Learning through Play

Many parents know that to help their child in math, they have to work through addition or subtraction problems, or that to help a child read, they need to read with their child. But the easiest way to help a baby learn is to play with him. Playtime is the best way to help a little one learn, and it helps you blow off steam as well!

Sight

When trying to help a baby develop her eyesight, nothing is better than books.

“We do a lot with looking at pictures in books, especially of kids/babies and work at identifying body parts and pointing them out,” says Kim Cornwell of Overland Park. The visual stimulation provided by books helps develop eyesight.

“We hold up toys and move them slowly left and right and up and down to help him with tracking,” says Ronna Sparks Woodward of Liberty.

You can help with sight development doing simple things, like going on a walk and pointing out birds, trees or other kids. Even if they don’t understand now, they will soon.

Hearing

Hearing is developed best by singing and playing musical instruments. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy or expensive!

“Some really easy things to use as instruments are pots and pans as drums and a variety of kitchen utensils as the drumsticks. We also filled them with water and used utensils to see how the sounds changed. Another ‘instrument’ that we made was a simple paper pocket filled with beans and then sealed shut, a maraca of sorts,” Cornwell says.

“I did a lot of singing with Anderson. He loved it when you would sing to him—especially the ABC’s,” says Jennifer Richey of Kansas City. Singing simple rhymes or making up your own songs are easy ways to develop those auditory genes.

Fine Motor skills

A simple way to develop fine motor skills is through a baby’s favorite: food!

“I'm all about the Cheerios and noodles. He didn't start grabbing things with his thumb and index finger until we put Cheerios on his high chair,” Sparks-Woodward says. “It wasn't about food, it was about encouraging him to focus on small items and use his fingertips.”

Cornwell agrees, and adds, “We also gave them a spoon of their own to use while we fed them with another spoon. That way they would get used to holding it so that later they could feed themselves.”

Another fun activity that helps develop motor skills is letting your little one help with the cooking, carefully supervised, of course. “I can always find a number of things that he is able to do—pour in ingredients, stir whatever we made, help throw out trash…he can even crack an egg,” Cornwell says.

Gross Motor Skills

Many people think crawling and walking come naturally to babies, but there are things you can do to help with those skills.

“Allowing both kids to be on the ground as much as possible helped with crawling,” Cornwell says. “Babies that are always held have great difficult figuring out how to do this as they do not develop the muscles appropriately.”

Sparks-Woodward’s son was a preemie, so they meet with a physical therapist to make sure he is developing at the right pace.

“We've learned a lot about things we can do to help him. To help him crawl, we basically crawl with him below us and support his stomach and help him move his knees with ours. It's important that babies use opposite-hand-opposite-foot/knee movements to help them connect the different lobes of their brains, which later helps with math and reading,” says Sparks-Woodward.

“Norah loves to use push toys, which really helped her with walking. She would go across the room and we would help her to turn around. Now she can back up herself as she watched what we were doing to get her to move around,” Cornwell says.

Intellectual development

Letting kids play is crucial to developing intellectually.

“We love to do imaginative play, and Aidan now has a very vivid imagination. He started off really early mimicking the things that we did as grown ups, and so I encouraged that and gave him opportunities to do so. If I was cleaning the house, he wanted to clean the house, so I would give him his own squirt bottle of water and a towel and he would follow me around cleaning,” says Cornwell.

Even simple things like blocks help.

“The boys had a set of stacking blocks that had different colors and sounds on each side. They loved stacking them up, rolling them around and knocking them over. They were learning while they were playing without realizing it,” Richey says.

Toys to have on hand for the first year

• Board books: Just the right size for small hands, board books provide visual stimulation, and the hard pages don’t tear under slobbery gums. Reading with your little one this early helps begin reading traditions. My girls’ favorites: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see? and The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
• Blocks: Stacking and rolling wooden blocks helps develop fine motor skills. Before baby can accomplish those tasks, just reaching for the blocks helps with hand/eye coordination. Look for blocks with bright colors and textures or a set with the alphabet or numbers.
• Playmats: Playmats are a great place to lay baby when hands are busy. And as their eyes develop, the activity gym and mobile will entertain them. Soon she’ll be reaching for the toys dangling over their head. This is also an excellent and safe way to encourage tummy time!
• My First Photo Album: With wipeable vinyl pages, you can put in pictures of family and friends for baby to look at. Babies love to look at Grandma, sister or even pictures of themselves, and this aids visual development as well.

Jennifer Higgins is a freelance writer, mom and teacher from Kearney, MO