Babies’ brains in the first year of life and how we shape them (1 hour, online workshop, next available date 9.30-10.30am Tuesday 22nd September 2026)

Description

In ‘Babies’ brains in the first year of life and how we shape them’ we’ll explore how babies brains change in the first year of life and create the foundations for learning, development and wellbeing across the whole lifespan. We’ll look at basic brain anatomy and processes in order to understand how formative the first year of life is. We’ll explore how adults’ behaviours and the environment we create for a baby (whether at home or in the baby room) literally shape their growing brain.

We will focus on:

• Learning and development in the first year of life, as seen through the lens of brain science
• A basic understanding of the structures of the brain and the helpful separation of the brain into an ‘upstairs’ and ‘downstairs’ brain
• Some of the main neurotransmitters (oxytocin, serotonin, dopamine) as well as the hormone cortisol, and how these all feed into our sense of wellbeing; we’ll focus on how these neurotransmitters are impacted by the first year of life and what this means for a person across their entire lifespan 
• We’ll look at the impact of the environment on a baby’s brain in the first year of life, reflecting on what this means for us as adult working with babies

What you’ll get: 

• A deeper knowledge and understanding of babies’ learning and development in the first year of life
• Opportunities to learn from other baby room educators and leaders
• A slide deck that you can use to cascade learning with your team
• A digital certificate of attendance and participation

Course Facilitator:

The course will be facilitated by Dr Mona Sakr, Associate Professor of Early Childhood, author, speaker and founder of Baby Rooms – Inspiring Leaders.