Durban - Children learn through play and you can turn everyday activities into interactive games while boosting physical and emotional development.
Dr Melodie de Jager, of Johannesburg, and Top Tots South Africa founder Liz Victor, of Westville, have put together a user-friendly, practical and inspiring book, Play Learn Know (Metz Press, R220), packed with ideas on how to make learning fun – and you don’t have to shell out for expensive toys.
The key message to parents is: make time to have fun together. Play with your child rather than relying on computers and books as playmates. Remember, your child also needs quiet time and alone time so she can develop her creativity and initiative.
Don’t over-schedule your child’s activities – more is not better. Allocate slow-down time or quiet time, not television time. Be selective about television time and electronic games, which can easily become your child’s passive parents. Don’t feel pressurised to push your child to perform. Remain firm, consistent and loving.
“How you interact with your child has a very real effect on his attitude towards himself, the world, other people and his ability to learn,” say the authors. “What happens between you and your child shapes his body, his emotions and his mind, as well as the confidence with which he unlocks the world and gives it meaning.”
Play Learn Know is a guide to help parents plot their child’s development but the authors stress that child development is not a race to get there first. Each child develops in his own time.
A child needs to experience life. You can help your child to belong by exposing him to everyday life.
Ask him to name the things you touch, explain what happens around him, show him how things work, allow him to discover things for himself and to question freely.
You don’t need to know all the answers – teach him from an early age to find answers on his own. There are pages of activities to develop the whole child, physically and emotionally. Here are a few:
Physical development
* Visit the park – encourage your child to swing, slide, turn on the roundabout, bounce on the seesaw and hang on the monkey bars. Jungle gyms help children stimulate their inside senses and their balance.
* Tug of war – or play horsey on dad’s back or wrestle on the bed. It is a great opportunity for bonding and creating awareness of muscles and joints. Dragging the hosepipe for mom or dad to water the garden or wash the car is a good idea – and teach them to drag it back.
* Obstacle course – use chairs and pillows and let your child climb over, under and through the obstacles. Cardboard boxes can be cut open as tunnels.
Eyes and vision
* Sorting – mix small objects like noodles, buttons and rice in a bowl. Place an empty egg box in front of the child. Take a sample of each of the objects in the bowl and sort by placing like objects in a hollow of the box.
* Rolling or dropping into a bucket – you need oranges, or balls and a bucket. Sit your child on the floor with the bucket on its side in front of her. Roll the fruit between the two of you or place the bucket upright and let her drop the ball into the bucket.
* Peek a Boo – play with a toy, such as a teddy, from behind a box, popping teddy out from a different place each time. Let your child anticipate where teddy will appear. Your child may want to take a turn in hiding teddy too.
Eye-foot co-ordination
* Target kicking – Place plastic two-litre sized bottles with sand in a row and encourage your child to kick a ball towards the bottles. The goal is to topple as many bottles as possible with one attempt.
* Hopscotch – create a hopscotch pattern on your driveway or patio with chalk. Jump into one block with both feet and then into two blocks with a foot in each block. Throw a beanbag into a block then jump from block to block to retrieve it.
* Ladder walk – place a ladder on the ground and let your child step between the rungs. An older child may jump between the rungs with two feet or step from rung to rung, while maintaining balance.
The benefits of story telling
Make a commitment to read to your child every day. A person who loves reading and can read well has the world in the palm of his hands. The love of reading is developed early, so cuddle up with your child and enjoy the book together.
Laughter
Laughter and humour are the best glue for a parent and child. Whether it is a grin, smile, giggle, snort, guffaw laugh, or a roar, the brain releases chemicals (serotonin and dopamine) that draw people together and give the immune system a boost.
Games to encourage balance:
Musical statues
This is an old favourite and can be adapted for younger children. Hold your toddler’s hands and dance to the music. You stop moving and dancing when the music stops and then hold the position for a short while. Then start again. Be sure to vary the position in which you stop.
Balance with Beanbags
Encourage your child to balance beanbags on various parts of the body. You can also use shakers which then make sounds as he moves his body.
Sitting balance
Toddlers who are able to sit well can be placed on a towel on a soft surface. Pull the towel gently along the surface. The movement will force them to use their core muscles and balance in order to stay upright. If he enjoys it, move in different directions: left, right, and in circles. Every change of direction forces him to balance.
Following a path
Create a path by taping newspaper to the floor and get your child to follow it to the other side of the room. If this works well, make a curved path and encourage her to stay on the winding path. - Daily News