Children who play a lot learn skills such as sitting, crawling and standing quicker. Play also leads to better health and wellbeing as they grow older.
Babies are curious about their world and want to explore.
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Revisions to the CDC’s developmental milestone checklists removed crawling as a skill that babies pick up at a typical age. A biomedical engineer describes how more research may clarify its role.
Scientists and physicians raised concerns early in the pandemic that increased parental stress, COVID infections, reduced interactions with other babies and adults, and changes to health care may affect child development.
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Research findings are mostly reassuring for parents — despite the disruptions to nearly every aspect of life during the COVID-19 pandemic, most children continue to show healthy development.