As you cuddle your newborn infant, his brain is already hard at work learning and developing in numerous ways. Babies and young children develop more than a million neural connections each second. And, about 80 percent of their intellect, personality, and social skills are developed in the first five years of life, making those early years critical to their later success.
Whether you know it or not, you have the power to help your child in this critical stage of development, no Ph.D. or special training needed. The Colorado Early Learning and Development Guidelines show parents and caregivers, the development milestones children may be hitting at each age, everything from infants copying facial expressions to a kindergartener balancing on one leg or stringing beads. The guidelines also share what anyone involved with children can do to nurture their learning and development.
To make the guidelines more accessible, Colorado Shines, a program of Colorado Office of Early Childhood has produced a new series of videos, available in both English and Spanish.
“Parents can click on a video and learn what some of those milestones are for their child’s age as well as tips to support growth,” says Lindsey Dorneman, communications and projects manager for the Colorado Office of Early Childood. The big message in all of these videos is really, “get involved.”
And, start right away, says Dorneman. “You have the ability to support your child’s learning and growth with the tools you already have.”
Find the videos and downloadable tip sheets at earlylearningco.org.
