The Brain Architecture Game
This tabletop board game experience was designed to engage policymakers, community and business leaders, health and education service providers, and government officials in understanding the science of early brain development—what promotes it, what derails it, and what are the consequences for society.
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Experiences Build Brain Architecture
This 2-minute video explains how the basic architecture of the brain is constructed through a process that begins early in life and continues into adulthood.
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Serve & Return Interaction Shapes Brain Circuitry
This 2-minute video explains why “serve and return” interaction between children and significant adults in their lives is one of the most essential experiences in shaping the architecture of the developing brain.
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From Best Practices to Breakthrough Impacts
This report synthesizes 15 years of dramatic advances in the science of early childhood and early brain development, analyzes evidence generated by 50 years of program evaluation research, and presents a framework for driving science-based innovation in early childhood policy and practice.
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Young Children Develop in an Environment of Relationships
This working paper from the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child explains why an environment of relationships is crucial for the development of a child’s brain architecture, which lays the foundation for later developmental outcomes.
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Child Development Core Story
This educational video series on the importance of the early years was created by the Project for Babies, a former initiative of the University of Minnesota Center for Early Education and Development.
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Connecting the Brain to the Rest of the Body: Early Childhood Development and Lifelong Health Are Deeply Intertwined
The rapidly advancing frontiers of 21st-century biological sciences now provide compelling evidence that the foundations of lifelong health are built early, with increasing evidence of the importance of the prenatal period and first few years after birth.
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Brain-Building Through Play: Activities for Infants, Toddlers and Children
View Handouts From infancy on, play is an important part of a child’s life. For babies and toddlers, simple, playful interactions with adults help develop sturdy brain architecture, the foundations of lifelong health, and the building blocks of resilience. Through games and playful activities, children can practice and strengthen important executive function skills that will […]
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InBrief: The Science of Early Childhood Development
This brief explains how the science of early brain development can inform investments in early childhood. These basic concepts, established over decades of neuroscience and behavioral research, help illustrate why child development—particularly from birth to five years—is a foundation for a prosperous and sustainable society.
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8 Things to Remember about Child Development
In this important list, featured in the From Best Practices to Breakthrough Impacts report, the Center on the Developing Child sets the record straight about some aspects of early child development.
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MOOC: The Best Start in Life: Early Childhood Development for Sustainable Development
This online course draws from research in neuroscience, psychology, economics, anthropology, and program implementation and evaluation in order to discuss ECD and explore its role in achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.
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InBrief: The Impact of Early Adversity on Children’s Development
This brief explains how providing stable, responsive, nurturing relationships in the earliest years of life can prevent or even reverse the damaging effects of early life stress, with lifelong benefits for learning, behavior, and health.
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5 Steps for Brain-Building Serve and Return
Serve and return interactions make everyday moments fun and become second nature with practice. By taking small moments during the day to do serve and return, you build up the foundation for children’s lifelong learning, behavior, and health—and their skills for facing life’s challenges.
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Children’s Emotional Development Is Built into the Architecture of Their Brains
This working paper from the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child discusses how a child’s capacity to regulate emotions develops in a complex interaction with his or her environment and ongoing mental, physical, and social development. It also discusses the implications of this research for policies affecting young children, their caregivers, and service providers.
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Training Module: “Talk With Me Baby”
Learn how to empower and support families so that they can engage in meaningful conversations with their young children and advance their language and lifelong learning. The eight-session “Talk With Me Baby” course is open to the public and available through Cox Campus and Read Right from the Start.
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Early Exposure to Toxic Substances Damages Brain Architecture
This working paper from the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child explains how exposure to toxins before birth or early in life can have a devastating and lifelong effect on the developing architecture of the brain.
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Brain Story Certification Course
The Brain Story Certification course is designed for those seeking a deeper understanding of brain development and its consequences for lifelong health.
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Early Experiences Can Alter Gene Expression and Affect Long-Term Development
Early experiences can affect how and if genes are expressed. This working paper from the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child explains how children’s early environmental influences shape their developing brain architecture.
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Protecting Brains, Stimulating Minds: The Early Life Roots of Success in School
Understanding both the biology of adversity and the science of early learning is essential for building a strong foundation for reducing disparities in educational achievement. The benefits of evidence-based curricula in the early childhood years cannot be fully achieved without effective strategies for preventing the consequences of toxic stress. Center Director Jack Shonkoff speaks at […]
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A Science-Based Framework for Early Childhood Policy
This report provides a framework for using evidence to improve child outcomes in learning, behavior, and health.
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Training Module: “Build My Brain”
With lessons on brain architecture and toxic stress, the “Build My Brain” course connects the science of early childhood development to work in early childhood education, public health, and social services.
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The Science of Early Childhood Development: Closing the Gap Between What We Know and What We Do
This report outlines seven core concepts of development, and explains their implications for policies and programs that could significantly improve children’s lives.
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Epigenetics and Child Development: How Children’s Experiences Affect Their Genes
What is epigenetics? In this infographic learn about the science behind genes and their interaction with the environment — nature and nurture — and how these interactions affect child development.
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Building Babies’ Brains Through Play: Mini Parenting Master Class
In this Mini Parenting Master Class from UNICEF, Center on the Developing Child Director Jack P. Shonkoff, M.D., explains the importance of serve and return interactions like play—and how easy they are to do, especially through practice!
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InBrief: The Science of Early Childhood Development
This video from the InBrief series addresses basic concepts of early childhood development, established over decades of neuroscience and behavioral research.
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What Is Executive Function? And How Does It Relate to Child Development?
As essential as they are, we aren’t born with the skills that enable us to control impulses, make plans, and stay focused. In this infographic, learn more about what executive function skills are, why they’re important, and how they’re built.
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Three Core Concepts in Early Development
This three-part video series depicts how advances in neuroscience, molecular biology, and genomics now give us a much better understanding of how early experiences are built into our bodies and brains, for better or for worse.
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About The Brain Architects Podcast
Healthy development in the early years provides the building blocks for educational achievement, economic productivity, responsible citizenship, strong communities, and successful parenting of the next generation. By improving children’s environments, relationships, and experiences early in life, society can address many costly problems, including incarceration, homelessness, and the failure to complete high school. But if you’re […]
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Brain Hero
This 3-minute video adapts the visual sensibility of interactive game models to a video format. Based loosely on such games as “Guitar Hero,” “SimCity,” and “The Game of Life,” the video portrays how actions taken by parents, teachers, policymakers, and others can affect life outcomes for both the child and the surrounding community.
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The Brain Architects Podcast: Brain Architecture: Laying the Foundation
Why are the early years of a child’s life so important for brain development? How are connections built in the brain, and how can early brain development affect a child’s future health? This episode of The Brain Architects dives into all these questions and more. First, Dr. Jack Shonkoff, director of the Center on the […]
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The Timing and Quality of Early Experiences Combine to Shape Brain Architecture
This working paper from the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child explains key scientific advances in understanding why the early years matter for brain development, as well as the implications of those findings for policy.
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The Brain Architects Podcast: Serve and Return: Supporting the Foundation
What is “serve and return”? What does it mean to have a “responsive relationship” with a child? How do responsive relationships support healthy brain development? And what can parents and caregivers do in their day-to-day lives to build these sorts of relationships? This episode of The Brain Architects podcast addresses all these questions and more! […]