1 What babies can do

Babies have been described as ‘the most powerful learning machine in the universe’ (Gopnik, Meltzoff and Kuhl, 2001). More than a million new connections a second are made in a baby’s brain in their first year of life and these are influenced by their relationships, the experiences they have, and the environment around them. These early years are a critical time when the foundations of the baby’s brain’s architecture is being built. Architecture is how the brain is constructed, which is an ongoing process that begins before birth and continues into adulthood. In this section you are going to look at how a baby’s brain helps them to interact with the world around them from the moment they are born.

The number and quality of physical, social, emotional encounters and interactions that babies have all contribute to the development of the architecture of the brain. Research confirms that practitioners working with children in the first 1001 days are building foundations for their lifelong learning, health and wellbeing. So it is essential that practitioners working in the baby/toddler room are well equipped to ensure that all the children in their care receive optimum benefit from their experiences. You will find out more about best practice when working in the baby room in Week 6.

Our brains are most flexible or ‘plastic’ in the early years of life and this is when they have the greatest ability to reorganise and adapt. At this time the brain can accommodate an incredible range of experiences and interactions. For example, within its first year, the parts of a baby’s brain that differentiate sounds can recognise the difference between their mother’s language and another language. All aspects of a baby’s development are becoming established in these early days and the cognitive and linguistic capacities, social skills, emotional health and physical wellbeing that develop in their first 1001 critical days form the foundations for future success.

Activity 5.1 Activity 1 How the brain develops

Timing: Allow about 10 minutes

Watch this Open University video to find out more about how the experiences a baby has affect the development of their brain. As you watch, reflect on why you think it is important for babies to have a range of different experiences right from their earliest days, and type your thoughts into the box below.

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Transcript: Video 1

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A child’s experiences during the earliest years of life have a lasting impact on the architecture of the developing brain. Genes provide the basic blueprint, but experiences shape the process that determines whether a child’s brain will provide a strong or weak foundation for all future learning, behaviour, and health. During this important period of brain development, billions of brain cells called neurons send electrical signals to communicate with each other.

These connections form circuits that become the basic foundation of brain architecture. Circuits and connections proliferate at a rapid pace and are reinforced through repeated use. Our experiences and environment dictate which circuits and connections get more use. Connections that are used more grow stronger and more permanent. Meanwhile, connections that are used less fade away through a normal process called pruning.

Well-used circuits create lightning fast pathways for neural signals to travel across regions of the brain. Simple circuits form first, providing a foundation for more complex circuits to build on later.

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Through this process, neurons form strong circuits and connections for emotions, motor skills, behavioural control, logic, language, and memory during the early critical period of development. With repeated use, these circuits become more efficient and connect to other areas of the brain more rapidly. While they originate in specific areas of the brain, the circuits are interconnected. You can’t have one type of skill without the others to support it. Like building a house, everything is connected and what comes first forms a foundation for all that comes later.

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End transcript: Video 1

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Video 5.1 Video 1

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Discussion

The video shows us that every experience a baby has causes a reaction in their brain cells which triggers a response. The more times these reactions occur the stronger the connections between the brain cells become, and if the experiences are repeated enough the connections become permanent.

Different types of experience create responses in different parts of the brain, and providing this range of experiences allows these different parts of the brain to connect and work together. Giving babies as many different types of experience as possible right from the start, gives their brains the best chance of creating all the connections needed to support their future development.

Despite all this amazing development that is going on, people often think that babies do not do much other than eat and sleep – but they are interacting, learning and communicating with us right from the start. The Welsh Government Framework for Early Childhood Play, Learning and Care (2023) provides lots of details about what babies and toddlers can do and what they need from the adults who support and care for them. The information in the boxes below is taken from the framework and describes what a child needs and what they enjoy as they develop. When you work with babies and young children you can use this information to help you make sure you’re responding to their needs effectively.

In the next section you are going to look at some of the very first responses that babies make and why it is important to support these.