Helping their brain develop in the early years

Helpful resources for whānau

• Growing great brains

  Play video

  Close

  Growing great brains (transcript)

  Jason Tiatia, Brainwave Trust Kaiako

  You are probably already doing loads of things our tamariki need to grow a great brain and the rest is actually pretty simple.

  Here’s what you need to know.

  The brain development of your tamaiti is influenced by their experiences.

  [Music]

  Beginning just days after conception brain development before birth forms a critical foundation for later learning.

  While in utero babies grow majority of their neurons or nerve cells they will ever have.

  [Music]

  Once born, the brains of our pēpi grow and change rapidly.

  There’s a lot to take in.

  Looking around, hearing sounds, feeling things on their skin, tasting things moving their bodies.

  Most of the growth and development of the brain after birth is forming crucial connections between nerve cells or neurons.

  These links between neurons are called synapses.

  Synapses allow the brain cells to connect and communicate with each other and form rapidly.

  You can help tamariki grow great brains and connect up their synapses through gentle touching, talking being with them and protecting them from overwhelming or frightening events.

  [Music]

  Tamariki need to do things over and over again in order to develop strengthen and preserve their neural network of connections.

  Tamariki seem to know this whether it’s repeatedly dropping objects on the floor or asking for the same bedtime story for many nights in a row.

  Think how practise makes us better at riding a bike or learning learning a language, tamariki are practising everything.

  Play is one major way of doing this. When you support your tamaiti to play with you, their siblings or cousins, or own their own your tamaiti is growing a great brain.

  All children will have both negative and positive experiences at different times but it’s the experiences they have over and over again that most influence which connections are pruned or kept.

  If the experience are mostly positive and if they’re well supported during their negative experiences this might help them to trust the world and lessen their stress.

  [Music]

  So ultimately we are all providing a safe, consistent nurturing care which is most of what our tamariki need to grow great brains.

  [Music]

  Close transcript

  Growing great brains

  Jason Tiatia from the Brainwave Trust shares some tips on helping pēpi grow great brains.

  Email