Loose parts play is a free form play where children are given open-ended materials, that can be very beneficial for their cognitive development. Loose parts play involves various toys and materials that children can use in combination or isolation like cardboard, sticks, sand, and beads. These items are typically not intended for play, but children figure out different ways they can use them in their play, which is how loose parts inhibit their creativity and cognitive development. Play provides opportunities for intrinsic motivation which is important for long-term academic and personal success. Structured learning is usually dependent on external rewards, whereas play allows children to be driven by their own curiosity and interests.  

 

Researchers have found that it has helped with children’s problem-solving, creativity, academic skills (reading and math), and both convergent and divergent thinking. One study found that children who played with more natural and creative materials performed better in evaluated problem-solving and language skills. Another study determined that divergent play materials led to originality and fluency in problem-solving, whereas convergent materials led to strategic and task-focused problem-solving. These findings are only some of the many discoveries that researchers have made about the positive influences that loose parts have on cognitive development. 

 

If you want to read more, click here! 

Angelina Stofka 

UConn KIDS, Research Assistant 

 

As many of you may know, Bluey is a television program that is very popular amongst children, especially of the preschool age, but is also popular amongst parents because of the messages that the show promotes. A prevalent theme of the show is resilience which is the ability to confront, overcome, and become stronger by life’s challenges. Resilience is very important for children to acquire to help with their regulation of emotions and well-being.  

 

150 episodes of Bluey were analyzed, with resilience being featured across both as primary and secondary themes in a total of 73 out of 150 episodes. The topics of the show pertain to situations that preschoolers are often faced with, which is how children are able to relate to the characters of the show. Researchers have found that Bluey was consistent with containing resilience messages like emotional regulation, persistence, and problem-solving through their main character. With resilience being such a common theme of the episodes, it might encourage children to model the behavior that they are witnessing. It has been reported that repeated exposure to consistent themes can help children with comprehension and retention of the themes. Watching Bluey with children and using on-screen moments as conversation starters can help establish key messages about resilience in real life for children. Not only is Bluey entertaining for children, but it’s also teaching them about important life skills like resilience; something everyone can benefit from! 

 

If you want to read more, click here! 

Angelina Stofka 

UConn KIDS, Research Assistant 

The answer to last week’s question, “By age 3, about how many words are children able to understand?”  

Is 20,000 words! 

This week’s trivia question is:  

An infant’s brain is 25% of its adult weight at birth, how much of its adult weight is the brain by age 3? 

1. 60% 
2. 70% 
3. 80% 
4. 90% 

Tune in next week to find out the answer to this week’s question!

Angie is a research assistant for UConn KIDS. She is a senior Psychological Sciences major, minoring in Human Development & Family Sciences in the Early Childhood Specializations program. After graduating, she plans on attending graduate school to become a counselor for young children and their families. She is involved with the University Ballet Company on campus and Psi Chi, the International Honor Society in Psychology. 

Angie is eager to be a research assistant this semester because she loves to help the supporting of children and their development, and we are so excited for her to be here! 

The answer to last week’s question, “At what age is the brain fully developed?”  

Is 20-30 years old! 

This week’s trivia question is: 

By age 3, about how many words are children able to understand?

1. 1,500
2. 8,000
3. 12,000
4. 20,000

Tune in next week to find out the answer to this week’s question! 

Talking to young children is more important than you’d think. Talking to infants and toddlers will help promote linguistic nutrition and mental exercise that will help build the child’s brain and intelligence. Talking to young children is something beneficial for their brain development and is something families can do despite their socioeconomic status.  

 

Hearing language is the basis of oral language skills which are fundamental to intelligence. Although babies aren’t able to talk back, it’s important that they’re hearing language around them. Oral language provides children with an important tool for thought and without fluent and structured oral language, it will be difficult for children to think as they get older.  

 

Dialogue, like narrating an infant or toddler’s play, can really help oral language development. It doesn’t have to be excessive or complicated language, rather it’s better to use simple language that corresponds to things in the child’s daily life, such as toys or changing their diaper. 

 

The first thousand days of life are a period of a vast amount of learning that families should take advantage of to empower them to help, support, and nourish their children’s brain development. Babies are born ready to learn but they’ll only achieve their full potential with support from their families. 

 

If you want to read more, click here!  

Angelina Stofka 

UConn KIDS, Research Assistant 

Screen time for children is a tricky topic since we’re entering such a predominant technological world. It’s hard to not utilize screens when engaging and raising young children nowadays, which makes it important to learn how to do this in a healthy way. There are ways to positively promote child health and development in the digital world. Four evidence-based principles are minimizing, mitigating, mindfully using, and modelling healthy use of screens. 

 

Minimizing the use of screens is always recommended. It’s not recommended for children younger than 2 years old to use screens, and for children 2-5 years old, it’s recommended about 1 hour or less of screen time. It’s also recommended to avoid screens 1 hour before bedtime and to maintain daily screen-free times like family meals and book-sharing.  

 

Another principle for healthy use of screens is mitigating the risks associated with screentime. One way to do this is to be present and engaged when screens are being used, so it’s important that children aren’t using screens by themselves. Another way to mitigate risks is to encourage the use of screens for creative activities like drawing rather than passive viewing. Curating and monitoring young children’s media are something else that could help.  

 

Being mindful about the use of screen time is another important principle for healthy use of screens. Creating a plan for when, how, and where screens may and may not be used could help with this as well as prioritizing shared family media use like watching television or movies together, rather than having children play or watch by themselves. 

 

The last principle for healthy use of screens is that adults should model health screen use. They can do this by encouraging and participating in activities that don’t involve screens like shared reading, outdoor play, board games, and crafts. It’s also important to turn off devices during family time at and away from home as well as when not in use and avoid background television.  

 

If you want to read more, click here!  

Angelina Stofka 

UConn KIDS, Research Assistant 

Montessori classrooms have become more popular and known overtime and have become one of the preferred ways of arranging and conducting classrooms for preschools. The Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) is the most used observation system used in research, practice, and policy to look at classroom process quality. CLASS focuses mostly on teacher-child interactions as the site of learning, and Montessori classrooms focuses mostly on child-environment interactions, which might cause Montessori classrooms to score lower than conventional classrooms on CLASS. 

 

Montessori preschool classrooms tend to have more students, causing a higher child to teacher ratio, which may not seem efficient to some people. However, these classrooms see that children’s development and learning occur not only through teacher to child interactions, but through a relationship between the child, the environment, and the teacher. This is not something that CLASS typically looks at but is shown to be effective in children’s development.  

 

Montessori preschool classrooms with larger class sizes had higher emotional support and classroom organization than conventional classrooms using CLASS. They also found that classrooms with higher child to adult ratios lead to higher instructional support. This goes to show the advantages of Montessori classrooms that CLASS observations might miss! 

 

If you want to read more, click here!  

Angelina Stofka 

UConn KIDS, Research Assistant