Why the Early Years Matter for Child Development

The first seven years of a child’s life are truly incredible when it comes to development. In these early years, a child’s brain is growing and changing faster than it ever will again.

When your baby is born, their brain is only about a quarter of the size of an average adult brain. Yet in such a short time, it goes through remarkable growth.

During the first year, your baby’s brain doubles in size.

By age 3, it has already reached around 80% of its adult size.

By age 5, it’s about 90% of its adult size.

It’s amazing to think that so much development happens in such a short space of time.

Around ages 1 to 2, you may also notice your child’s memory rapidly improving. Suddenly they begin remembering routines, people, songs and little details about the world around them. It can feel like they are soaking everything up like a sponge - and in many ways, they really are.

Perhaps one of the most fascinating facts is that two-year-olds actually have twice as many synapses as adults. Synapses are the connections in the brain that help us learn, think and make sense of the world.

At this stage, children’s brains are forming connections at an extraordinary rate, which means they are learning faster than at any other point in their lives.

Because of this, the experiences children have during these early years can have a lasting impact on their development. Everyday moments - talking, playing, exploring, reading, singing and simply spending time together - all help build those important brain connections.

This particularly important stage of development continues until around age 7, which is why offering children a wide range of opportunities to explore and learn during these early years can make such a difference.

If you’d like to understand more about what development looks like at different ages, you can explore my age-by-age development guides for children from birth to 8 years below.

1 year old development, milestones and behaviour

2 year old development, milestones and behaviour

3 year old development, milestones and behaviour

4 year old development, milestones and behaviour

5 year old development, milestones and behaviour

6 year old development, milestones and behaviour

7 year old development, milestones and behaviour

8 year old development, milestones and behaviour

Hi, I’m Emma, Early Childhood Expert and founder of Everyday. My goal is simple: help parents understand their children better so every stage feels a little easier.

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