This week we learned about the development of the brain before and after birth. The first amazing concept was that a baby is born with 100 billion brain cells. To illustrate the enormity of this number I displayed a table-sized poster containing 1 million stars, which went along with the children's book, How Big is a Million? The class calculated how many posters it would take to equal 100 billion brain cells. Answer=100,000! Then the class calculated the number of posters each student in their school would need to equal 100 billion. (1,800 students would each carry about 55 posters). Wow! Can you imagine?
The brain has been ready to learn even before birth and the cells are reacting to each and every experience by connecting to each other called Synapses. The more connections made in the first three years of life the more intelligent your child will be. Check out this video for a demonstration of how brain cells connect.
Visit this site to play with the Interactive Baby Brain to learn how a baby's brain develops during each period of growth.
