This is the time to engage children in music, reading, sports, math, art, science, and languages. Exposing children to a wide variety of activities lays a foundation for developing skills in a range of fields. One way to avoid focusing on results during this phase of development is to emphasize the breadth of skill development over depth. Children will learn to love learning if we show enthusiasm over the process rather than fixating on results. Instead, emphasize persistence and create safe spaces for learning. Even compliments such as “You’re so smart” are counterproductive. Educators should avoid labeling children or making universal statements about their ability. This period is also the time to establish a growth mindset-the belief that talents and abilities are developed through effort instead of being innately fixed. We need to help children understand that mistakes are a welcome, normal part of learning. Educators and parents can emphasize the joys of trying new activities and learning something novel.
Young children need to enjoy the process of learning instead of focusing on performance. Four ways to maximize this critical period include encouraging a love of learning, focusing on breadth instead of depth, paying attention to emotional intelligence, and not treating young children’s education as merely a precursor to “real” learning. It provides a prime opportunity to lay the foundation for a holistic education for children. This first critical period of brain development begins around age 2 and concludes around age 7. Therefore, children’s experiences in this phase have lasting effects on their development. Because these connections between brain cells are where learning occurs, twice as many synapses enable the brain to learn faster than at any other time of life. Two-year-olds have twice as many synapses as adults. At the start of these periods, the number of connections (synapses) between brain cells (neurons) doubles. The first occurs around age 2, with a second one occurring during adolescence.
Children’s brains develop in spurts called critical periods.
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