The Importance of Early learning For Babies and Toddlers

As parents you'll be educating your child from day one, even if you aren't truly aware of it. Every instruction you give your child, and every action you make which they copy, are lessons they're learning for themselves. At such an early age, babies and toddlers are interested and keen. They naturally want to discover new things, so it makes sense that when parents give their children educational toys, books and games to play with, they choose the right ones.

Childhood early learning is not about forcing your child to become a genius overnight. Instead, it's about giving them the opportunity to make use of their own naturally inquisitive personalities and allowing them to discover new senses and abilities through the medium of play.

Scientific Research Proves That Early Educational Toys Make a Difference

Research conducted in America has proven that infant education really does make a difference to a child's ability later in life. Encouraging them, by reading them stories and showing them pictures in infant books, playing with educational toys, using flashcards, early learning DVD's and familiarising them with simple things like the alphabet, shapes and colours allows a toddlers brain to develop in much the same way that a body builder would develop his muscles with regular workouts. The more they exercise their brains, the easier they find it to learn and understand.

In the UK, the BBC discussed the issue of childhood early learning in it's Dispatches: Kids Don't Count programme (March 2010), which may still be viewed online. It highlighted a group of children's lack of comprehension when presented with a simple fraction, but it was the views of the teachers interviewed in the programme which shed the light on the problem. Children, they agreed, were not introduced to learning at an early enough age to find it interesting, and this lack of early learning left older children confronted with a harder task. The solution? Introduce the right learning toys, preschool games, flashcards and infant books early enough to capture and harness their natural interest.

The Brainy Baby® company, an online 'Early Learning Centre', specialise in educational toys with proven success in enhancing toddlers' learning experiences. They recently commissioned a study through the University of Texas which showed that a group of toddlers using their educational Brainy Baby's® Shapes & Colours DVD were 22 times more successful in learning and recognising a new and unfamiliar shape than a group of toddlers who didn't see the DVD. They've proven that the earlier children are encouraged to educate themselves by using tools like educational toys, DVDs, infant books and children's flashcards, the better and easier they will learn.

Brands of Educational Children's Products in the UK

Educational toys and games for infants and babies is a huge industry in the UK, with big-name manufacturers like V-Tech, Chicco and Leapfrog recognising the importance of early learning. Everything from flashcards, books and toys have been designed to teach babies to recognise their ABC's, and one of the biggest companies was the Baby Einstein group who had a huge share of the market with their educational children's products. However, the Baby Einstein group, owned by Disney since 2001, has suffered recent bad publicity, opening the door for newer companies like brainybaby.co.uk to step forward and claim their share of the UK market with their well researched educational merchandise.

Baby Einstein Suffers in the US

Recent problems for Baby Einstein were heavily publicised at the end of 2009 when Disney was threatened with a class-action lawsuit by a group of public health lawyers who complained that Disney had marketed their early learning DVD's in a manner which implied they could make children more intelligent, but parents have been arguing against the suggestion that using their toddler's educational DVD's as a virtual babysitter is an appropriate, or effective, method of learning. What parents want is to be part of their children's learning experience and to help them by sharing time playing with educational toys together.

This desire is encompassed in the Brainy Baby® range of products which are sold online in the UK. They have researched and developed a superior range of educational toys, infant learning flashcards, preschool games and infant books designed to promote a positive learning experience through parent-child interaction and at a fraction of the cost of some of the larger retailers. Testimonials for the company and their products can be found on their site at brainybaby.co.uk and brainybaby.com, but here are a few of the reasons why the Brainy Baby® products are the informed parents choice: