From the very first day of birth, your baby develops through their senses – sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste. By the time they are one year old, children are already familiar with smells, tastes, and the objects around them. To encourage further development of the senses, we suggest a few fun games.
Peek Inside!
Remove the label from a few small water bottles. Fill each bottle with interesting objects – one can contain small shells, another can be filled with glitter, water, and mineral oil, and another with a few coins. Screw the caps on each bottle tightly so the contents don’t spill or end up in the child’s mouth. Give them to your child to look at, shake, and explore. Talk to them about what they see, what they hear, whether they feel a difference in the materials with their fingers, and as they see what’s inside, let them try to describe how they imagine those objects feel under their fingers.
Water, Water Everywhere
Most children love water, whether it’s bathing or playing with it. Fill a container with water and place it on a waterproof surface or towel, on the floor (or better yet, on the terrace). Give your child plastic cups, spoons, bowls, and a funnel. Watch them pour, splash, and much more. When you notice they are getting bored with the game, add a little food coloring to the water to create a new twist in the game. As with any water activity, carefully supervise the play and pour out all the water when finished.
Connecting
Gather a few objects that make different sounds – rattles, bells, tambourines, etc. Start singing a song and take an instrument in hand to make music together. Games like these nurture your child’s language, physical, and cognitive skills.
Blowing Bubbles
Fill a plastic container with water and a little dish soap, then use a straw to blow a bunch of bubbles. Let the child explore the bubbles with their hands – just make sure they don’t eat them. They will enjoy watching you blow bubbles they can catch, and when they are older, show them how to make bubbles themselves, making sure they don’t swallow the water through the straw but only blow air through it. First, teach them how to do it with an empty straw, then let them practice with the soapy water.
