How to stimulate your baby without spending too much money

You don’t need too many items to make sure your baby is stimulated and ready for nursery school. You only need a few minutes during the day and know exactly what is the best that can work for the right stimulation with your baby. Try these simple things and you will see your baby take leaps and bounds every day.

GAME ON THE GROUND

This is quite simple: you just have to sit on the floor to play with your baby. If you do not know what to do, do not miss these things that you will love:

• • Roll a ball across the floor from one side to the other. You will love watching the ball roll up to your little body to roll it again.

• • Build and stack toys. Building does amazing things to the brain for logic, math, ordering and grouping, as well as fine motor skills.

• • Play with animals, stuffed toys, anything that engages him in interaction, conversation, and focused attention with you.

• Toy cars. You can build a “track” with your building blocks so that you can compete with your child to do car races.

GAME ON THE TABLE

Teaching your child to sit and remain seated in a chair at a table is a good idea for when they start nursery school. It is a type of self-discipline that will keep you in good stead when you start school. Learning to be still and focus on a skill is very valuable and will become a great gift for the future. All of these things you can do to play with your baby at a table:

• • Puzzles: great for logic and math and give a great sense of accomplishment. The puzzles of pegboard are great for little fingers, and when they have two or three years, you can start to expand puzzle pieces 3-15 connected.

• • Play Dough – Cheap to buy, super easy, and even cheaper to make … and it has to be toxic free!

• • Draw: paint with fat colors are ideal for children. Painting with finger paint is even more fun … but you’ll need to cover the table first so you don’t get too dirty!

• Play with dolls. Playing at the table with dolls can also be a lot of fun and children love to see how you, too, make up stories with their favorite dolls.

OUTDOOR

Scheduling some time outside every day does great things for your health and your imagination. Here are some fun things to do, even when it’s cold:

• • Fill a basin with soapy water and let them “wash” their tea set or small items. Don’t worry if they get wet; it is part of the learning process .

• • Water painting: use a brush and water to “paint” on children’s canvases … you will see what artist is inside !?

• • Chalk paint on the floor: it is easy to clean and you will have a great time.

• • Play ball

• • Have a family picnic

• • Put up a tent in the garden

• Go treasure hunting with your toys in the garden

READING TIME

Reading is an ideal time to connect with your child … but do not allow this time to be done by the grandmother or the babysitter … it is you who should read to your children because they need to connect with you on an emotional level thanks to the reading of stories. It is necessary for the development of speech. The reading should happen every day.  The public library is a free, unlimited source of excellent reading material.

BORING MOMENT

This is funny, right? Don’t stimulate your child every minute of the day. Boredom is the father of creativity … hug your child, love him and allow him to get bored from time to time. He needs to get bored in order to boost his imagination and creativity, if you don’t let him … he won’t learn to think for himself!

TELEVISION TIME

The television is a great tool if you need to make dinner or get something done quickly and need a little help keeping your child calm. A child under the age of 2 should not watch television for more than 30 minutes a day. Ideally, you should sit next to him and explain what he sees to boost his vocabulary.