The term Early Childhood covers the prenatal stage through age 8. Recent studies have proven that a child’s brain develops most crucially during the first 3-5 years, and that their capacity for school success lies in the quality of the experiences that they have during this period. This is important because more than any other time in a person’s life, the brain is developing at a rapid and dramatic rate and is better able to store information while the neuron-connections are being formed.

Children at this age learn through their senses. Everything they encounter is tested through sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell. When an infant, toddler, or preschooler experiences something for the first time, they take in every aspect of that experience through their senses, therefore engraving it into their psyche. Once the connection is formed in the brain, it is stored for future use and applied to other connections similar to it. For example, when observing a two-year old playing with blocks, what do they do? They study the blocks. They pound the blocks together. They put one in their mouth. They look at the pictures or numbers on it. They roll the block around in their hand. They test the use of the blocks by stacking them, throwing them, dumping them. By the end of their play, they “know” those blocks! They have formed the connections in their brain so that the next time they pick up a block, they will know what to expect from a block and how to proceed with it.

High quality environments from 0-3 can establish success in school in later years. When approaching a subject such as math, science, writing, and reading, success comes from “knowing” the elements of those subjects through experience and testing. Without early experiences in these subjects a student will have difficulty in proceeding at the expected level. Therefore, it is crucial that children are given the opportunity for these quality experiences in the early years so that they are ready for school and new expectations.