They need encouragement and guidance from adults. The earlier children experience good care, the longer their developmental gains last. Early childhood experiences have powerful effects on the development of children's physical and emotional abilities and influence their abilities in math, logic, language and music. New research indicates that infant brain development during the first years of life depends on that infant s environmental experience. The brain develops according to the quantity and quality of the stimuli it receives.
Daily exercise increases nerve connections in the brain.
This makes it easier for children to learn. There are periods of time known as windows of opportunity in the child s brain development when it is especially open to certain kinds of learning. Research indicates that toddlers taught simple math ideas, like bigger or smaller, and more or less, do better in math when they are older. Early music lessons help develop skills which later improve a child s ability to think things through and make decisions. The brain continues to develop and mature in many areas, but patterns of behaviour and emotional response set in the early years are very difficult to change or make up for in other ways.