The Early Childhood Initiative: Focusing on Brain Development

Activity and Resource Guide
The Early Childhood Initiative (ECI) promotes the idea of a healthy start for children through increasing family and community involvement and increasing student involvement in promoting family and community participation in a young child's development. The Activity and Resource Guide is the result of these ideas.

Below is an example of the material included in the ECI guide. The complete 200-page guide is available for purchase through AAFCS. Please contact the Publications and Products Department at 800-424-8080 or via email at gmason@aafcs.org.

Brain Facts
Your brain… is a 3-pound universe!

Before birth, a baby's neurons increase in __________ at an astonishing rate, increasing the ______ of the brain. They are not fully equipped, properly positioned, or completely functioning.

_______ neurons would fit in a space the size of a pinhead.

At birth, the brain's cerebral cortex has _________ neurons, but few neurons are connected.

After birth, neurons are not created. The increase in brain size is due to an increase in the _______ of neurons and the ________ of connections they make through axon growth and dendrite branching.

By age three, _________ connections exist…twice as many as adults have.

Connections used repeatedly become ____________. Those that are seldom or never used get ________.

A baby's brain development is nonstop and complex with critical periods for wiring different areas of the brain. These critical periods are special times for important learning.

Answers

1. Number
2. Size
3. 30,000
4. 100 billion
5. size
6. number
7. experiences
8. 5,000
9. 50,000
10. 1,000 trillion
11. permanent
12. pruned

52 Ways You Can Increase Your Child's Intelligence and Chances in Life by Lane H. Powell, Ph.D.

You don't have to have special training; you won't have to pay any money; just create a climate for growth, faithfully, over the years, in ways like these…

1. Talk a lot
2. Listen more than you talk
3. Hug a lot
4. Take walks
5. Read together
6. Make just a few rules and stick to them
7. Say "I love you" at least once a day
8. Sing – even if it's off key
9. Keep your sense of humor
10. Tell stories about your childhood
11. Listen to their questions and give answers
12. Celebrate special times
13. Use "please" and "thank you"
14. Never call names or belittle
15. Smile a lot
16. Never, ever yell
17. Remember how big you look
18. Praise good efforts
19. Think of guidance instead of punishment
20. Ask questions instead of jumping to conclusions
21. Use "do" much more often than "don't"
22. Avoid criticizing or blaming
23. Or scaring
24. Admit your mistakes
25. Play games
26. Keep a schedule
27. Allow lots of room for their mistakes
28. Look for the funny side
29. Practice patience
30. Call someone if you feel you are getting out of control
31. Give your full attention when they talk
32. Get on their level when they talk
33. Look them in the eye
34. Express appreciation often
35. Read, read, read
36. "Hang loose"
37. Learn to say "I'm sorry"
38. Wonder at life
39. Get to know an older person
40. Rock
41. Swing
42. Let the kid out in you
43. Keep promises
44. Remember when you were a kid
45. Exercise your faith and share it
46. Say "no" only when you mean it and will stick by it
47. Do kindnesses for others
48. Experience lots of things
49. Enjoy each child's uniqueness
50. Tell the truth
51. Take pride in your community
52. Be an example of the kind of person you want them to be

Permission to copy poster granted by Lane H. Powell, Ph.D., 1996