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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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Icon Relationships and communication

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AGE GROUP

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.

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4-5

Same Letter Sentence

Relationships and communication

Choose a letter, and see if you and your child can think of a sentence using as many words as you can think of that begin with that letter. For example, if you chose the letter M, you might say something like, “My mother made meatballs.” What other M words can you and your child come up with?

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4-5

Same Letter Sentence

Relationships and communication

Choose a letter, and see if you and your child can think of a sentence using as many words as you can think of that begin with that letter. For example, if you chose the letter M, you might say something like, “My mother made meatballs.” What other M words can you and your child come up with?

BRAINY BACKGROUND

Playing with letters and sounds is a great way to help your child’s literacy and communication skills, since it helps them make connections between sounds and words in a playful way. These games also draw on their memory, focus, self-control, and flexible thinking skills.

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4-5

One Letter at a Time

Attention and focus

Is your child curious about spelling familiar words, like their name? Take turns going back and forth spelling a simple word like “cat”: you say c, your child says a, you say t. Make it even harder and challenge your child to try and spell the word backward with you!

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4-5

One Letter at a Time

Attention and focus

Is your child curious about spelling familiar words, like their name? Take turns going back and forth spelling a simple word like “cat”: you say c, your child says a, you say t. Make it even harder and challenge your child to try and spell the word backward with you!

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Playing with letters and sounds encourages your child to use what they already know to make connections between letters and sounds. Spelling backward helps them to think flexibly and not just go on autopilot. Spelling games like this one also help prepare them for later reading and writing.

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3-5

Guess Who!

Relationships and communication

Work together with your child to invent a story about people you pass on the street. Ask them, “Tell me about that man who just walked by.” See how they respond. You can help them by asking questions like, “What do you think he likes to do for fun?” or “What is his favourite food?” Use your imagination!

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3-5

Guess Who!

Relationships and communication

Work together with your child to invent a story about people you pass on the street. Ask them, “Tell me about that man who just walked by.” See how they respond. You can help them by asking questions like, “What do you think he likes to do for fun?” or “What is his favourite food?” Use your imagination!

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As you and your child create a story, they use their communication skills to figure out what they want to say and how, in order to be understood. They also have a chance to practice seeing through others’ eyes as they explore how different people might think or feel.

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4-5

Word of the Day

Attention and focus

Come up with a word of the day, like “play.” As you and your child go through your day, point out moments or things you see that remind you of the word of the day. You might say, “Look, those dogs are playing!” Encourage them to find their own examples of the word of the day.

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4-5

Word of the Day

Attention and focus

Come up with a word of the day, like “play.” As you and your child go through your day, point out moments or things you see that remind you of the word of the day. You might say, “Look, those dogs are playing!” Encourage them to find their own examples of the word of the day.

BRAINY BACKGROUND

Your child must use their memory to remember the special word all day, and use focus and self-control to play the game. They're also exposed to many words and learns about the different ways that words can be used, important parts of learning to read and write.

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2-4

Sound Pattern Play

Attention and focus

In the car? Take turns with your child making sound patterns. For example, say to your child, “Coo, coo, ca, coo.” Ask them to repeat your sounds. Then ask them to come up with a new pattern, and you repeat it. See if you can make the patterns harder by going faster or adding more sounds.

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2-4

Sound Pattern Play

Attention and focus

In the car? Take turns with your child making sound patterns. For example, say to your child, “Coo, coo, ca, coo.” Ask them to repeat your sounds. Then ask them to come up with a new pattern, and you repeat it. See if you can make the patterns harder by going faster or adding more sounds.

BRAINY BACKGROUND

Your child must use their focus, memory, and self-control to pay attention, remember the pattern, and follow the rules of the game. Playing sound games like these are a great way to do early literacy activities with them in a fun way.

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2-4

Picture Detective

Responding to emotions

Encourage your child to be a Picture Detective. See if they look at a picture in a book, magazine, or newspaper, and talk about the picture. Ask them to find certain objects or ask questions like, “Look at that boy’s face. How do you think he feels?”

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2-4

Picture Detective

Responding to emotions

Encourage your child to be a Picture Detective. See if they look at a picture in a book, magazine, or newspaper, and talk about the picture. Ask them to find certain objects or ask questions like, “Look at that boy’s face. How do you think he feels?”

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Pictures are important at this age as your child begins to understand that words and pictures have meaning. When you encourage them to look closely, they make connections and build their skills of focus and self-control and their ability to understand the thoughts and feelings of others.

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4-5

Acting Out

Taking on challenges

When your child does something they should NOT do, tell them why they should not have done it. Then ask them to draw a picture of what happened on a piece of paper. On the other side of the paper, have them draw what they could have done in a better way. Talk about why this new idea would be a better choice.

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4-5

Acting Out

Taking on challenges

When your child does something they should NOT do, tell them why they should not have done it. Then ask them to draw a picture of what happened on a piece of paper. On the other side of the paper, have them draw what they could have done in a better way. Talk about why this new idea would be a better choice.

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Using this strategy changes your approach from “dealing with misbehaviour” to “promoting learning skills.” When your child comes up with new solutions, they're learning not to go on autopilot and instead think of more effective ways to deal with problems.

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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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