Tag: early learning
The Importance of Reading to Baby
Jellycat Jungly Tails Book
It’s never too early to start reading to your baby.
Reading is a wonderful way to communicate and bond, as well as being a fun activity for both you and your baby.
As you read, your baby will listen to you talking and is comforted by your voice and being held close to you.
Reading encourages your baby to understand the different sounds of speech, the use of language and non-verbal communication through facial expressions and gestures.
Children whose parents read books to them when they are young often learn to talk, read and write more easily.
Parents, grandparents, siblings and friends can all share in the pleasures of reading to baby, making reading a varied and enjoyable learning experience.
Have fun reading to baby during playtime, in the bath and before bedtime:
Part of baby’s daily activity and play teaching baby about sound, texture, visual stimulus and music.
Have fun splishing about with bath time books suitable for water and lots of splish splash sploshing!
Help baby understand the routine of sleep with relaxation before slumber.
Development of Newborn Senses
Early Learning Activity Toys
SIGHT
Newborn’s can only see things close up, about 20cms away from them. So when your baby’s being held they’ll be able to see your face, which makes this close contact a great way to bond.
Contrasting colours such as black and white are great for newborns to look at. At around 2 months your baby can distinguish colours and will enjoy mobiles.
At 6 months, new faces and objects are catching your baby’s attention and at 8 months your baby’s vision will be fully developed.
TASTE
It’s no wonder babies like sweet tasting foods, milk is naturally sweet. From 3 months onwards your baby will probably try to put what they can into their mouth, and when teething starts this will heighten their desire to have a good chew on things!
HEARING
Your baby listened to your voice in utero so will recognise it when they’re born and associate this with comfort. Hearing isn’t properly developed when a baby is newborn. At around 1 month old they’ll react to loud noises. Babies learn to associate certain sounds with happy events, so it’s important to make singing and music a fun and special part of the day with your baby. Music is a wonderful way to soothe your baby and develop their hearing and sense of tone.
TOUCH
Touch is essential for babies, kisses and cuddles make your baby feel secure. Babies love to explore with their hands and when weaning, will often squash food before eating it to understand what it feels like. Toys and books with texture really encourage play and development.
SMELL
Newborns have a good sense of smell and will know your natural scent from birth. Babies find your natural scent comforting, so try not to wear any perfume or scented creams for the first few months so your baby can enjoy your natural scent. By the age of 1 your baby will be able to recognise foods by their smell.
For further baby sensory development and a great way to have fun with your baby, you can join a local Baby Sensory Class.
The Best Baby Activity Gym Play Mat
Enjoying the Lamaze Pyramid Activity Mat
Activity mats help to encourage tummy time and many have added features that allow baby to discover different textures, lights and sounds within the area of the play mat.
The Lamaze Pyramid Activity Mat
The Lamaze Pyramid Activity Mat
It has a cushioned play mat which baby can lie on or sit on with a bright and engaging environment of characters with soft side walls which helped to keep our baby safe when she started rolling!
It folds into a play house for older babies to play with when they are able to sit up unaided.
The Lamaze Pyramid Activity Mat is reversible, with colourful pictures and characters on each side and includes an overarching rainbow which holds the soft sides of the mat up so your baby can lie underneath and gaze up at the rainbow and toys.
The toy figures can be attached to the rainbow or the play mat or they can be kept separate for your baby to play with individually. The activity gym play mat comes with 5 soft toys – boy, girl, baby, cat and flower.
Playing with the Lamaze Pyramid Activity Mat Toy Doll
has a musical sun that can be attached to the rainbow or played with separately. The musical sun plays tunes and can be set to be activated by movement so as your baby enjoys kicking their feet in the air and on the floor, the music will play and the lights will flash to encourage your baby’s movements. And there’s a volume control on the musical sun so you can set it to your desired sound level.
It’s really important to introduce tummy time into your baby’s day for a few minutes a day. This helps to strengthen their muscles as they try to push themselves up off the floor and it encourages coordination. You can read more about the benefits of tummy time.
The Lamaze Pyramid Activity Mat
This activity and play mat will be used daily by your baby. It can be simply wiped clean or machine washed when needed and it drys quickly so your baby won’t have to wait for their next round of play on the activity mat!
