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  The importance of being active

  Raising Children NZ

  This video on the Raising Children New Zealand website reminds us about the vital link between physical activity and brain development.

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• Growing great brains<

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  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.

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  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]

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  Growing great brains

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

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• Dr Bruce Perry Pt 3.<

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  Dr Bruce Perry Pt 3. (transcript)

  [Music]

  Voiceover:

  Brought to you through the regional support of First 5 Fresno County, First 5 Tulare County, and First 5 Mandera County because it’s all about the kids.

  [Graphic: First 5 Fresno County logo | First 5 Tulare County logo | First 5 Mandera County logo | “It’s all bout the kids”]

  [Silence]

  [Text on screen: Brain Development]

  [Text on screen: Activities for Self Regulation]

  [Text on screen: Dr. Bruce Perry, MD, PhD | Teacher, Clinician,  Researcher | Child Trauma Academy | www.childtrauma.org(external link)]

  Teacher:

  We’re on a rodeo! Where’s your rope? Get your rope!

  [Text on screen: Dr. Bruce Perry | Teacher, Clinician, Researcher]

  Dr. Bruce Perry:

  Well part of what I’m talking about is that the brain actually is a big sack of interrelated systems. And only one of those systems is sort of involved in cognition/thinking. A lot of these systems are involved in motor movement; they’re involved in emotion regulation but they’re all interrelated. So what we know is the brain kind of is built like a layered cake that early in life the lowest part develops and then the middle part  and then the top part. 

  And the top part is where the cortex - the thinking part of the brain - is where we learn ABCs and geography and algebra. And if these lower parts of the brain aren’t organised and not functioning properly, the top part’s not gonna be effectively organised or functioning properly.

  So if you have a child who hasn’t had the opportunity to build in self-regulation, if they haven’t had opportunities for social-emotional development, the cognitive learning part is just gonna be very inefficient. And so, ironically enough, the best way to make the top part of the brain receptive to learning is to make sure these lower parts are regulated. And one of the most effective ways to regulate the lower parts of the brain is to take advantage of patterned, repetitive sensory experiences like going for a walk, doing five minutes of jumping jacks, and 10 minutes of listening to music. All of these pattern-repetitive sensory experiences literally quiet down these lower parts of the brain so that the top part of the brain can be receptive to cognitive input. 

  So what I’m recommending to people is that if you want a child to really be capable of learning a new concept, make sure that before you introduce it, there’s been an opportunity for the child to kind of regulate themselves. And regulate themselves by doing jumping jacks or jump rope or playing jacks with a friend or doing things that don’t seem like learning. 

  You know a lot of people are like “Oh my gosh, those kids are out there playing recess, they’re playing kickball. Oh my God! They’re not learning their alphabet. They’re gonna be left behind.” Well, that’s crap. I mean, children who have an opportunity for physical activity and exercise actually learn better. And there are hundreds of studies that show that that’s so. That if you really want your child to be academically superior, you need to give them opportunities for non-academic activities that are regulating. Music, dance, sports, all of those things really help children and in doses that aren’t just at the end of the day. They need to be tiny doses that are spread throughout the day. You know, 15 minutes here, 15 minutes here, 15 minutes here, and do your cognitive learning between these regulating experiences.

  [Music]

  [Text on screen: Dr. Bruce Perry, MD, PhD | Teacher, Clinician,  Researcher | Child Trauma Academy | www.childtrauma.org(external link)]

  Brought to you through the regional support of First 5 Fresno County, First 5 Tulare County, and First 5 Mandera County because it’s all about the kids.

  [Graphic: First 5 Fresno County logo | First 5 Tulare County logo | First 5 Mandera County logo | “It’s all bout the kids”]

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  Dr Bruce Perry Pt 3.

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  Tukuna ahau kia mahi, kia mōhio ai ahau me pēhea te ako – let me do things over and over again

  Just like big people I need to practise new things.

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  Whakatipu Te Māhuri

  Te Māhuri is a guide for the journey of whānau and their growing tamaiti from 3 to 5 years old. Te Māhuri offers simple whānau tikanga as tamariki become more independent.

  pdf 11 MB

  Booklet 3 to 5 years

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  Whakatipu Te Māhuri, page 16 and 17

  Ngā tohu whānau – There are 6 things that promote a strong relationship between parents, whānau and their tamariki.

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  Whakatipu Te Māhuri, page 22

  Whānau say – Our tamariki are really interested in real life events. Pregnancy, birth, illness and death have all come into our kōrero lately.

  pdf 217 KB

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