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If your baby can only speak, he or she would say: “Mummy or daddy I don’t need expensive toys. I only need things to amuse and stimulate myself as I learn to hear, taste, feel and see things as I start my life.”
Babies are just as excited, inquisitive and observant about new things as adults when exposed to new environment. They don’t really choose to see or hold expensive objects to satisfy their longing for discovery. Consider the following as alternatives that can enhance your baby’s hearing and seeing abilities without slashing a big budget. After all they have to learn about true-to-life objects and situations.
Dad’s decorated fingers Turn the TV off, and using a pen, paint your thumbs with eyes, nose and mouth of a nun. To achieve the veil, drape your finger with tissue paper. And start telling a story. The nun was surprised to see a white patch of uprooted grasses in her garden one day. The grasses were stolen from a rich and generous unicorn who had been looking for the grasses for days. You can continue the story anyway you want it. Certainly, the painted thumb released the father’s creativity, enhanced the child’s imagination and nurtured the father and the child’s bond.
Cardboard Box A computer system analyst friend of mine came home with a computer one day as a present to his son’s first birthday. As he and his wife were setting up the computer, their son lost from their sight. When found tucking himself in the box, the boy burst into laughter thinking that he had tricked mum and dad. The little boy lay in the box as though it was his house, dragged the box as though it was his train, and wrote on the box as though it was his blackboard for hours.
Wooden spoon Simply clean it and tell your baby that it is used for cooking nice foods. You may worry that it will hurt him as he shakes the object towards himself but so do wooden blocks and other hard plastics. He may learn that shaking the object towards him creates pain and he should try to stop doing it again against himself. Give him a clean and safe empty tin and show him that hitting the tin with a wooden spoon creates a sound. It may annoy for a short time, but your child’s experience of making the sound all by himself is precious.
Carved Pears Wash the pears thoroughly, chisel the fruit to create a human face or a popular world structure such as the Sydney Opera House. You can mark the features of the carving by using rock melon or other colorful fruit cutlets. Then you won’t worry if your baby eat the fruit later and savor its delicious flavor.
Plastic Bag Scrunching a noisy plastic bag has a distinctive sound that can amuse your baby for hours. Trim the whole bag to a sensible size to protect him from suffocating yet leaving ample size to create sounds.
Plastic Saucer for a boat To use in a bath, get a plastic and colorful saucer and pretend it is a sailing yacht. Make up a story, say, the yacht capsized and the waves were strong, then the waves subsided and the yacht sailed smoothly again. Imagination is powerful.
Shadows Create interesting shapes and figures by hanging magazine cut-outs next to a lamp to cast shadows onto a wall. Play mysterious music and see how, for a moment, this mood amazes you child.
Alphabets and numbers Cut those glossy and colorful old magazines into alphabets and numbers and stick them onto a wall. Constant view of the letters in his surrounding will mark a tinge of cognition into your child’s memory.
The ones mention in this article are only a series of examples but you can expand your creativity any way you like. The more you stimulate him or her into an extensive but inexpensive learning, the better and wiser parent you become. In doing these exercises, please be cautious of the dangers the objects or shapes that would cause to your child. You are the parent and you know the best for your baby.
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