The first few years of a child’s life are the most important! Its where they learned to talk, walk, read and pee in a toilet. Children are always taking in their surroundings and learning.
If you want your baby to make the most out their formative years, here are a few simple ways to stimulate your child:
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Make eye contact with them
This will help with the baby’s vision. It will also teach children to make eye contact when speaking to someone. Remember, children still have a short attention span at this age, so don’t be concerned when they look away after a few seconds.
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Stick your tongue out
Newborns can recreate simple facial expressions as early as two days old. By studying your changing facial expressions, your baby is learning to recognize and remember your face while testing out their own expressions.
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Have them look in the mirror
After you’ve completed step 2, try moving your child in front of a mirror. By placing your baby in front of the mirror you are helping them recognize their own facial features.
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Talk to them
You may think your child is too young to have a clue what you’re saying. Yet, even though your baby might not be able to talk themselves, listening to you helps them learn. Talk to your baby and leave short pauses in between where someone else would answer, this way they can learn to start filling in the blanks and hold a conversation.
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Sing to them
Studies show that rhythm is linked to the process of learning math. In order for your little one to learn his numbers sing to him during other daily tasks such as eating dinner or during bath time.
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Tickle their toes
Tickling leads to laughter which, unsurprisingly, helps develop a good sense of humour. By tickling your baby you are also helping stimulate their senses.
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Make a DYI obstacle course
By setting up an obstacle course using couch pillows, boxes, and or toys you are improving your baby’s motor skills and problem solving skills. Remember to keep the furnishings soft because our little one WILL stumble before they find their feet.
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Let them throw things
We know it’s a pain to clean up the mess but this really is an important lesson for your child. By knocking the bottle off the high chair your baby is learning about gravity. If it breaks, your baby learns what they need to be more gentle the next time.
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Change up the view
Move your baby’s high chair to different parts of the kitchen so your baby can get a new view of the world. Re-arranging their nursery or talking a different route on your walk through the park will also do the trick. This will enable your child to feel comfortable in changing surrounding. Plus this is a great change of scenery for you too.
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Let them play with their food
Despite how messy it might get, allowing your baby to feed themselves helps with their motor skills and the development of their tactile senses. Just have the baby wipes on hand!
maternity & infant
Originally posted 2016-01-22 17:06:27.