Your baby is ready to learn from the moment they enter the world. In the first two years, your baby's brain will grow faster than at any other time. Helping your baby to develop learning skills will make a big difference in your child's future development. Following are some tips for helping your baby to learn.
EnvironmentThe best environment is one with a lot of social interaction. This includes eye contact, talking, listening and touching. Loving touches builds your baby's sense of trust.
Provide your child with routine and structure to make the world seem stable and familiar for them.
Take care of yourself. A happy baby results from happy parents.
Motor DevelopmentProvide a safe environment for your baby to explore. Don't limit their play areas strictly to cribs, playpens, high chairs or swings.
Give them opportunities to reach for and grasp objects.
Provide a tour of textures by allowing them to feel objects inside and outside, such as a bumpy toy or grass and leaves outside.
Emotional DevelopmentA calm and relaxed parent results in a calm and happy baby.
Help your baby learn self-soothing by practicing infant massage techniques.
Recognize your baby's cues - sometimes they will want to be smothered with attention and other times they will want to be left alone.
Use positive facial expressions when interacting with your baby.
HearingHave your baby's hearing tested at birth then regularly thereafter.
Check their hearing in between doctor visits by testing their responsiveness to musical toys or rattles.
Talking frequently to your baby will help develop and refine auditory skills.
VisionHelp stimulate vision connections in your baby's brain by playing games that involve slowly moving objects in a variety of positions.
Use frequent eye contact with your baby when he/she is awake.
Inquire with your pediatrician about scheduling an eye exam for your baby.
Include high contrast toys and objects (black, white and red) in your baby's mix of toys.
VocabularyRepeat your baby's babbling and sounds back to them to encourage them to continue.
Talk to your baby about what you're doing no matter how mundane, such as "I'm going to make dinner now" or "I'm going to change your diaper."
Practice short words with your baby, such as "up" and "down" and provide visual cues, such as pointing in these directions, to help him/her learn.
Recognize out loud what your baby is doing, such as "You rolled the ball!" or "You found your rattle!"
Increase your sentence structure with your baby as they get older, such as "You're using your blue square block to build your tower!"
Describe to your baby what he/she is seeing, hearing, smelling and touching.
Talk, sing, read books and tell stories.
Math and LogicTeach independence. Encourage your baby to do things for him or herself. Only help if he or she shows frustration or asks for help.
Provide blocks or any objects he or she can stack, knock down and sort.
Play counting and peek-a-boo games.
Hide objects underneath a small towel or blanket and ask "Where did it go?"
Listen to music and play with musical instruments. Sing songs in different voices.
RecognitionLaminate photos of those closest to your baby, such as family members, friends or pets. Hold them up for your baby to see and ask "Who is this?" or "Where is Mommy?"
Habitually ask your child what certain objects are as you hold them, such as "Is this a leaf?" or "Is this apple red?"
