"85
percent of a child’s brain development takes place by the age of 5.
Synapses are created with astonishing speed in the first three years
of life. For the rest of the first decade, a child’s brain has
twice as many synapses as an adult’s brain. This means that a
child’s environment during the first five years of life can greatly
impact the brains’ ability to develop.”
“What
occurs during the first five years of life can have an enormous
impact on not only do well the baby’s brain develops at the moment,
but how well that baby learns and grow throughout their lifetime,”
Being a mum for the first time opened a door of opportunity for me to see an amazing miracle of person developing from the very beginning. My child is 15 months old now and I can not get enough of her. Every day there is a new discovery, new gained skill, new fascination, new developmental stone reached, new shade of the character appearing.
In this post I would like to share activities I prepare for my toddler. I will explain my choices and why these particular experiences benefit her development. Your child might be interested in completely different things, however, I hope it will help you to find ways to prepare exciting and engaging environment for your child.If you just step back and observe your child you will know exactly what will fit perfectly on the shelf at the certain time of your child's growth. For example, I have noticed that our Little Bell LOVES to play with lids. She also could spend ages trying to open or put a lid on the yogurt sqeezy tube. So I decided to collect various objects that are easy for her to manage as an "open and close" activity. A few months ago I tried to introduce this activity to her, but she obviously was not interested. Now this activity is meaningful to her and she enjoys manipulating these things.
Items I picked this time were: yogurt jar, a play card box, a pen gift box, Russian doll, a DVD case and a book box. Most of these objects she could manage herself without my help. If before she would open a box and leave it on its own, now she puts all her effort into trying to close. Maria Montessori was emphasising the importance of the attention to details. Toddlers are very sensitive to details at this age.
Next activity I would like to share is "Three little birds". You might know children's popular rhyme "Two little birds". I happened to have this Christmas tree decoration with three wooden birds in it. The purpose of this activity is to encourage child to place objects back to the original spot and learn to control the hand movement. I changed the words of the rhyme. I lifted birds one at a time from the tray, placed it on the mat in front of it and then put it back in it's spot. As I was doing it I was saying the rhyme: " Three little birds sat on a tree, one named Jack, the other named Jill and the third named John. Fly away Jack, fly away Jill, fly away John. Come back Jack, come back Jill, come back John". After the demonstration my baby girl was very keen to do it herself and she did. I was saying rhyme as she was lifting these birds and placing them back.
There are a few toys that I leave on the shelf for a few weeks, as they require some time for a young child to master them. Practise makes it perfect. She practises putting cylinders through holes, a wooden toy into the cup, and putting wooden shape through the hole in the box. It brings her so much satisfaction to accomplish it by herself. It is amazing, that at early age they take so much pride in being able to accomplish tasks on their own. I adore those happy looks she gives me every time she manages to do something she could not done on her own before.
Another milestone that she has just achieved was stacking pyramid rings on top of each other. It is a wonderful activity for teaching concepts like size, colour, weight (especially wooden ones, as they get heavier with every ring). Concentration that is required as this age to stack the pyramid rings is amazing. Little Bell enjoyed playing with pyramid so much.
I showed a few activities that are still a bit too hard for her at the moment. These are not very popular. She enjoys watching me do them, but does not like to do these on her own yet. This is work in progress. For example, a seed bud musical instrument and colour sorting. I think it is beneficial to have challenges like these that will keep the child outside their comfort zone: "oh there is something I need to work on".
These toys are on the shelf to represent different textures and materials. They are easy to grab, good to feel and fun to shake. 
Little Bell just discovered pull toys. Don't you love to witness their "A-ha" moments and share joy of new discoveries like this. She figured out that you can pull the toy and it will follow you behind. She loves it.
Here we are. Again, the key is to know your child and follow their interests, also give some challenge, and let them take their sweet time to master skills. They will make you proud :)
Please feel free to leave a comment and if you have any questions visit my facebook page.
Here are some great books on Montessori-Inspired activities for babies and toddlers:
Beginning Montessori With Infants and Tots Birth to 24 Months
Child's Play: Montessori Games and Activities for Your Baby and Toddler
.jpg)
No comments:
Post a Comment
What did I miss? Share your thoughts below!