to and know whether to intervene or stay out of their way.  It's nuts how often staying out of their way is actually an option! 

If you are interested in learning more, check out two of our favorite resources. 

Creating a “Yes Space”

Learn more about how to create a "Yes space" in your home for a child to safely explore.

A YES space is a gift to both children and their parents. It offers children ownership of a safe place that encourages play, learning, creativity, agency, and a strong sense of self. Parents get to enjoy one the great pleasures of parenting – observing their infant or toddler as they explore and master the world around them. Janet describes YES spaces in form and function, dispelling some common misconceptions and sharing tips about how children and parents can benefit the most. Learn more

Respectful Parenting

Gain a beautiful context for supporting infants development from one of the pioneers in the field Magda Gerber.  

The basis of Magda's Gerber's RIE philosophy is respect for, and trust in the baby to be an initiator, an explorer, and a self learner.

I LOVE her thoughts on toys and play. Do check them out here if you have an infant in your life. 

"One of the greatest gifts Magda bestows on us is the knowledge that infants are self-learners. And this is how a parent or caregiver spells relief. Self-learning means we don’t need to provide any lessons for a baby, and we need not feel pressured by developmental timetables. Infants are internally motivated to learn the things they need to learn: motor skills, communication, problem solving. 

We provide the foundation of a secure relationship with a caring adult, a safe environment conducive to exploration and discovery, and let nature takes its course. We never have to worry that we are not doing ‘enough,’ or that the child isn’t doing ‘enough.’ Whatever a healthy infant or toddler chooses to do in his safe environment is the perfect curriculum for him on any particular day. We let go of ‘doing’, and are left with observing, learning, enjoying."

-Janet Landsbury  

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