Ten things you can do at home to improve your child's brain function

One of the questions I'm asked most often (by parents in my clinic, in my online programs, and in my inbox) is some version of this: "What can I actually do at home to help my child's brain?"

The good news is that there is a lot you can do. Brain development is not a passive process that happens to your child while they sleep — it is an active, experience-dependent process that is shaped, every single day, by what your child eats, how they move, how they sleep, and how they connect with you.

None of what follows requires a clinic visit, expensive equipment, or a neuroscience degree. These are practical, evidence-informed strategies that you can begin implementing today. Some you may already be doing. Others may open a new door. However, if you have a child with complex needs you might like to have professional guidance to ensure you’re doing what is best for you and your child.

Here are ten of the most impactful things you can do at home to support your child's brain function - in no particular order (because they are all important!).

1. Nutrition: Feed the Brain What It Actually Needs

The brain is a metabolically expensive organ. It uses roughly 20% of the body's total energy — and in a developing child, the demands are even higher. You simply cannot build a well-functioning brain without the raw materials to do so.

Three things matter most:

Enough calories. An underfed brain is an underperforming brain. Children who are chronically undereating — even subtly, even without being visibly underweight — can experience impacts on concentration, memory, mood, and learning. This includes children who are "picky eaters" and may be getting inadequate overall intake.

Nutrient density. Calories from whole, varied, nutrient-rich food are not the same as calories from processed food. The brain requires specific micronutrients — zinc, iron, iodine, B vitamins, choline, omega-3 fatty acids, magnesium — that are found in far greater concentrations in whole foods. Iron deficiency alone is one of the most common and most impactful nutritional causes of cognitive and attention difficulties in children.

Sufficient protein, fat, and carbohydrate. All three macronutrients matter for brain development. Protein provides the amino acid building blocks for neurotransmitters. Dietary fat — particularly the long-chain omega-3s found in oily fish — is essential for myelin formation and neuronal membrane integrity. Carbohydrates provide the glucose the brain runs on. Eliminating or severely restricting any macronutrient group in a growing child carries neurological risk.

Where to start: Prioritise whole foods, include oily fish two to three times per week, ensure adequate protein at every meal, and be cautious about restrictive approaches to children's eating.

2. Vagus Nerve Activation: The Master Switch for Cellular Regeneration

The vagus nerve is the primary nerve of the parasympathetic nervous system — the "rest, digest, and regenerate" branch. When vagal tone is high, the body can recover, repair, and grow. When it is low, the system stays in a state of stress activation, and the brain pays the price.

For children, supporting vagal tone can look remarkably simple:

Humming and gargling. Both of these activate the muscles of the throat and soft palate, which are directly innervated by the vagus nerve. Humming your child's favourite song, gargling after brushing teeth — these are not trivial habits. They are direct stimulation of one of the most important nerves in the body. Make them part of the daily routine.

Deep pressure. Firm, slow, rhythmic touch — long strokes down the back, bear hugs, weighted blankets — activates the parasympathetic nervous system and improves vagal tone. Many children who seem to "seek" deep pressure (the ones who love being squished, wrapped tightly, or buried under cushions) are self-regulating through this mechanism.

Heart-focused breathing. Slow, intentional breathing with an extended exhale is one of the most powerful vagal tone exercises known. The exhale phase of the breath is when vagal activity peaks. A simple technique: breathe in for 4 counts, out for 6–8. Even young children can learn this with practice. Over time, it builds the capacity for self-regulation in a way that no reward chart ever will. I have a blog on heart-focused breathing here.

3. Cerebellar Training: More Than Just Balance

The cerebellum — the "little brain" at the base of the skull — is involved in far more than coordination. It plays a role in attention, reading, language, emotional regulation, and timing. And it develops in direct response to movement and sensory challenge.

Balance and coordination exercises. Walking on a balance beam (even a line of tape on the floor), standing on one leg, navigating obstacle courses — all of these challenge the cerebellum to refine its motor output and sensory integration.

Jumping. Trampolines are one of the best cerebellar training tools available. The repetitive, rhythmic, full-body movement — with its unpredictable vestibular demands — is rich stimulation for cerebellar circuits. Even just jumping on the spot is beneficial.

Phonics and reading activities. The cerebellum is involved in the automatisation of reading — the shift from slow, effortful decoding to fluent, automatic reading. Phonics-based reading practice supports this cerebellar automatisation process, which is why structured phonics programmes are so effective for children with reading difficulties.

Eye tracking and focusing. Ask your child to follow a slow-moving object (a finger, a pencil tip) with their eyes without moving their head. Can they track smoothly, or does their gaze "jump"? Smooth pursuit and accurate tracking are cerebellar functions — and they can be trained. This is also directly relevant to reading fluency.

4. Vestibular Stimulation: The Underrated Foundation of Learning

The vestibular system — the balance and movement sensors in the inner ear — is one of the first sensory systems to develop, and it has the most widespread connections to the rest of the brain. It feeds directly into the cerebellum, the brainstem, the visual system, and the cortex.

An under-stimulated vestibular system is associated with poor attention, poor body awareness, emotional dysregulation, and difficulty with reading and writing. And in a world where children spend much of their day seated and still, vestibular under-stimulation is extremely common.

Spinning. Rotational movement is the most potent vestibular stimulus. Spinning on a spinning chair, rolling down a hill, doing cartwheels or somersaults — these are not just fun. They are neurological nourishment. Let your children spin. Let them get dizzy. It is doing important work.

Swinging. The rhythmic, linear movement of a swing provides sustained vestibular input. Many children who struggle with regulation will naturally seek out swinging — their nervous system is telling them what it needs. A backyard swing is one of the most underrated pieces of developmental equipment you can own.

Slides. The combination of speed, spatial orientation change, and the need to position the body correctly engages multiple vestibular and proprioceptive pathways simultaneously. Playgrounds — when children are actually allowed to use them freely — are outstanding neurological development environments.

5. Prefrontal Cortex Development: Training the Brain's CEO

The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is responsible for executive function — planning, impulse control, working memory, flexible thinking, and self-regulation. It is the last part of the brain to fully mature (not until the mid-20s), which means the childhood years are a critical window for supporting its development.

Board games. Strategy-based board games — chess, Battleship, Uno, even simple card games — require working memory, planning ahead, inhibiting impulses, and managing the emotional experience of winning and losing. They are genuinely excellent PFC training, delivered in a format children enjoy.

Catching balls. This one surprises people, but catching requires the brain to predict a trajectory, time a motor response, and inhibit other movements — all prefrontal and cerebellar functions. Varied catching practice (different sizes, speeds, and distances) is far more cognitively demanding than it looks.

Stroop effect games. The Stroop task is a classic measure of inhibitory control — the ability to suppress an automatic response in favour of a deliberate one (for example, saying the colour a word is written in, rather than reading the word itself). Online versions and apps are readily available, and even home-made versions work well. Children find the challenge genuinely engaging.

Go/No-go games. Any game that requires a child to respond to one stimulus and inhibit their response to another builds inhibitory control — one of the foundational executive function skills. "Simon Says" is a classic go/no-go game. So is "Red Light Green Light." These are not just children's games — they are direct training for the prefrontal cortex.

6. Timing and Rhythm: The Brain's Internal Metronome

The cerebellum is the brain's master timekeeper, and timing underpins an enormous range of cognitive and motor functions — reading fluency, mathematical reasoning, language processing, social interaction, and motor coordination.

Children who struggle with timing often struggle in multiple domains at once, because so many functions depend on accurate neural timing.

Clapping to the beat. Clap along to music. March to a beat. Tap a rhythm and have your child copy it. These activities directly train the cerebellar timing circuits that underpin reading, language, and coordination.

Kicking a ball to a metronome. This is a more structured activity but a powerful one. Set a metronome (there are free apps) to a slow, manageable tempo and have your child kick a ball on each beat. This challenges timing, motor planning, and attention simultaneously.

Singing to music. Singing requires precise timing of breath, voicelarynx coordination, and phonological processing — all simultaneously. It is one of the richest neural workouts available to children, which is almost certainly why music education is so consistently associated with improved academic outcomes.

Throwing a ball. The timing demands of throwing — predicting where a target or partner will be, releasing at precisely the right moment — make it excellent cerebellar and prefrontal training. Vary the distances, speeds, and targets to keep the challenge high.

Learning a musical instrument. If there is one enrichment activity that neuroscience most consistently supports, it is this one. Learning an instrument builds timing, fine motor coordination, auditory processing, working memory, sustained attention, and emotional regulation. The benefits transfer broadly across academic and cognitive domains. It does not need to be formal lessons from age 4 — even informal, playful exposure to rhythm and melody is beneficial.

7. Aerobic Exercise: The Brain's Most Powerful Fertiliser

Aerobic exercise — the kind that gets the heart rate up and keeps it there — is, quite simply, the most potent brain-development stimulus we know of. It increases brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which drives the growth of new neurons and synaptic connections. It improves cerebral blood flow. It enhances the function of the prefrontal cortex, reduces anxiety, and improves sleep.

Children who move more learn better. This is not a theory — it is one of the most replicated findings in educational neuroscience.

Running around the park. Unstructured, vigorous outdoor play is not a luxury. It is a developmental necessity. A child who runs, chases, rolls, and climbs for an hour at the park is doing more for their brain development than most structured activities can provide.

Jumping on the trampoline. High-intensity, repetitive bouncing gets the heart rate up while simultaneously providing vestibular and cerebellar stimulation. It is particularly good for children who are reluctant to engage in more social forms of exercise.

Playing sport. Team and individual sports combine aerobic exercise with social cognition, strategic thinking, timing, motor coordination, and emotional regulation. The cognitive demands of sport — reading other players, anticipating the play, adapting quickly — make it neurologically richer than solitary aerobic exercise.

Rough-and-tumble play. Often discouraged, consistently undervalued, and neurologically brilliant. Rough-and-tumble play provides intense proprioceptive and vestibular input, teaches children about their own strength and others' limits, develops social cognition, and has been shown to specifically support prefrontal cortex development. If it is safe and consensual, let it happen.

8. Primitive Reflex Integration: Clearing the Roadblocks

Primitive reflexes are the automatic movements present at birth that should progressively integrate (become inhibited) during the first year of life as the brain matures. When they are retained past their developmental window, they can interfere with higher-level neurological development in ways that are often surprising — affecting attention, reading, writing, emotional regulation, balance, and more.

At-home exercises. There are specific movement programmes designed to support the integration of retained primitive reflexes, and many of these can be done at home. They tend to involve slow, precise, rhythmic movements that replicate the developmental movement patterns the brain needs in order to integrate each reflex. If you suspect retained primitive reflexes are a factor for your child, seeking guidance from a practitioner familiar with reflex integration is worthwhile — but there is much that can be done at home once you know what to look for.

All of the above helps. It's worth noting that the rich movement environment described throughout this post — the spinning, the jumping, the balance work, the ball skills, the rhythm activities — all provides the kind of sensory and motor input that supports reflex integration more broadly. You don't need to identify every retained reflex to begin supporting the nervous system's maturation through movement.

9. Sleep Optimisation: When the Brain Actually Develops

Sleep is not downtime. It is when the brain consolidates learning, clears metabolic waste, and does the heavy lifting of growth and repair. Chronic sleep disruption — even mild, even subclinical — has a measurable impact on memory, attention, emotional regulation, behaviour, and immune function.

For many children with neurological or developmental concerns, sleep is significantly compromised. Here are the areas most worth examining:

Airways. Mouth breathing, snoring, gasping, and restless sleep in children are not normal variants to be ignored. They may indicate upper airway obstruction, enlarged adenoids or tonsils, or sleep-disordered breathing — all of which fragment sleep and chronically compromise brain oxygenation and recovery. If your child snores or breathes through their mouth during sleep, this deserves a proper assessment.

Room and environment. The sleep environment matters. The room should be dark (blackout curtains if needed), cool, and quiet. Blue light exposure in the hour before bed suppresses melatonin production and delays sleep onset — screens need to be off well before bedtime.

Mould exposure. This is underappreciated. Mould exposure — particularly from water-damaged buildings — is associated with neurological symptoms, sleep disruption, and immune dysregulation in both children and adults. If there is any visible mould in the bedroom or the home more broadly, this is worth addressing as a priority.

Sleep habits and routine. Consistent sleep and wake times, a calming pre-bed routine, and age-appropriate sleep duration are the foundations of good sleep hygiene. These are not new ideas, but they are consistently under-implemented. Children's nervous systems genuinely regulate better with predictable rhythms.

10. Attachment and Connection: The Nervous System's Home Base

This last point is, in some ways, the most important of all — and the one most likely to get lost in a list dominated by movement and nutrition strategies.

The developing brain is a social brain. It develops, fundamentally, in the context of relationships. The quality of a child's early attachment relationships — particularly with their primary caregiver — has a profound and lasting influence on nervous system architecture, emotional regulation capacity, stress response, and cognitive function.

Secure attachment. A child who feels fundamentally safe, seen, and loved — who has a secure base — has a nervous system that can explore, take risks, learn from failure, and recover from stress. This is not a soft or abstract concept. The neurological architecture of secure attachment is measurable in brain imaging and physiological studies.

Co-regulation. Children cannot self-regulate before they have been co-regulated. The calm, present, regulated nervous system of a caregiver literally down-regulates the nervous system of a distressed child — through voice, touch, facial expression, and proximity. Co-regulation is not spoiling. It is neuroscience.

Play and connection. Playful, joyful, attuned interaction between a parent and child is a direct stimulus for prefrontal cortex development, emotional regulation, social cognition, and language. You do not need structured educational activities to develop your child's brain — you need connection. Get on the floor with them. Be silly. Follow their lead.

Attunement to needs. A child whose needs are consistently noticed and responded to — not perfectly, but reliably — develops a secure internal working model: a belief that the world is safe enough to explore and that they are worthy of care. This belief, laid down in early childhood, shapes the nervous system for life.

You only have to get it right 30–50% of the time. This is perhaps the most liberating thing developmental neuroscience has to offer parents. Research by developmental psychologist Edward Tronick found that even sensitive, attuned parents are only "in sync" with their child about 30% of the time — and that the repair of misattunement is, itself, a critical developmental experience. You do not need to be a perfect parent. You need to be a present one who repairs ruptures. That is enough.

Putting It All Together

Looking at this list, it might feel overwhelming — as if brain development is a full-time project requiring military-level scheduling. It isn't.

Most of what's on this list is simply childhood done well: children who eat nourishing food, move freely and vigorously, sleep properly, play with their parents, and spend time outside. The environments that most reliably produce well-developed brains are not the ones with the most structured educational activities — they are the ones with the most rich, varied, embodied experience and the most secure, connected relationships.

You don't need to do all ten things perfectly every day. Pick two or three that feel most relevant to your child right now, and do those consistently. Then add more when you're ready.

The brain is always growing. It is never too late to provide the nourishment it needs.

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