The early stimulation is a set of exercises / activities that serve to improve certain characteristics of babies of different ages. Among other things, the senses are worked on, in addition to mental abilities such as memory, attention, curiosity and the development of the nervous system..
Early stimulation is key to helping children achieve developmental milestones as soon as possible, as well as laying the foundation for them to develop advanced motor and cognitive skills later. In addition, it is also essential to promote the development of intelligence.
The specific exercises related to early care will depend on the age of the child. Depending on the month or year he has, it will be necessary to perform different tasks that take into account his specific needs and the skills that it is most convenient to work with him..
In this article you will discover a series of activities that you can use to promote your baby's abilities through early stimulation. We have divided them by months, so that you can easily find those that best suit the specific moment that both of you are living..
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Extensive research has shown that for a child to reach their full potential in terms of physical, social and cognitive abilities, they need sufficient stimulation during their first months and years of life.
Thus, for example, mental capacities such as intelligence or creativity cannot be developed to their maximum expression if good early stimulation activities are not carried out. At the same time, certain physical capacities can also develop less than normal without this type of intervention..
In their first years of life, children have to go through a series of phases in both their cognitive and physical development. Although it is believed that they can do it without help, early stimulation will allow them to achieve it more quickly and without experiencing so many difficulties.
The fact of having a structure and guidelines that indicate how it is necessary to act during the first months of the child's life helps many parents (especially new ones) to know how to behave with them.
This can be very helpful in that it takes much of the pressure off adults, who may otherwise be overly concerned with how they are supposed to act to fully enjoy the experience of having a child..
We have already seen that early stimulation is a fundamental process to help the little ones in their development. But what are its main benefits? Next we will see a small list with the most important.
The benefit that we can begin to observe in a child when we carry out an early stimulation process is the development of their psychomotor skills. These are the set of skills that allow children to learn to control their body in increasingly sophisticated ways..
Thus, for example, during the first months of life children will learn to control their limbs, stand upright and grasp objects; And when they are a little older, they can begin to move around on their own. Skills such as crawling or walking are also acquired more quickly with the help of early stimulation..
Children's intellectual development is even more complex than that related to physical abilities. Skills such as intelligence, curiosity, observation and creativity will only appear at their best if they are properly stimulated during the first years of a person's life..
Thus, genetics puts a cap on the intellectual skills that a child will be able to acquire throughout his life; but only through early stimulation will it be possible to reach this maximum.
Early stimulation is the best tool to get a child to reach the different stages of maturation as soon as possible. Due to this, it also serves to realize as soon as possible the appearance of any type of disorder, be it intellectual, language, or psychomotor.
This benefit is especially important, since the sooner a problem is detected, the sooner work can begin on it. Early intervention in this sense is essential for the child to achieve the best possible quality of life..
The last of the areas in which the benefits of early stimulation can be seen is emotional. The interaction of children with their parents and close people will form the basis of the social and affective skills they have as adults. For this reason, many of the activities that we will see below also include a social component..
Next we will see what are the best early stimulation exercises that you can carry out with your baby depending on his age. Keep in mind that, although it is not necessary to do all of them, the more you practice, the more benefits you will get.
During the first month of your baby's life, the most important goal to keep in mind is to get him used to reacting to different types of stimuli. Therefore, early stimulation in this period focuses on providing visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory and taste information on a continuous basis..
In this period, it is not necessary to carry out overly complex activities. Stimuli as simple as singing to the child, maintaining eye contact with him, grimacing or trying to grab an object are more than enough to keep him active. Of course, talking to the baby (especially in a soft and sweet way) is also highly recommended..
In addition, since they are born it is interesting to keep them during their waking hours in environments that have many stimuli. Thus, instead of leaving him locked in his room, taking him everywhere, taking him for walks and moving him around the house can be very beneficial activities.
Finally, physical contact is very important during this first month. Holding him, caressing him and in general interacting with your baby is essential for his development.
After reaching the first month of life, children can begin to exercise some control over their own body. Therefore, despite the fact that it is necessary to continue maintaining the activities discussed in the previous section, you can also begin to perform exercises aimed at physical and psychomotor stimulation.
In this sense, you can basically perform two types of exercises. On the one hand, gently grasping your child's limbs and moving them carefully can help you to see where the limits of your body are. Examples of exercises could be to clap your hand, have your hands interlock, or tickle your feet..
On the other hand, at this stage it becomes more important to help you gain some control of your limbs. To do this, it is best to present light and stimulating objects (such as rattles or rattle bracelets), and encourage him to grasp and move them on his own.
During the second month, the child begins to be able to support himself and make small coordinated movements with his whole body. Therefore, in this phase the exercises should focus on helping you to better control your limbs, and to begin to move voluntarily.
A very useful exercise at this stage is to lay the child on his stomach with the intention of turning over on his own. Most likely you won't get it at first; but the simple act of trying will already help enormously in its development. To help him, it may be advisable to push him slightly to the side while in this position.
On the other hand, you also need to help him keep his head upright. One of the best exercises in this regard is the following. Place a stimulating object at eye level (such as a rattle), and when he is looking at it, slowly raise it until it is above his head. Baby should try to keep moving his neck.
Finally, at this stage children will also begin to make their first vocalizations. Talk to the baby a lot; And when it makes a noise, smile at it and repeat it as faithfully as possible. In this way, you are encouraged to produce more and more sounds, which will eventually become words..
The third month of life is probably one of the most important for a baby's development. In this period, children begin to observe their surroundings more closely, and to try to understand how the world around them works. This is why sensory and cognitive stimulation is more important than ever..
During the third month, the previous activities (especially those related to movement and limb control) continue to be very important; but it is necessary to put more emphasis on the senses and on the interaction with the child.
One of the most useful exercises in this period is to play “peekaboo”; that is, putting an object or hands on one's face, then uncovering it and making funny noises while the child is watching. This can help children to develop what is known as “object permanence”, something essential at this stage..
On the other hand, by the third month, babies can interact more with their environment. Early stimulation in this phase should focus on talking to them as much as possible, teaching them different types of stimuli, and allowing them to explore their environment and act on their own. The baby's curiosity is likely to increase greatly at this stage..
During the fourth month, the most important developmental milestones remain the same: gaining autonomy of movement, fostering their curiosity, and beginning to stimulate the production of sounds. This month's exercises can be very similar to the previous ones, although it will be good to challenge the child with increasing challenges..
Thus, for example, it is advisable to lay the baby on his stomach to play for long periods of time, so that he himself has to turn over if he wants to..
He should also be seated in an upright position and try to keep him that way by himself, holding him with the minimum of force required so that he does not fall..
During this period, the baby will begin to interact with his environment in a more autonomous way. Among other things, it is usual that at this time the little ones begin to pick up objects and throw them on the ground to check their properties. The task of parents is to make available a wide variety of stimuli so that they can investigate them.
In addition to this, putting stimulating objects slightly out of reach for him to crawl and grasp can be very helpful for the baby..
During the second half of the first year, all kinds of changes take place as the baby goes from being a totally defenseless being to acquiring the first traces of autonomy. In this period some very important milestones are normally achieved, such as the production of the first words or the crawling.
Early stimulation in this age should focus on both the physical and cognitive as well as the social aspects. Some recommended activities could be talking to the child trying to get him to "respond", showing him pictures of objects and describing them, or making him crawl on the floor to meet his parents.
On the other hand, all the typical baby games that involve physical contact (such as the "five little wolves") are highly recommended at this age..
From the first year on, the development of babies seems to skyrocket. In this period, new skills emerge such as walking, drawing, speaking in a simple way, answering questions and being able to interact with other people in a bidirectional way..
If early stimulation work has been done correctly in earlier stages, children over one year of age tend to be much more autonomous and enter a totally different phase. From this moment on, the little ones can explore on their own and will take a more active role in their development..
1-Stimulates the sensitivity of the face. Place your thumbs in the center of the baby's forehead and slide them to the sides. Next, place your fingers on the sides of his nose and do the same on his cheeks. To stimulate the lips, do the same movement as if you were marking a whisker.
two-Stimulates body sensitivity. Go over the body of your little one with a towel or cotton and caress each of the parts of his body, trying to tickle him, as you name them. It is recommended that the baby is without clothes, so after the bath it may be a good time for it.
When he is a little older, you can use his hand to play each of the parts while you name them. And when he learns to speak, it will be the same one that indicates each of them.
3-Place objects in your hand have different textures, for example, a spoon, a paper, a sponge, a towel… and encourage him to examine it and play with it. You can also use objects of different sizes and motivate him to pass them from one hand to another..
While doing it, talking and interacting with your baby, you can ask him which of the objects he likes the most, explain what each thing is, etc. As he grows, you can let him play with plasticine, flour dough, papers that he can tear and wrinkle, sand, water ...
4-Sit with him or her, open a story and let it turn the pages. Read the story to her and go pointing out the illustrations in the book, you can also ask her to be your baby who points to them while you tell her the story of each character.
5-Play with him or her to put and take objects of a bucket or boat and classify them by color, size and shape. You can also encourage him to make towers and constructions with pieces or boxes and teach him to string hoops on a rope, helping him until he is able to do it himself..
6-Drawing is very important during childhood, so you can motivate him to take a pencil and paper and start drawing. At first he will start with stripes and squiggles until he becomes more skilled and gets to draw figures and who knows if some work of art.
1-Put him on all fours, putting under him / her a rolled towel or blanket, and show him / her a toy so that he / she tries to reach it so that it is supported on one hand. Also, you can rest the palms of your hands on the soles of his feet and push him to help him crawl and reach for the toy..
If he is already crawling, encourage him to go for the toy or to come to you.
two-Lay him on his back and gently pull his hands until he is sitting, if he is still not standing by himself, you can place cushions around to prevent him from going sideways.
When seated, grab him by the shoulders and rock him to the sides gently, then do the same exercise back and forth..
If he is already sitting up by himself, teach him how to use his hands to support himself on the floor. When he has learned, push him slightly to the sides with the intention that he uses his hands so as not to fall.
3-When he's old enough, show him how to stand up. You can start by getting on your knees and then standing up holding onto you or some other support. Then you can teach him how to sit and squat..
To encourage him to walk, show him how by helping him to come forward and support one foot and then the other. When he has learned the mechanics a bit, you can put a toy in front of him and encourage him to reach for it. You will be his support until he can do it on his own.
10-As he grows, you can increase the complexity of the exercises he can do while lifting. For example, play squatting and getting up, chasing him into a run, jumping rope, or from low heights like a step. Encourage him to play ball, to stand on tiptoe, to jump over obstacles, to dance ...
1-Although babies do not know how to articulate words or phrases when they are born, that does not mean that they do not know how to communicate. His form of communication, in the absence of words, is through gestures, babbling, screaming and, above all, crying. So, every time you make a sound or babble, imitate him and talk to your baby And, of course, if he cries, answer his call. With this you will motivate him to communicate, since the baby learns that every time he expresses himself, someone responds to him.
2-It is important that call your little one by his name with a loving tone and that you talk, smile and show affection.
3-At lunchtime, name each of the foods so that you can identify them. In addition, you can interact with him by asking him if he likes food or if he wants more. If he still does not speak, his response will be a smile or some gesture.
4-As he learns words, encourage him to when you want something call him by his name and take advantage of any moment to talk to him or her.
When speaking with children, the use of diminutives or modified words is very frequent and this is a mistake. It is important that children are spoken to clearly and in complete sentences, avoiding diminutives and including them in family conversations as if they could speak perfectly.
5-Share reading moments with him or her. You can read a story to him and then he / she will repeat part of the story to you and you can even do it in the form of a theater. Much more fun!
You can also teach them nursery rhymes, play word-forming or guessing.
1-Every time you interact with your baby, do it by looking at his face, with a smile and accompanied by a caress or gesture of affection. Make him laugh and celebrate his laugh, let him see what is enjoyed by being happy.
two-Get the little one used to being with other people, to play with them and relate. Always respecting his times and not forcing him to be with someone he does not want.
3-Teach him the basic social rules like saying hello, goodbye, please, thank you ... and good habits like washing hands, picking up toys after playtime, or helping you do chores.
4-Help him get to know himself, to know how you feel, to manage and express those feelings.
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