Toys and games in the first three years…
Recently there has been a boom in the toys market… You walk into a store to buy stuff for your child only to become confused about what to buy!
You actually needn’t spend all your money buying stuff to make your baby smarter… In fact most of these toys’ efficiency is not proved by research. The simplest household items can make great tools for learning. You can use colorful plastic bowls for filing, stacking and even for building. Just the traditional toys like blocks, cars or trucks, dolls and real life imitations make a good toy bank. Ideally you make good use of everything you and your child can find out from your own house. You can start sharing books at any stage. Ideally a good book is something that is brightly colored and simple, and contains pictures of something the baby understands and is familiar with.
The first year
To begin with, the main play tools include all of your baby’s senses. What he sees, hears, smells and tastes are good games. Later he discovers his own body organs to reach and grasp, and then, walk, run or even jump!
Even though in the beginning things disappear once he could not see it, later he gets to understand that you will be available in the next room when he can’t see you, and that even with a screen in between, the object behind still exists. By the end of the first year, your little baby will successfully communicate with you using actions, expressions, sounds or even a few words.
What you can do?- Talk to your baby. Your baby will pause in between her coos and wait for a response from you. Utilize this time and rather than just cooing back, try talking in simple words. This will encourage your baby to a back-to-back conversation.
- Teach her that there is a cause for every effect. Show her that shaking the rattle will make it sound, pushing the button will turn the light on and that she can turn pages of a book.
- Try peek-a-boo by hiding yourself or your face. Early on she may just pay close attention or observe, but later she will start making enthusiastic sounds and gestures to show that she likes the game. By 9 months, she will try to find you.
- Children have a way with music. Try different types of music and find out which music or dance your baby loves. Or sing a song just for cheer. You need not really be a good singer. If at all your baby loves one sound in the whole world, it will be the voice of her loved one.
- Allow her to play with a ball. She will eventually discover it’s use from just touching to feel to roll and play with it.
The second year
In the second year, your little toddler’s play time grows rapidly. By this time, he is a great communicator, and he could walk, or even run and jump! He uses hi fingers successfully to explore new objects. One important play technique that children do at this stage is make-believe! He uses his imagination, imitate real life situations.
What you can do?- Use a shape sorter. Encourage your little baby to use a shape sorter to learn the logic of shapes and colors.
- Encourage him to play classic games which involve running around and jumping. A park or children’s play area will help. When this is not possible, just create a new game inside the house.
- Now you kid may even love music and dance. Find out what kind suits him and allow him to dance and imitate the rhythm.
- Use lots of objects to practice his fingers. Like pushing buttons and switches, opening and closing boxes and stacking.
- You can encourage your toddler to play with other children. You may find some difficulty getting the baby to share things with other children. But we need to understand that the young kid can’t understand all at once. Sharing things is a technique that will take so much time to understand and practice, however you can encourage him to do so by offering him turn-taking games and such like.
The third year
In the previous year, you might have had your young toddler to play together with other children. But she would have rather played side by side with other children. But only in the third year, do they really understand the essence of ‘playing together’. This process, as explained is rather time taking, or even very difficult for them to cope up with and even need elders’ guidance to practice.
In this year, there is also a big change in their imagination abilities. You can catch them playing with a non-existent dog and kitten or even a situation that they never really experienced.
What you can do?- Encourage your older toddler to play with other toddlers and a turn taking or sharing game is a must! You can help dress-making with old unused items at home. Help building up their imagination to use an empty gift box as a cooking vessel and a piece of cloth as fishing net.
- Visit a park where lots of children can meet. If you know a friend or relative who has children, it’s bliss. Use such opportunities to teach your child your values of social skills and be a great coach.
- Use little puzzle and picture games. Music and dance can be used at any age and situation for stimulation.
- Apart from action games, show your child the fun of quiet games like drawing and playing with clay.
- Some children are particularly shy at this age. That’s because every child is a different personality and have their own way of seeing the world. Such kids need time and support of a trustworthy person. This can be done with the involvement of the oarent or care giver during play time and even by involving other parent-child duo in their game.
- One thing to notice is safety of the child. Its not always that the child is being noticed. You have to be careful that all objects that the child plays with is big enough not to fit inside his mouth. When you buy things in stores, look for signs saying “keep out of reach of children”.
- Follow the child’s interests and do things and games in his own way. This will provide far more opportunities to learn and be happy.
- Watch him and take actions accordingly. Some things that your child watches curiously may need some push to get him started with.
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