WHAT DO WE ALL WANT FOR
OUR CHILDREN?
Early Words, Strong Foundation
HOW DO WE ACCOMPLISH THIS?
Coaching, Videos, and Family Education to Help Your Baby Become
a Lifelong Learner
Linda Franklin-Biggs is a licensed, professional educator who combined her passion for children with her passion for music by becoming a public school music teacher in the elementary school system 29 years ago, retiring in June 2023.
Linda actively advocates for early learning and promotes early learning right from birth as a speaker, parent coach, private piano and music teacher.
Why Is working with our children from a young age so important?
Our nation's education system is set up for children to begin formal learning at age five, or age three for children with special needs. There is a crucial window of opportunity that exists in the first 24 months of life. And parents need to know about it.
Encouraging Conversation
Making recordings of babies' conversations can often illuminate actual words being spoken in the playback that maybe wasn't so obvious at the time the word or words were spoken.
This is a YouTube link to a video of a 1-year-old and a 2-year-old interacting. You hear the father coaxing her to "open the window" of her playhouse, and you can hear her say, "I tried. I tried!"
Nurture Lifelong Learning From Birth
85-90% of the brain is developed by age five.
Right from birth, children begin taking in information from their 5 senses.
Start making learning a part of your baby's daily routine, so they come to expect learning new things every day!
Passion for learning will increase.
Great news!
They'll get used to learning & develop a passion for it when they're of school age!
3 Ways to Help Your Baby Become a Lifelong Learner
1 | Don't just say numbers; help the baby count things!
2 | Instead of reading a book,
sing it!
3 | Involve as many of their senses as possible!
For newborns, touch each toe or finger
as you sing count.
Clap babies' hands together, or have
them pat their knees to music and count the number of claps or taps.
When reading, count the number of
pages in the book or count the number
of characters or items on each page.
Count bites of food at mealtime.
Turn simple activities into teachable moments.
You don't have to have a good singing
voice to do this!
Use great variance of inflection in
your voice.
Your vocal muscles move, and the more you contrast a high voice with
a low voice, the quicker it will strengthen the babies' voices.
If you don't have any books on hand,
sing made-up stories!
Add kinesthetic motion & manipulatives to involve more of
their senses and provide greater learning.
Combine motion, sound, sight, & physical objects whenever possible.
For example, when reading about the
concept of up/down, use a high voice &
pick the baby up high in the air.
Use a low voice for down & bring the
baby back down again.
BONUS TIP!
Music, music, music!
Expose your baby to quality music as much as possible. If you have instruments in the home, like a piano, flute or guitar, play for your baby or let the baby explore the sounds!
Sing the notes if you can! Encourage the baby to echo you! In addition, check out all the free concerts nearby!
Check local towns' summer schedules for free concerts on the green. Check your local paper for free musical events, especially around the holidays, at local schools and churches.
Find a really good classical music station on your streaming device and play the music very quietly at nap time in an otherwise quiet and darkened room that is conducive to sleeping.
Many symphonies offer free concerts for children and families; just Google "free concerts near me"!
Not only is it a learning experience for the baby, but it creates a fun memory for the whole family!
