DYK: 90% of brain growth happens before kindergarten.

What are Brainy Acts?

Brainy Acts are actions parents and families can include in their daily teaching and learning routines to build the brain, encourage language growth, and advance understanding about foundational literacy without adding clock hours.

How can Brainy Acts Increase Family Engagement?

Family engagement is an essential and shared responsibility among teachers, providers, parents, and families. It advances timeless learning and achievement. My maternal grandmother often said, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” She shared her experiences and told stories to emphasize the relevance and guarantee we understood. My parents valued building community and multi-generational family relationships. They also encouraged and initiated adventure, fun time learning, exploring, creating, and inventing. They listened to us, facilitated reasoning discussions, including differing opinions and questioning.

As a parent, my experiences as a career educator provided me with a window that showed me how education and care were fundamentally connected. I realized that learning was taking place all the time and all around me. Young learners demonstrated completing an activity, listened, played together, participated in appropriate age problem solving, and confidently shared their opinions. They also demonstrated a need for additional teaching and learning.

The goal was to build the brain, grow language, and learn requisite foundational literacy. The children soared at the close of explicit and continuous teaching and learning age-appropriate reasoning, hearing, practicing growth language, and participating in recreational and essential foundational literacy.  Several parents and family members initiated conversations about their children’s awakening. The parents asked, “What caused my child to demonstrate this new readiness for learning?” Therefore, they welcomed information and suggestions about easy-to-use resources.

Family engagement increased and strengthened educator and family relationships. That’s why we must intentionally communicate and share research and proven learning and teaching actions that can be woven into the fabric of family life and advance high-quality early childhood education (ECE).

What are the 12 Critical Functions of Brainy Acts?

The book “Brainy Acts: Build your Child’s Brain for Success” is all-inclusive. Building the brain, language growth, and foundational literacy actions can ensure a lifetime love of learning. The 12 critical functions recommended for educators and families are included below.

• The Vocal Brain builds a mind that speaks fluently.
• The Inquisitive Brain builds a mind that questions.
• The Literacy Brain builds a mind that reads.
• The Writing Brain builds a mind that authors.
• The Critical Brain builds a mind that analyzes.
• The Innovative Brain builds a mind that invents.
• The Artistic Brain builds a mind that creates.
• The Athletic Brain builds a mind that wins.
• The Strategic Brain builds a mind that plans.
• The Emotionally Intelligent Brain builds a mind that senses and feels.
• The Diagnostic Brain builds a mind that solves problems.
• The Managerial Brain builds a mind that organizes.

The lessons in “Brainy Acts: Build Your Child’s Brain for Success” provide clear examples in concert with local, state, and nationally promoted high-quality ECE curricula. These lessons can be easily woven into the immediate and continuing need to increase family engagement.