Today’s play suggestion is to choose 3 toys that we can rotate to help our little ones with their engagement and their concentration. Choose a toy that shakes, one that rattles and one that rolls. Today is not about all of the toys, it is choosing a couple to listen to, to engage with and concentrate on.
Shaking toy – smaller toy, softer noise, links, small maracas, little music toys
Rattle – maybe a larger louder toy, a rainmaker, bottle with beads, peas or coins in or maybe a bell toy
Roll – ball or round object that we can practice our fine finger control with holding
For our youngest babies we are lying our little one’s down, playing noises to the side so we can track and work out where the noise is coming from, our hearing is most developed at birth so this is a great opportunity to track a noise. We are letting them hold and touch and for our larger toys we can pop them onto their side and support them so their hands come together for two handed play
For our sitting babies pop the toys in front so your baby reaches for the toys working on their hand-eye co-ordination and their balance skills. Be on hand to support the if needed. Practice toy rotation so if your little one shows a particular toy lots of attention give them the opportunity to swap
and for our moving babies, encourage lots of moving, rolling, cruising and crawling towards the toys, spacing the out really helps.
Aim to do this for 5 – 10 minutes
This little activity helps
- our little ones discover textures
- listen to different noises and helps with directional noise
- working the big muscles in our body
- amazing for our fine motor skills
- opportunities to work on moving
- great for helping with balance
- hand-eye co-ordination
- concentration
- visual skills and controlling the very small muscles in their eyes
- body scheme
- working two sides of our body
- our motor planning skills
- awareness of where our body is in space
- their ability to screen information
- it is great for stretching our their bodies and distracting them during tummy time too!
A little activity with so many benefits!
Would love to see how you get on and as usual please keep your little one safe and in eye sight and arms reach at all times.
Have fun x