Our TIME: FIDDLE-DEE-DEE Week 7

FOUNDATIONS OF LEARNING

NEW & DIFFERENT: The brain pays closer attention to things that don’t fit an established pattern, things that are new and different. Over time, the brain reacts to routine stimulus by lowering levels of stimulation. Anything new causes the body to release adrenaline, and adrenaline acts as a memory fixative. According to Arnold Scheibel, Director of the Brain Research Institute at UCLA, “Unfamiliar activities are the brain’s best friend.”

FINGERPLAYS: During the toddler years, children typically are quite active and have short attention spans. By incorporating fingerplays and rhythmic body movements into nursery rhymes and stories, we can keep these youngsters’ attention by allowing them to be active. In the process, we also enable them to remember new words by association with movement, and we give them an opportunity to exercise new fine and gross motor skills.