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The ideas hub.

A child's brain is a remarkable little creature forming more than a million neural connections every second when activated. Babies learn through spending time with their parents and other special people in their life. Here are some ideas to help create meaningful moments with your child. These meaningful moments, especially if they occur early in a child’s life and often, build strong brains, providing a strong foundation for their life.

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AGE GROUP

1.5-2

Name That Sound

Relationships and communication

When you’re in the park, pause and ask your child to Name That Sound! Take turns guessing. Are you hearing children playing or a dog barking? The squeak of a swing or the chirp of a bird? Point out that some things, like ants, don’t make sounds.

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1.5-2

Name That Sound

Relationships and communication

When you’re in the park, pause and ask your child to Name That Sound! Take turns guessing. Are you hearing children playing or a dog barking? The squeak of a swing or the chirp of a bird? Point out that some things, like ants, don’t make sounds.

BRAINY BACKGROUND

When playing Name That Sound, you’re inviting your child to focus on hearing the differences in sounds and figuring out what they are. This is an important skill for enjoying and learning language that will help them communicate with others.

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Brainy Background™

0.5-1

Drop the Ball

Attention and focus

Turn your trip to the park into a chance to Drop the Ball. Give your child a safe object to hold onto and drop, like a ball or a crumbled piece of paper. If you pick it up, they will drop it again. “Down it falls. Up it comes.” Keep up the game with new objects!

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0.5-1

Drop the Ball

Attention and focus

Turn your trip to the park into a chance to Drop the Ball. Give your child a safe object to hold onto and drop, like a ball or a crumbled piece of paper. If you pick it up, they will drop it again. “Down it falls. Up it comes.” Keep up the game with new objects!

BRAINY BACKGROUND

Building your child’s ability to use their hands is important. They will use this ability at home, at play, and at school. In addition, they're learning to pay attention and to have self-control—also key skills for life.

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Brainy Background™

1.5-2

Park Pointers

Attention and focus

While you’re at the park with your child, point to things you see and say what they are. “There’s a black bird and he’s flying!” or “The little girl is jumping.” Watch where they're looking and say what it is.

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1.5-2

Park Pointers

Attention and focus

While you’re at the park with your child, point to things you see and say what they are. “There’s a black bird and he’s flying!” or “The little girl is jumping.” Watch where they're looking and say what it is.

BRAINY BACKGROUND

When you describe what you see or what your child sees, they're making connections between words and what they mean. Children who know words and what the words mean have a head start on learning.

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Brainy Background™

4-5

Skipper

Taking on challenges

If you're near water (a pond, river, or the sea), skip rocks into the water, talking back and forth about how differences in the shapes and sizes of the rocks affect how they skip. If you’re near a big puddle, you can do a similar experiment with rocks, sticks, or leaves.

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4-5

Skipper

Taking on challenges

If you're near water (a pond, river, or the sea), skip rocks into the water, talking back and forth about how differences in the shapes and sizes of the rocks affect how they skip. If you’re near a big puddle, you can do a similar experiment with rocks, sticks, or leaves.

BRAINY BACKGROUND

This game helps your child learn to create science experiments—to focus on understanding the evidence (how the size and weight of the rock affects how the rock skips) and to make predictions based on that evidence. They're learning critical thinking skills.

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Brainy Background™

3-4

Still as a Statue

Attention and focus

Ask your child to pretend to be a statue and freeze in a pose, like standing on one foot. Try to have them hold this pose as long as possible while you do everything you can to make them laugh and move. Then you can take a turn as the statue and see if they can make you laugh and move!

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3-4

Still as a Statue

Attention and focus

Ask your child to pretend to be a statue and freeze in a pose, like standing on one foot. Try to have them hold this pose as long as possible while you do everything you can to make them laugh and move. Then you can take a turn as the statue and see if they can make you laugh and move!

BRAINY BACKGROUND

This game is all about focus and self-control. Your child is concentrating to stay in the statue pose, and learning to tune out distractions so they can achieve a goal. This kind of playful learning helps them develop skills for life.

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4-5

Nature Patterns

Attention and focus

Have your child collect items like rocks and leaves. Arrange them in a pattern like one rock, two leaves, one rock, two leaves. Then mix them up and ask them to recreate your pattern. Can they remember the order? Have them take a turn making a simple pattern for you to remember.

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4-5

Nature Patterns

Attention and focus

Have your child collect items like rocks and leaves. Arrange them in a pattern like one rock, two leaves, one rock, two leaves. Then mix them up and ask them to recreate your pattern. Can they remember the order? Have them take a turn making a simple pattern for you to remember.

BRAINY BACKGROUND

Noticing and recreating patterns requires your child to use their focus, memory, and ability to make connections. These are all important skills for learning. Playing with patterns also gives them practice with math ideas like numbers, shapes, and comparing sizes.

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Brainy Background™

2-3

Up and Over

Taking on challenges

Ask your child to find an object like a stick or rock and place it on the ground near you. Encourage them to explore different ways of moving over it: Can they jump? Hop over on just one foot? Run and then jump? Take turns jumping with them and talk together about how far you both go.

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2-3

Up and Over

Taking on challenges

Ask your child to find an object like a stick or rock and place it on the ground near you. Encourage them to explore different ways of moving over it: Can they jump? Hop over on just one foot? Run and then jump? Take turns jumping with them and talk together about how far you both go.

BRAINY BACKGROUND

It takes focus and self-control for your child to manage how their body moves, as well as flexible thinking to come up with different ideas. Fun experiences with math ideas like space and distance help them develop a foundation for learning now and in the future.

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Brainy Background™

4-5

Name Game

Taking on challenges

In a waiting room or just hanging out in the living room? Flip through a magazine with your child and take turns making up names for the people in it. Start naming people with A, then B. Then go backwards and start with Z, then Y.

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4-5

Name Game

Taking on challenges

In a waiting room or just hanging out in the living room? Flip through a magazine with your child and take turns making up names for the people in it. Start naming people with A, then B. Then go backwards and start with Z, then Y.

BRAINY BACKGROUND

Playing this game involves remembering, thinking creatively, and not going on autopilot. These are all important skills for learning new things.

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4-5

Waiting Games

Attention and focus

Anytime you’re waiting in line, ask your child to guess how long until it’s your turn. How many numbers can you count? Or how many times will you sing, “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star?” Take turns inventing waiting games.

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4-5

Waiting Games

Attention and focus

Anytime you’re waiting in line, ask your child to guess how long until it’s your turn. How many numbers can you count? Or how many times will you sing, “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star?” Take turns inventing waiting games.

BRAINY BACKGROUND

Waiting games are not about right or wrong answers. They’re actually about developing strategies for waiting or delaying gratification. Studies have found that delaying gratification helps children thrive now and in the future.

Vroom | Brain Building Moments

Brainy Background™

Every time we connect with young children, it’s not just their eyes that light up—it’s their brains, too. A global program of the Bezos Family Foundation, Vroom(R) helps parents boost their child’s learning during the time they already spend together. Vroom believes all parents want what’s best for their children. So we joined with scientists, researchers, and parents to take the science out of the lab and put it in the hands of caregivers. Vroom provides science-based tips and tools to inspire families to turn shared, everyday moments into Brain Building Moments(TM). Since 2015, Vroom has grown to impact nearly 1,500,000 families in 37 US states and 6 countries around the world. Learn more at Vroom.org.

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