Minutes

When should children have a nap time? Timing may be important. 

Psychologists trained 29 newly-walking infants to navigate a shoulder-height nylon tunnel to reach a caregiver. They divided the infants into groups based on the timing of their nap relative to training and test. The key to success? The timing of their nap. Infants who napped within 30 minutes after training performed better than their counterparts who napped four hours later. 

Prior research highlighted the positive impact of napping on memory, imitation, and language learning in infants. This study aimed to explore how napping might contribute to motor problem-solving skills in a unique context." 

Interestingly, infants who had their nap delayed, showed no improvement. Some even performed worse in their task-solving abilities. The conclusion is that timing sleep/napping immediately after learning enhances future problem-solving learning. 

Parents! Babies and young children can learn so much! Read, teach songs, give word meanings, and ask your child questions, teach motor skills and problem solving before naptime to best enhance their learning.