How to Inspire Academic Learning and Curiosity Through Experiential Play
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Babies grow very fast, and by the time your little one is six months old, you will notice many physical and intellectual changes in them. Every day brings in something new. From this age onward, your child will be more inquisitive and will begin to form words and get a better understanding of the world around them. This is the perfect time to develop this curiosity, and there’s no better way to do so than through educational toys.
Although enough playtime helps your child release some extra energy, they begin to truly understand who they are through play, even during infancy. With this in mind, Fisher-Price promotes the concept of Power of Play which uses the power of toys as educational tools to help promote a baby’s cognitive, physical, social and emotional skills by age and stage as per the different milestones.
Best Learn and Play Toys for Toddlers
As babies observe and experience objects like phones, light switches, pots and pans, etc. that they see their parents use around them, you should invest in toys that facilitate learning through forms, colours and iconography. The learning should visually be communicated so that as parents, you can see its benefits to your little one’s growth. The learning content should be progressive and teach one concept at a time so that your baby can learn better.
Following are the Learn and Play toys you can invest in:
1. Baby Learning Table
A learning table is a fun way to engage your baby from an early age. Most learning/activity tables have a variety of toys that encourage the development of fine-motor skills and hand-eye coordination. Babies love toys with lights, sounds, and those that require interaction. The Fisher-Price® Laugh & Learn® Around The Town Learning Table would be the perfect option with 4 fun places to visit, a role-play phone, slides, spinners, buttons and doors that open and close. That’s not all! The table also comes with detachable table legs for when your baby is ready to move from sitting and playing to standing and cruising. Basically, it is going to last you through some major milestones!
How It Helps Your Baby
- Early Academics: Your baby learns about the alphabet, numbers, and sounds through the different elements of the table.
- Fine Motor Skills: The activities like opening the doors and pressing the buttons strengthen your baby’s hand-eye coordination and fine-motor skills.
- Imaginative Play: The realistic elements like the role-play phone in the Fisher-Price Laugh and Learn Around the Town Learning Table lets your baby imagine himself in real-life situations.
2. Pretend Play Camera
Pretend play cameras enable your mini-photographer to ‘snap’ photos while the songs and other sounds help teach them about the alphabet, counting, and much more. The Fisher-Price® Laugh & Learn® Click & Learn Instant Camera comes with a light ‘flash,’ realistic camera sounds, and hands-on activities for your baby to explore. The shutter button can be pressed to click a photo, and the picture can be pushed back into the slot to reset it. Sounds interesting, doesn’t it? Babies love such toys and are intrigued by them as it helps them pretend to do that particular activity, while they develop their cognitive, physical and emotional skills.
How It Helps Your Baby
- Early Academics: The songs and phrases in the pretend camera introduce your baby to alphabets, numbers, and much more in a fun way.
- Fine Motor Skills: The activities like turning the clicker spinner and pressing the buttons help strengthen your baby’s hand-eye coordination and dexterity.
- Imaginative Play: The realistic camera design lets your baby pretend to click pictures. They’ll repeatedly do this activity, as they find it interesting.
3. Toy Smartwatch
A toy or pretend smartwatch looks like a real watch and includes a number of features like a light-up screen, easy-grasp band, and activities that will keep your baby busy while they explore each and every element of the watch. The Fisher-Price® Laugh & Learn® Time to Learn Smartwatch comes with lights, music, and sounds which will help your baby learn about the different colours, greetings, alphabets, numbers and much more, and have fun! The toy smartwatch is best suited for babies in the age-group of 6-36 months, as that’s the perfect time to develop their cognitive, physical, social, and emotional skills.
How It Helps Your Baby
- Early Academics: The songs and phrases introduce your little one to colours and greetings.
- Fine Motor Skills: Activities like turning the dial, pressing the toggle switch, and pushing the buttons strengthen your baby’s hand-eye coordination and dexterity.
- Imaginative Play: A pretend smartwatch looks just like a real watch with a light-up screen, easy-grasp band thus letting your baby pretend to wear a watch and explore its features like chatting, playing some music and turning dials to see what happens when they do so.
Guidelines for Choosing Learn and Play Toys for Toddlers
Here’s what you should keep in mind when choosing toys that will grow with your child, challenge them, and nurture their cognitive, physical, social, and emotional skills.
- Select toys that can be used in different ways. Look for toys that are ‘open-ended’ which means that your child can play many multiple games with them.
- Select toys that will advance your child’s growth. Toys with multiple development stages like the Laugh and Learn Toys from Fisher-Price are perfect as this will help avoid a situation where your child stops playing with them once they have mastered it.
- Select toys that encourage problem-solving and exploration, as children love figuring out things on their own.
- Choose toys that encourage your child to use their imagination. Pretend play is known to build problem-solving skills, language and literacy skills, and sequencing skills.
- Select toys that look realistic as your child is at an age where they’re figuring out how everyday objects work.
Children are explorers who learn by doing, and play gives your child an amazing opportunity to practice and develop new skills at their own pace while following their interests. Therefore, it is important to invest in toys that will help in the overall development of your child.
