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BABIES BRAIN....NATURES MIRACLES |
Article Submitted by: derrick blair
Saturday, 20 February 2010
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NATURES MIRACLE Your baby's brain doubles in weight in the first year due not to the growth in the number of brain cells but to the connections between them. These connections only begin to form when your baby has to think about something. Contact with new sights, sounds, smells, tastes and touches make your baby think, and that's why stimulation is essential from birth. Approximately one-third of a childs intellectual skills will have been mastered by the time the child is six. Nearly fifty per cent of the childs mental capacity will have developed between birth and the age of four, a further thirty percent between four and eight, and the remaining twenty per cent between eight and seventeen. Development of your child is continuous, although at times your child's progress may seem very slow. The speed and ease of acquiring skills, however, is entirely individual so don't worry if your child is slower to develop in some areas than other children of the same age. Although you can influence the pace of your child's development by giving them the right stimulation at the right time, the stages of development occur in a strictly unchangeable sequence. Babies and children learn through play, and play is a very serious business! Everything is a learning experience for your child, playing is learning, and playing is fun. Teaching your child is not a formal process where specific rules and targets must be met. All teaching should be playful and be done with games. Feed your child's curiosity and need for new experiences. Your child's development will centre around play and this is the most natural way for them to learn. Choose toys for their educational value. Reading, writing and counting proficiency requires certain basic skills that your child will acquire through building and construction toys, playing with puzzles and jigsaws, and matching colours, shapes and textures The best toys are ones which children return to again and again because they are limitless in their appeal - usually ones that encourage inventiveness. Your child will first learn to form relationships and to share with children of their own age through play, and toys will have a significant educational role in all your child's development milestones. Investigate your house with a baby's mind. What makes an object a great educational toy is its ability to attract and involve your baby's sense of hearing, smell, touch, sight, and taste. Different sounds, colors, textures, and even scents increase the knowledge absorbed into small, but quickly growing brains. Using mirrors in games and songs can help babies' self- awareness and sociability bloom. You can also use blankets for swaying and swinging songs and games to help your baby gain a sense of balance and trust. Plastic dishes, such as bowls and clean margarine or whipped topping tubs, can serve as drums, tambourines, or stacking and building toys. Plastic and wooden spoons can be used as drum mallets and rattles. Hearty ribbons tied securely to a wooden or plastic handles can help with hand-eye coordination and grasping skills. Older babies can develop fine motor skills by putting stationary wooden clothes pins into a clean plastic milk jug. The added bonus of the rattling noise and ability to repeat the activity over and over (dump out the clothespins and start over) can be especially entertaining. As infants get older and start playing more independently, you can make toys that build on abstract concepts like colors, letters, and numbers. Make color containers by filling a shoe box or other open container with safe objects of that color. For instance, a "red box" could simply be a basket with a red comb, a red toy red apple, a square of clean red velvet, etc. These items help reinforce applying abstract thoughts into real-life examples and help children compare and contrast. You can also use magnetic letters and numbers that are large enough that babies won't choke on them to create words and thoughts on the refrigerator or other magnetic surfaces. Make your own books or use books from the library with a combination of connected letters, numbers, and pictures. You can also make albums of the important people in your baby's life by labeling pictures with names and titles, (for example, write "Annie" and "big sister" under a picture of your toddler's big sister). Another way to allow toddlers to learn while they play is to let them really get down and dirty in a medium. Finger paints, whipped cream, homemade play dough, and sand are all inexpensive creative tactile (the sense of touch) outlets. Obviously, make certain that materials are non-toxic and not dangerous if accidentally ingested. Babies and toddlers will love the different textures slipping and goo-ing between their fingers while they practice their fine motor skills and creativity. Other wonderful educational "toys" are games, rhymes, songs, poems, and stories. Age-old games like "patty cake" and "London Bridge" can help develop language, motor, and social skills. Plus, these games allow you to shift gears and act silly for a willing and appreciative audience (the sillier you act, the more your child will laugh). You can develop new games by mixing your own movements and sounds in your interactions with your baby, or go to your public library or local bookstore for ideas. Article Source: http://www.ArticleBlast.com |
About The Author:
Born in Kingston Jamaica in the year 1965. Been involved in child nutrition since 1990.Started
writing articles since 2005.My site http://www.kidzandstuff.com was conceived to serve the needs of
parents who want to give their kids that extra boost in life, to gain that edge.Also to help
themselves too,in the process.Can also be found at http://kidzandstuff.yolasite.com
Born in Kingston Jamaica in the year 1965. Been involved in child nutrition since 1990.Started writing articles since 2005.My site http://www.kidzandstuff.com was conceived to serve the needs of
parents who want to give their kids that extra boost in life, to gain that edge.Also to help
themselves too,in the process.Can also be found at http://kidzandstuff.yolasite.com
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