ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Human brain development timeline

Imagine your brain is like a plant. When you are born, your brain is like a small seedling. It needs to grow and develop so that you can learn, play, and do all the things you love as you grow up.

Right from the start, your brain begins to develop. Throughout your childhood, your brain grows and changes a lot. It's a bit like a painting that starts off as just a blank canvas but gradually becomes filled with colors and shapes.

In the first few years of your life, your brain is growing faster than it ever will again. This is why babies and toddlers learn so quickly. They are constantly exploring and soaking up new information like little sponges.

By the time you are three years old, your brain will have grown to almost 80% of its adult size! That's a lot of growth in just a few short years. This is why it's so important to give young children lots of opportunities to learn and play.

As you get older, your brain continues to develop, but at a slower pace. Your teenage years are a time when your brain is going through a lot of changes. This is a time when you might start to develop your own opinions and ideas about the world around you.

By the time you are in your early twenties, your brain has pretty much finished developing. Of course, you will continue to learn and change throughout your life, but the basic structure of your brain is in place by this point.

So, in summary, your brain development timeline starts when you are born and continues until you are in your early twenties. During this time, your brain will grow and change a lot, allowing you to learn and develop new skills. It's important to give young children lots of opportunities to learn and play, so they can make the most of this incredible period of growth and development.