Top 8 Creative and Fun Activities For Child Development
Have you ever wondered why some adults love playing board games like scrabble or chess?
Well, you are right!
Of course for fun but also because it helps them develop some basic essential skills like strategic management, vocabulary, teamwork, critical thinking, etc. that are necessary for them to survive in real life.
This clearly indicates that playing is actually a crucial form of learning in disguise that continues throughout your life.
Why are the early years crucial for brain stimulation?
Infants are born with around 100 billion neurons, which is equivalent to the number of stars in the Milky Way galaxy.
During their first three years, trillions of brain connections grow in them, which are also known as neural synapses. This means that a toddler's brain has twice as many neural connections as adults.
However, there is one important thing about neural synapses, and that is that they should either be shaped over time or the brain ends up losing them.
Hence, infants' brains are designed to intake as much information as one can give them because of their high adaptability, vulnerability, and neural connections.
Therefore, it is highly imperative to engage them in playful creative activities for child development in their initial years.
This can be done through interacting with them during their playtime, mealtime, clothing time, bathing time, or even potty time, for that matter.
These stimulate their brains with thought-provoking scenarios, thus helping their brains to develop and grow leaps and bounds with time.
Holistic Grooming Of Little Geniuses With Brain-Stimulating Play Ideas
You wouldn't believe how frequently kids send cues to start a conversation, but adults typically ignore them.
A beaming smile is the first instance where you might grasp the opportunity to establish an action-reaction phenomenon with your child, thus engaging their minds.
An American pediatrician, Jack Shonkoff, says that parenting is an art more than science, and the experiences of people around an infant in their early years actually shape the development of their brains.
Let Us Explore 8 Fun Ways To Improve Cognitive Skills In Children
1. Mirror Play
Isn't talking to yourself in front of the mirror a self-confidence-boosting activity?
Similar is the case with kids, where a basic mirror play enhances their cognitive skills, one step at a time.
i. Infants (0–6 months)
Activity: Keep a mirror in front of them during their tummy time.
Benefits: It ignites their visual and auditory stimulation by understanding their body movements and listening to their voice while cooing, smiling, laughing, etc.
ii. Older Infants (6–12 months)
Activity: Play Pee-ka-boo in front of the mirror.
Benefits: Encourages self-identity, social and emotional skills.
iii. Toddlers(12–24 months)
Activity: Encourage them to speak, explore facial expressions, or address their body parts in front of the mirror.
Benefits: Enhances self-awareness, language and social skills, and knowledge of the world around them.
iv. Pre-schoolers( 2 - 3 years)
Activity: Encourage them to role play, imitate actions, and speak in front of the mirror.
Benefits: Improves self-concept, emotional, social, language, communication, and creative skills.
Mirror is in fact always one of the best teachers because the kids are reflected with their actions and equivalent reactions within the same timeframe. This helps them discover themselves and their body.
2. Messy mealtime
Well, there are various instances where parents do not let their children self-feed themselves for multiple reasons.
However, it is mandatory to let the kids explore their food with their raw hands in their initial years because it is their way of exploring this world through their touch, feel, and smell.
Letting the kids eat on their own helps enhance their sensory skills as they get the freedom to squish, feel, pat, or feel the food in their hands. It also enhances their hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills.
A variety of textures can be served to them, from sticky to soft to hard to paste-like, and let them feel free to play with it. Remember, messier their meal time, better their established neural synapses.
After all, who knew the messy meal time was actually developing their brain-neuronal connections!
Their experience can be customized by letting them sit on a high chair. This way, they would be able to understand the importance of the meal table and also be encouraged by getting their personalized table for messy play.
Also, If you are willing to invest in the high chair, do explore the R for Rabbit website, which offers exclusive varieties in that category and others.
3. Climbing Adventures
Climbing utilizes hands, legs, eyes, and touch, making it one of the most important child brain development activities.
Here, climbing does not categorize just the fixed set of objects designed for children; rather, it means even climbing on stacks of pillows or on anything that is safe for them to experiment with their developing skills.
This activity enhances their spatial awareness, hand-eye-leg coordination, and understanding of their environment, besides developing their fine and gross motor skills.
Also, make sure to regularly visit the play area with swings and slides and let them climb various objects so as to let them understand the coordination and response of their own bodies.
Let them move around independently and experiment with their actions and reactions, like falling and getting up on their own.
Do enlighten them with warnings, but make sure to minimize the use of the No word to avoid the development of a negative mindset.
For example, rather than telling them not to climb the stairs, tell them why or what might happen if they do. This also opens their thinking space, thus enriching their problem-solving ability.
4. Bubble Fun
Well, who does not enjoy blowing bubbles for fun? But very few know the skills that are developed by such a fun and relaxing activity.
Bubble fun is one of the most essential toddlers' brain-boosting games that enhances their foundational sense of art, science, and math, besides developing their spatial awareness and cognitive skills.
Make bubble time fun by making different coloured solutions with glitter in them, and also transform it into a learning session by making them burst the bubbles while counting them, or have a bubble-bursting competition where the one bursting the most bubbles wins.
Such learning around playtime is one of the most essential ways to absorb knowledge in the mind for a long time.
5. Artistic Expression
Finger painting, origami, clay modeling, dancing, singing, collage making, nature art, etc. are examples of creative activities for child development.
These activities enhance their fine motor and gross motor skills, besides also developing their spatial awareness, creativity, imaginative, and cognitive skills.
Finger painting and clay modeling are raw forms of creative expression where the child can play, splash, mold, roll, mix, color, etc. with their naked fingers and hands, thus enhancing their sensory skills.
Collage-making enriches their creative skills.
Nature art helps them learn about the colors and types of different species and plants found in the environment.
Dancing and singing enhance their motor, vocal, and social skills.
Besides development, these skills also help in achieving a sense of confidence and satisfaction when they are appreciated for their art and imaginative thinking.
This also motivates them to explore, experiment, and implement more, thus boosting their overall cognitive skills.
6. Nature Exploration
Nature exploration is a very wide term, encompassing a variety of things to explore, learn, and grow. Let us see the different benefits it holds, with dirt being nature's most important tool to enhance brain-stimulating play ideas.
a. Physical: It enhances fine and gross motor skills and tactile sensory skills while digging, scooping, lifting, shifting, shaping, running, jumping, and climbing on dirt.
b. Cognitive: It encourages the development of creative and imaginative headspace, problem-solving skills, and scientific understanding of the environment by building structures, inventing stories, and observing various species found in nature.
c. Emotional: Playing with dirt also encourages the children to stay calm and relaxed. Exposure to the sun and physical activity both boost the production of happy hormones, endorphins, in the body, thus acting like mood boosters.
d. Social: Playing and innovating with dirt in groups boosts social, communication, cooperation, and teamworking skills.
e. Health: Playtime with dirt also strengthens the immune system by reducing the risk of allergies and autoimmune diseases. Also, exposure to the sun is crucial for the development of vitamin D and healthy bones in the body.
f. Environment: It develops a sense of environmental consciousness among children while also teaching them about gardening and various other processes associated with living.
7. Imaginative Play
This includes playing pretend games like dramatic play, pretend play, and fantasy play by either imitating the known characters or inventing new stories; object substitution play, which, for example, involves telling a car instead of a cow or books instead of a bag; or building games like building forts with pillows, playships, or cars with card boxes, etc.
Creative expression is always linked to the development of a higher IQ, and therefore, exposing the kids to exploring and experiencing their imagination is of vital importance for their holistic development.
These creative activities also help in the development of cognitive, spatial awareness, social, language, and communication skills in children.
Different children can indulge in imaginative plays according to their age groups and explore different facets of creativity according to their interests, thus stimulating active brain development in children.
8. Early Writing Skills
Scribbling is the first writing experience that a child has, be it on the walls, floor, page, or objects.
Although, it is a mess. However, they must not be stopped from scribbling, rather must be provided with opportunities and a platform to do so.
This seems to be a mundane and careless activity, but it indeed plays a very essential part in the development of various motor and hand-eye coordination skills.
Scribbling is the foundation of writing, and hence, the kids must be encouraged to do so with different colors and on different objects.
Conclusion
The importance of child brain development activties is actually the ticket to their overall development and well-being. It not only engages them in various activities, keeping them busy, but also pushes their holistic development to skyrocket with time.
Parents must be the first ones to initiate a playful banter, engaging with their children through various interactions and playing with them right from their infancy. This establishes the foundation of an active brain child.
Also, it must be remembered that, no matter how much you invest in expensive toys, exposure to the natural world is children's best teacher.
Therefore, the children must be allowed to get dirty, play filthy, and explore their creative and thrilling sides to their maximum potential.
They must also be allowed to make mistakes and learn from them in the process, thus enriching their life experiences, right from their first heartwarming smiles to their mothers.