Why Stimulating Your Infant’s Intellect Is Important
It is absolutely critical that you start to stimulate your baby’s mind as early as possible when you consider that 75% of your newborn’s intellectual growth occurs before the age 6. With babies, everything around them is extremely influential on their developing mind - sights, sounds, smells, and touches. These early inputs and influences help them to learn and grow, no matter what age. It is very important for a parent to consider creating a stimulating environment for their infant. Here are a few ways to stimulate your infant’s intellect.
1. Give them tons to look at.
Surround your child with color to stimulate their visual sense. Let them play in a play pen such as the Graco Playard so they have many different shapes and colors to look at. Hang colored shapes on the wall or hang a mobile above their playpen. Teach your baby to recognize themselves by hanging a baby-safe mirror on the wall or next to their playpen. Whatever you can add to spice up the visual excitement of your newborn’s world - the more the better.
2. Provide enough to listen to.
It is a well-known fact that babies respond to music, even when in the womb - you can play music for them as soon as you’d like. Play a CD of nature sounds for your newborn - whistling wind, rainforest sounds, or rain showers - anything to stimulate your baby’s sense of hearing. newborns love to be sung to, there is no more beautiful voice on earth to your infant than Mommy’s voice. Also, make sure you allow your infant to make their own sounds and noises - encourage them to play with rattles or musical toys. Clap with your baby. The more they explore their own sounds, the more they learn.
3. Provide lots to touch.
Make sure your infant has plenty of room to crawl or roll around in - you might want to consider a larger size playard, like the Graco Playard, which affords them enough space to explore the world around them. Play hand games with your newborn - paddycake is always a favorite. Bounce and dance with your baby in your arms or your lap, really involve them in your motion. Give them lots of different textures to touch and explore. Different fabrics or toys with different surfaces, for example the toys in the Graco Playard provide many different textures for your newborn to touch. The more you allow your baby to touch and feel the world around them, the greater the intellectual stimulation and the greater the learning.
Your baby’s intellectual stimulation is one of the most important aspects of their development. It is up to you as a parent to provide an environment to your infant where they can safely explore and learn about the world around them. Give them a vibrant, colorful, visual world to look at. Give your child the gift of stimulating and soothing sounds of music. Give your infant many things to touch - all the different textures and surfaces you can find. These things are all an important part of stimulating your baby and their mind.