Developmental stimulation simply means providing children the experiences that are most helpful for learning given the child's current level of development.
Young children learn through their senses and physical exploration. Listed below are numerous activities which allow exploration through your senses and physical activity. Many of them are free. See what others you can add."You" in these examples refers to the infant, but you can do these yourself if that is the kind of thing that makes you happy. None of them are illegal for adults or anything, although they may gain you some odd looks.
DEVELOPMENTALLY APPROPRIATE ACTIVITIES FOR THE SENSORIMOTOR PERIOD - AS RECOMMENDED BY JULIA (at right)
- Crawl in the sand. Sit in it. Stand in it. Feel it on your feet. Run the sand through your hands. Put it in your mouth. (Actually, I am not that much in favor of this last activity but I have yet to be able to prevent it.)
- Go stand under a tree and look up at the leaves. Get someone to pick you up so you can see the leaves up close and how they are attached to the branches. Touch the bark and feel how rough (or smooth) it is.
- Pet the cat. Listen to it purr. Feel how its side rumbles when it purrs.
- Pet the dog next door.
- Crawl around on the rug. Crawl around the bathroom floor. (Head Start inspectors would have a cow about this one, but since it's my house and my baby I can do what I want. Besides, we clean our bathroom floor regularly - honest!)
- Pull the pans out from the cupboards in the kitchen. Bang them on the floor. Listen to the sound these mae.
- Lay on your back and tear the newspaper apart. Listen to the sound it makes. Crumple up the newspaper. Look at all of the colors in the comics. Stick the newspaper in your mouth. (This is another one I am never quite fast enough to prevent.)
- Lay on your back and watch the mobile over your crib go round and round. Listen to the music. Try to reach up and rip the toys off of it.
- Listen to your music box.
- Shake your rattles. Bang them on the floor. Put them in your mouth.
- Have your parents play with puppets with you, talking in silly voices. If you don't have a puppet (or even if you do) have them make you one using a paper bag or a sock and some markers. A wonderful thing about babies is that they are't very critical. Even if your home ec or art teacher would have given you an F for the puppet, the baby will still like it.
- Take lots of baths (more on this later)
- Take a taste of everything anyone is eating - from tamales to chocolate shakes to gatorade to animal crackers. (Again, this is one that might drive some bureaucrats with regulations about proper nutrition straight up a wall, but notice I said a TASTE, so she can have a new experience. I am big on sensory experiences. For your information, I do not provide my baby a steady diet of gatorade; she lives 90% on breast milk - but she REALLY liked the tropical punch gatorade, and a melted peanut butter cup, too. On a very practical note, I advise giving an infant a very tiny amount of a new food and only trying one new item a day. That way, if there is an allergic reaction, you will know what specific food caused it.)
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