Nurturing Your Child’s Development: The Power of Play

In today's fast-paced and data-driven world, new and expecting parents often find themselves overwhelmed with information about how to best support their child's development. The journey of parenting is both joyful and challenging, and striking the right balance between nurturing your child's growth and managing the daily tasks can be quite difficult. Annamarie von Firley, a child development specialist and serial entrepreneur, has created Fledgling Flights – a groundbreaking solution that combines developmental expertise with play-based activities to optimize your child's growth!

Revolutionizing Child Development Tracking

Gone are the days of parents struggling to keep up with the hundreds of milestones their child is supposed to reach before the age of four. Major achievements such as rolling over, standing up, and taking the first steps are memorable, but what about all the small milestones in between? As a parent, it can be hard to manage the compounding needs of your little ones and your own.

Serial entrepreneur and child development specialist, AnnaMarie, has harnessed her knowledge to equip thousands of parents with the tools needed to build developmental skills while making it fun and engaging. Paired with developmental milestones, Annamarie founded Fledgling Flight, an app centered around fun exercises and games tailored to your child's neuromuscular and cognitive needs, revolutionizing the way we support children's growth!

(Fledgling Flights' subscription for ages 0-3 helps you optimize your child's development through milestone tracking and carefully designed play-based exercises, all delivered in a customized monthly box.)

The First 1000 Days: A Window of Opportunity

The early years of a child's life are crucial for their development, with 80% of the brain's growth occurring during the first three years, making the initial 1000 days of life a window of opportunity. Different types of learning take place at different times in our lives, and sensory pathways such as hearing, language, and higher cognitive function all peak within the first three years of life.

Play-Based Learning: Cultivating Curiosity

Curiosity forms the foundation of learning. Encouraging children's natural curiosity through play-based experiences promotes mobility, emotional growth, and physical development. These experiences enhance not only their cognitive skills but also foster social-emotional development and sensory exploration. Play-based activities are a powerful tool to make learning engaging and enjoyable for your child.

Play-Based Activities: 0-3 Months

Tummy time is crucial for developing muscle movements for crawling, reaching, and eventually walking, while also improving eye muscles for hand-eye coordination and depth perception. Place your little one tummy-side down on a soft surface; try adding high contrast cards – this sensory input is essential for supporting brain neural networks. Wearing your little one and providing rocking and swaying motions offer vestibular input that helps them learn about their body's position in space.

Play-Based Activities: 3-6 Months

Pair audio input with finger play, such as the Itsy Bitsy Spider. Having your little one focus on hand movements improves hand-eye coordination and focus.

Play-Based Activities: 6-12 Months

Build a pillow fort or obstacle course for your little one to explore and crawl around. This provides great proprioceptive and vestibular sensory input, building awareness and confidence in new surroundings while connecting neural networks.

Tailored Activities for Holistic Development

Fledgling Flights doesn't only provide toys; it offers a comprehensive approach to child development. The app offers a range of 100-200 free play-based exercises, categorized into six developmental areas for each month of your child's life:

• Gross motor skills: involving large muscle groups like the arms, legs, and torso.
• Fine motor skills: involving the arms and hands for activities like reaching, grasping, and moving objects. These skills also include visual-motor skills used to coordinate the hands, legs, and body placement.
• Social-emotional development: the ability to regulate emotions, thoughts, and behavior. Social and emotional development is also tied to communication and body language with others.
• Cognitive development: involving how children think, problem-solve, explore, and reason with the outside world and new experiences.
• Sensory development: referring to the maturing of the five familiar senses: hearing, smell, taste, touch, and vision. It also involves the way your baby or child's nervous system receives input from these senses and then forms an appropriate motor or behavioral response.
• Communication: where a child learns how to respond to certain stimuli and express themselves.

These exercises are accessible to everyone, ensuring that parents have the necessary resources to educate themselves about their child's development journey. You can visit Fledglings Flight to find more play-based activities! By blending expert knowledge with play-based activities, we are on a mission to empower parents to be active participants in their child's journey. As your child's first and most influential teacher, we are here to provide the resources needed to ensure that the magic of play nurtures every aspect of your child's growth.