It is important to provide educational games for babies to grow and develop their basic skills and learn the how the world around them works. The development of young children is very much dependent on the efficiency of the parents and can easily determine the kind of person your child is going to grow up to be. For this reason, we as parents are very cautious and like to give our kids the best possible upbringing that we can offer them – after all, we only want what’s best for them and hope that they grow up to be successful functional adults. In infancy, children’s minds are like a sponge (from the stages of being a baby until the onset of adolescence). For this reason, you need to make sure that everything your child takes in is put in the correct context, understood and promotes good morals.
Some preschool games that are really good for learning and developing involve things like shapes, sounds, coloring, numbers, letters and social skills. Quite a big list of things to check when it comes to games, but you can help your child develop by pointing out things in everyday, if you see something that is green and has a square shape, point it out to them and let them take in the knowledge – soon enough they will be pointing out shapes, colors, and familiar things to them by themselves and looking for your approval. One very interesting invention as educational games for babies is the educational number and alphabet mat. Learning mats usually consist of a soft spongy material and a couple of tiles that interlink. I’m sure you’ve seen it before: the tiles have letters and number slots in them with the corresponding parts being removable for the child to play with and learn. These mats are completely safe and non-toxic, so even if they get chewed on, your infant will be safe.
Some places that supply these kinds of mats and other fantastic and safe educational toys include Baby City (babycity.co.za) and other companies such as jozikids.co.za; edunation.co.za and sakidsonthego.com. If your child is getting closer to the age of having to begin preschool (or kindergarten) – you might be getting a bit worried that he or she might not be able to cope. There are lots of children who do not cope immediately with school work but still turn out to be very successful and intelligent people. Do not stress, not all kids learn at the same pace. Here is a basic kindergarten readiness checklist that you can grade your child’s progress with – do not worry if the little one doesn’t pass every single requirement, kids learn things different from one another and where one child might be stronger in one aspect, others might be stronger in another.
Here is the checklist:
Self-competency
- The young ones should be able to go to the bathroom by themselves
- Knows about basic hygiene
- Able to dress reasonably well without too much help from parents
Speaking skills
- Can say his or her name and express basic dialect (“I’m hungry/thirsty”, “what is that?” “What is your name?” etcetera)
- Understands basic commands and direction (“Go left,” “climb over that” etc)
Basic Numeracy skills
- Can count to ten
- Knows how to share things more or less equally
Emotional skills
- Understands the concept of kindness and good manners
- Is considerate of others
- Says ‘please’ and ‘thank you’
Motor skills
- Has basic hand and eye coordination (eg catching a big ball)
- Can do basic tasks with tools, such as cutting and gluing (crudely), painting, drawing basic shapes and simple pictures
Awareness skills
- Understands items in his or her immediate surrounding
- Can use pictures to identify something
- Knows what things are called (basic things ‘couch, lamp, kettle, banana, TV, door’ etc)
Do not worry if your child is still learning a few of these skills, they will be taught properly when they go to school anyway, but it’s good to make sure your child already knows and understands many of these concepts for starting at preschool and that’s why educational toddler games is so important.