We discussed this topic under language development. There are so many activities you can do that are fun and educational for your child, we wanted to bring it up again.
Have fun! Whether you are a young parent or not-so-young, parenting should bring you joy. No one wants to spend all day working on their child like a homework problem.
Bubbles! You can buy these for less than a dollar at most stores. Or, you can make your own using a straw and a mix of half liquid dish soap, half water. You can use these to teach counting, to teach the meaning of "up" , "down" and "more".
"Look. The bubbles are going up. Now they are coming down - down - down. How many are there? One, two, three, four. Should we make more? Yes."
Bubbles can also be used to work on gross motor skills, as a child chases the bubbles to catch them or waves an arm or hand and tries to pop the bubbles. You can use bubbles to teach fine motor skills, showing your child how to pop the bubbles between a thumb and forefinger. Bubbles are a good choice to have your older or non-disabled child use to play with a brother or sister. Often, siblings without disabilities feel left out when the child with a disability gets the majority of the parent's attention. Physical therapy, IFSP meetings, doctor's appointments, all of these take time. It's important for your other children to have fun as well. You can have a slightly older sister be in charge of blowing the bubbles, or fanning them to go higher up in the air as an assistant in her sibling's "therapy" .
Blocks - one of our favorite toys for teaching symbolic play, reasoning and fine motor skills. Symbolic play, letting one thing stand for another, is a very important development in early childhood. A block can be used in pretend play as a doll's bottle, a car or an airplane. The child who now is holding a block in her hand, moving it along the groud and making 'chug chug' noises is using the block as a symbol for a train. Later on in life, she'll learn that letters are symbols for a sound, that numbers are symbols for an idea.
Blocks are also useful for learning cause and effect. If you stack up a tower of blocks and push on it, it will fall over. If you stack the blocks too high or crooked, the stack will fall over. If you stack the blocks straight and not too high, the stack won't fall over. At a young age, children are learning that actions have consequences. If you do the same thing over and over, the result is the same.
Developmental Stimulation with Household Objects