This TED talk, by Molly Wright, aged seven, one of the youngest-ever TED speakers, was produced in collaboration with Minderoo Foundation as an educational tool for parents and caregivers around the world and is supported by UNICEF.

“What if I was to tell you that a game of peek-a-boo could change the world?”, asks seven-year-old Molly Wright. Breaking down the research-backed ways parents and caregivers can support children’s healthy brain development, Wright highlights the benefits of play on lifelong learning, behavior and well-being, sharing effective strategies to help all kids thrive by the age of five.

Molly is joined onstage by one-year-old Ari and his dad, Amarjot, who help illustrate her big ideas about brain science.

Molly outlines how optimal brain development in the first five years of life are impacting by:

·      Connecting

·      Talking

·      Playing

·      A Healthy Home

·      Community

She asks her audience what we can all do to help: Serve and Return! (The adult phrase for connecting, talking and playing with children.)

Copycat games build imagination and empathy. Naming games build vocabulary and attention. Games like peek-a-boo build memory and trust.

Each time an adult talks with a child, plays with a child, makes the child laugh, it not only builds the relationship and the child’s mental health, it teaches the most important life skills:

·      Making friends

·      Taking a test

·      Getting a job

·      Maybe even starting a family of their own

Interactions early and often matter.

She then demonstrates what happens when the adult is preoccupied (e.g. with technology) and unavailable to the child who is seeking the adult’s attention. It leads to confusion and distress. A child who lives without adult engagement on a regular basis builds up a sense of isolation and loses confidence.

Every moment together is an opportunity to talk, laugh and play. For children and for all of us.

Molly is an amazing presenter, and the outline above doesn’t even begin to give a sense of the impact of her talk!