| There's good news - effective baby stimulation can | | | | wheelbarrow, wagon... or any other solid push-pull toy. |
| be done cheaply, with very little effort, by all | | | | Also, balls are typical evergreen toys never to be |
| parents... and at home. | | | | overlooked - even for young ones. |
| Many parents instinctively know that they can do a | | | | O - Observe... that's visual encouragement. |
| few things to encourage and stimulate their baby's | | | | One key area baby stimulation activities must |
| development. But many lack exact details. | | | | develop is the abilities to see, focus and follow |
| Babies learn important skills mainly by going through | | | | specific moving objects, distinguish faces, look for |
| specific development experiences. Unfortunately, | | | | objects like toys which are dropped and focus on |
| there isn't only one experience to teach them | | | | nearby objects or ones further away. |
| everything. | | | | Also... encourage your child to place squares and |
| From time to time it happens that a baby doesn't | | | | circles in a form board. Puzzles are great aids here. |
| learn and master all the skills. That's when | | | | It's also great exercise to encourage recognizing |
| development or learning problems occur. | | | | detail and faces in pictures and photographs. |
| Baby stimulation programs try to avoid this problem | | | | L - Listen... hearing or also called auditory stimulation. |
| by taking your baby through the complete range of | | | | Encourage using words, vowels like "a" and "o", nouns |
| development experiences. | | | | like "m" and "p", sounds like "ka" and "ma", reacting |
| But what most parents don't know is... they do not | | | | on mother's voice, reacting on simple instructions, |
| need expensive things to get great results. In fact, | | | | using one word sentences, recognizing own name, |
| they can easily do the same at home. | | | | understanding "no", simple questions and verbs like |
| All they need to do is to use the right TOOLS to | | | | "drinking"... "eating", and, starting to recognize |
| encourage their child. | | | | common objects. |
| TOOLS is an acronym for the 5 areas to specifically | | | | This simply means... communicate with your baby. |
| encourage in your baby's development. | | | | S - Sense... feel... smell... also known as sensory |
| Let's look at these 5 areas separately: | | | | stimulation. |
| T - Tiny... or fine movement development. | | | | Give your baby chance to learn and experience |
| Give your baby things to develop hand and finger | | | | common smells and textures. Any smell such as fruit, |
| skills. Encourage your baby to reach out and take big | | | | food, soap, perfume and textures such as sand, |
| objects, use index fingers to point to objects, put | | | | water, leaves and even clothing materials are |
| objects in containers and take them out again, roll | | | | wonderful stimuli. |
| and throw objects, hold crayons, scribble | | | | Babies learn a lot by feeling and sensing things... that's |
| spontaneously, build blocks on top of each other, put | | | | one of the reasons why they stick everything in their |
| lids on bowls, preferring one hand as a dominant one, | | | | mouth. |
| play with syrup and feathers and, draw horizontal and | | | | These 5 key areas are definite parts of overall baby |
| vertical lines. | | | | development. Together they form a vital range of |
| O - Overall... that's total or also called gross motor | | | | skills every baby must develop sooner or later. |
| development. | | | | Thus, whether you play, buy educational toys or |
| Give your child playthings or play games to | | | | undertake any other activity with your child, make |
| encourage overall body movement... like rolling, sitting, | | | | sure you include every part of this TOOLS checklist |
| crawling, kneeling, standing, walking, climbing, jumping | | | | system. |
| and running. | | | | It's a simple, proven way to ensure your baby gets |
| When buying toys, chose playthings such as a roller, | | | | all the right things now. |