Why Early Learning Matters

Learning Begins at Birth

This learning journey begins long before a child enters school. It starts at home! Parents and caregivers are children’s first and most influential teachers. Reading, talking, and purposeful playing with a child beginning at birth provides the necessary experiences to help their mind grow strong and bright, shaping language, literacy, math, and social and emotional skills.

It is during these years—when more than 85 percent of a child’s brain is formed—that crucial brain connections are created. These connections help develop indispensable academic, social, and cognitive skills, which are the bases for learning.

The Science Is Clear

Brain research shows access to early language and literacy experiences enables children to:

• Be exposed to different sounds in words (phonemic awareness).
• Begin to recognize letter shapes, an important foundation to figure out new words (decoding).
• Develop real-world understanding of what the words refer to (create contexts for understanding meaning).
• Build an oral and listening vocabulary (approximately 5,000 words by kindergarten).