Welcome to the world little one! Now that you’re here, and officially de-blobbing (if that’s even a word!), it’s time to start the important work of learning about your world!
Mom’s and Dad’s, as parents, you are your baby’s first teacher! Since your baby is still completely dependent upon you, it’s up to you to stimulate, captivate, and educate him! No pressure here, right?
Although most parents realize that stimulating and socializing their baby is very important, they often don’t know where to start.
So here’s a little background on your little miracle…
Recent research states that infants’ brains at birth are equipped with most of the brain cells they will ever have; however, connections or pathways between these cells must develop to help them think and learn. A baby is born ready to take in his world. Babies are naturally social creatures, willing and able to learn from everything they experience. As a baby or young child is exposed to the world, language is learned. As a parent, it is important to immerse your child in language by speaking, singing, and reading to him daily. Please see Language Development for more information. It’s also important to expose your baby to a variety of people and places. He will learn both language and social skills as he interacts with new people and explores new places. For great ideas on this subject please see How To Stimulate Your Child Without a Donald Trump Budget!
More about your little bundle…
Well known Developmental Psychologist Jean Piaget believed that in the first Two years the baby is limited to what he can acquire through his sensory perceptions and motor activities. The sensory perceptions include visual (eyes), auditory (ears), and tactile (touch). Motor activity refers to the child’s ability to move and explore his world using both gross motor skills (large muscle development, i.e., moving arms, walking, jumping), and fine motor skills (small muscle development, i.e., grasping with fingers).
In addition to providing regular opportunities for your baby to explore and listen to music, provide your baby with lots of developmentally appropriate toys! Developmentally Appropriate toys for this age group should be both visually engaging and have various textures for tactile (touch) stimulation (important for brain development). In addition, toys that create noise when moved stimulate the baby’s auditory development (hearing) while simultaneously teaching cause and effect; i.e., baby learns that he can make the toy play music by pulling the string.
In a nutshell, stimulate your baby’s senses, and he will learn, learn, learn! Invest in toys with various textures, sounds, and visually captivating colors. Babies and young children should be feeling, shaking, throwing, pushing, pulling, rolling and stacking! Toys that teach cause and effect by encouraging baby to push, pull, hit, beat, hammer, roll, and stack challenge baby’s brain and lay the foundation for future abstract thought. Please see It’s Not Just Play… It’s Developmentally Appropriate Instruction for more information.
Here are a few of my favorite things…
***Research has shown that newborns and young infants see patterns and contrasting colors best especially black, white and red. The colors and patterns in these products will completely captivate your infant while strengthening his/her developing eyesight.
***In addition, babies are naturally social creatures and are particularly fascinated with the human face, especially the part between the nose and forehead. As a result, toys with bold eyes and mirrors will capture their attention immediately.
Faces and bold eyes…
***And… last but not least, toys that teach cause and effect by encouraging baby to push, pull, hit, beat, hammer, roll, and stack challenge baby’s brain and lay the foundation for future abstract thought. For more information please see, It’s Not Just Play… It’s Developmentally Appropriate Instruction.
Cause and Effect
So here you go… Some of my favorite must have baby toys that will absolutely stimulate, captivate, and educate your baby or toddler. Have fun, moms, watching the delight in your little one’s eyes as he plays and learns with these wonderful toys! But most of all… my wish for you… enjoy your parenting journey…
Angela