Question
What are some activities I can do with infants and toddlers to promote perceptual development?
Answer
Here's a list of some curricular activities for perceptual development.
- When babies cry, offer soothing humming and words of comfort and assurance.
- Hold babies near wind chimes or windsocks.
- Give them different rattles or soft toys that make different sounds.
- Plan for soft music at times and also sounds of nature.
- Provide objects that babies can swat.
- Provide toys that have small handles for holding, shaking, and tossing.
- Provide toys of different textures.
- Provide opportunities for children to experience water in different forms.
- Provide areas with like objects such as all soft or hard toys or all farm animals.
- Provide smelling and or tasting activities for older babies and toddlers.
- Read books and vary your voice providing a range of tones.
Water play is a great activity that provides multiple opportunities to learn. Always be careful of safety, but think about looking at water in different forms. For example, if children paint outdoors with water they begin to understand evaporation. Feeling water in frozen form feels different than water that's just liquid. This can help children gain an understanding of what cold feels like and what a neutral kind of temperature feels like. Be creative with simple activities.
This Ask the Expert is an edited excerpt from the course, Exploring Physical and Language Development of Infants and Toddlers, presented by Jean Barbre, EdD.
