Stimulating Sense of Smell and Taste

Stimulating Sense of Smell and Taste

The sense of smell and taste comes very natural to the child. In fact, there is no need for  you to deliberately design any activity for it. In fact, I started making my baby smell different fruits at about 1 month old. She started tasting papaya at 4 months and the rest of the fruits at 6 months. 

When cutting fruits

For me, my baby used to cut fruits with me. So before I cut up the fruit, I would allow the baby to touch it, smell it  and taste it after that. I try not to over stimulate their senses so I do one fruit a day. Start with fruits such as oranges and lemon. 

Do remember to include fruits (or vegetables) that are: 

• Sweet - dragon fruit, oranges, papaya
• Sour - lemon, lime
• Bitter - bitter gourd is a good and safe option.
• spicy ( allow them to smell it first and may be not be suitable for too young children to taste.)

For the spicy catergory of food, I am always encouraging my children to just try it. You may not believe it but my 2.5 yr old loves eating black pepper crab. 

Training Gross Motor Skill

Training Gross Motor Skill

Activity 1:

When my baby would sit up right at about 6 months, I started giving her magazine paper to tear. Tearing will help their finger muscles to develop and hence giving them the strength to do other things. It is definitely difficult for the child to tear the magazine paper, so what I did was to tear it apart slightly, making it much easier to come apart. .

I love that curious face, " What is this?".

Activity 2:

Using her fingers to pick up the coloured balls and put them into a container with a small opening. This trains hand eye coordination. The baby will always try to use her whole palm to try and "catch" the balls. Encourage the baby to use the thumb and index finger.

concentrating hard.

Activity 3: 

Once the baby is better with her hands, give the child tools to manipulate with. For example, a spoon and tweezers.

Scooping "fishballs".

Faith is asked to scoop the balls from the pot into a container. 

Feed that animal.

I am lucky to have this book where all the animals in the book have their mouths literally opened( there is a hole at the mouth section. So I simply gave her the "food" and asked her to feed the hungry animals. This activity teaches the child to use a spoon correctly. An important skills for them to learn so that they can feed themselves soon. 

It is really not easy to use a spoon. 

The child will also try to use her hands to feed instead of using the spoon. But just encourage them.

 Using a tweezer. 

Using a tweezer trains not only their hand muscles, hand eye coordination but is also an important gross motor skill for them to learn to use chopsticks in the future. The motion is about the same. 

 *All activities that contain fur balls or cotton balls must be supervised at all times. 

Stimulating the Sense of Touch- Activity 5

Baby Massage

The human touch is amazing. It is believed that human touch such as a hugs can lower levels of stress hormones.For your baby, a full body massage will help your baby give your baby a sense of security. It also helps your baby to relax and sleep better. In fact, when you are massaging your baby, you are stimulating your child's central nervous system. I enjoyed giving daily massages to my babies as I see it as bonding time.  

Let me share some simple steps to massage your baby. Usually, I massage my baby at night on my bed to help the baby sleep better and for longer hours. You can massage your baby with baby oil/ baby lotion or simply just with nothing. The length of the time of the massage is also up to you. 

Back

First, start with the back. Lie your baby on his/her tummy. Massage the back in a circular motion. It helps to relax the body and helps improve blood circulation as your baby lies on his/her back most of the time. 

Stroke the baby's back from side to side and then up and down. 

Gently rub down the spine in one motion. Repeat this several times. Next, follow the spine and press down gently in a tapping motion. 

Once the back is done, turn your baby to face you. 

Hands and fingers

Wrap your palm around your baby's wrist. Gently move your palm upwards. When doing this action, you are actually moving the blood towards the heart and this will make your child more energetic. Next, gently move your palm downwards towards the wrist, moving the blood away from the heart. This action will calm the child down.So if you massaging your baby to help with better sleep, remember to do the downwards motion more often. You can also stroke the arms up and down. 

To massage the fingers.

First, use three of your fingers to grab the end of a baby finger, grip the finger and then move towards the tip. Repeat this 3 times. Next, press along the fingers gently. Finally, shake the little finger. Repeat these steps with other fingers. 

Once you are done with one hand, move on to the next. 

Legs and feet 

Doing the legs and feet is like doing the hands and fingers. 

Hold your baby's heel and wrap one of your hand around it. Move your hand up and down, gently squeezing the leg as you move along. 

Next, hold on to your baby's feet. Use three of your fingers to grab the end of the baby toe, grip the toe and move towards the tip of the toe. Repeat this 3 times. Next, press along the toe gently. Finally, gently shake the toe.

Chest and tummy

Massage the chest in a circular motion. Then stroke the baby's chest from side to side and then up and down.

With your fingertips, massage the baby's tummy in a circular motion. Then move your fingertip to below your baby's belly button and massage in a circular motion. Move only in clockwise for this part of the body as it is the natural path of digestion. Sometimes, you may feel something solid and long, it could be your baby's motion.

Head and face
Use the sides of your index finger, place them at the tip of the baby's eyebrow and move your finger outward from the center. Assert a little pressure. Repeat this several times.

Repeat the motion below the eye. Feel for the edge of the eye socket.

Use your thumb to massage your baby's cheek, stroking outwards from the center.

Massage your baby and discover where your baby likes you to massage. Have fun.

Sense of touch- Activity 4

Sand Sensory Play

Many parent frown on their kids playing sand as they deem it to be dirty and difficult to clean up afterwards. 

However, I love to bring my children to beaches or even to the nearby playground to just play with sand. My kids started playing sand when they are about 10 months old. Old enough to sit and stand. Parents just have to make sure your child doesn't eat the sand. 

Not all the kids will like sand at first as they are used to concrete grounds and some children maybe afraid to even stand on sand due to the different texture. Encourage your child by placing some of his/her favourite toy some distance away and get your child to try and reach for it. Or you can try burying the toys slightly so that your child will have the incentive to touch and brush away the sand to get the toy. 

There are in fact some benefits for sand playing. 

First of all, it develops the sense of touch and also promotes physical development. Your child would practice gross motor skills by digging, pouring and scooping the sand. Also, fine motor skills and eye hand coordination is at work when your child learns to manipulate the sand toys.  

Secondly, sand play encourages creativity and imagination. There is no limits to what you can create with sand. You can cook, dig wells, build volcanoes, dig tunnels or roads. With some sand toys, you can build sand castles and any other items with your child. When your child is too young to build, build it for your child and see what your child does. Most of the time, they will either step on it or sweep it to destroy it before giving you a grin.

Thirdly, sand play at the playground promotes social interaction. As your child grows older, you will see your child approaching other children with other sand toys and they will actually play cooperatively to build something or they may just exchange their sand toys. This is where your child can pick up social skills such as how to approach another child, how to share, how to compromise or negotiate. Remember, as parents, try not to interfere too much when your child is at play at the playground. Give him the opportunity to approach others and to communicate what he wants. Even though your child may not be able to speak, your child and the other child will be able to reach a level of understanding. 

Sense of touch- Activity 3

Fruits and vegetables

Busy cooking dinner or going to cut fruits after dinner? Get your baby involved, clean the skin of the fruits of vegetables and allow your child to touch them. Teach them the name of the fruit/vegetables and describe the texture. 

You can even cut the fruit to allow the baby to smell it or even taste it.

Stimulating Sense of Touch- Activity 2

What's in the bag?

Get a clean cloth bag. 

Look for different items of different materials to put into the bag. 

Get your child to put his/her hand into the bag to feel for things. Do allow your child to pull out the item to see what it is. You will be surprised that your baby will love this simple game. It stimulate a different part of the brain as your child is interpreting through only the sense of touch, instead of sense of sight first. 

Depending on the age of your child, you can choose different items of different materials to put into the bag. For younger children, bigger items would be better. For older children, you can choose to put in smaller items and in fact, get them to guess what's inside the bag. My older children still love to play this game. 

Suggested items: 

For younger children, 

• Plastic bottles ( perhaps yakult bottle)
• sponge
• a piece of plastic bags cut into a square
• comb
• socks( rolled into a ball) 
• spoons

For older children 

• coins
• pencils
• toothpicks
• erasers
• cotton balls

Simply look around you and i'm sure you can find lots of things to put inside your little bag. 

Stimulating the sense of touch- Activity 1

Stimulating the sense of touch is important to a baby as sensory experiences help to develop the cell connections in the brain. This is how your baby learns. A newborn infant has about 100 billion brain cells. Playing with your baby helps your baby to connect the neutrons.

So what can you do to help your baby make those connections? You can do it through the sense of touch. This is how a baby learns. Basically, you will realise that your baby will look at a thing(perhaps a toy) and he will naturally reach out to them to touch them, then smell or shake them. Finally, your baby will put that thing in his/her mouth to try and taste it. This is perfectly normal. This is how your baby learns through his/her 5 senses.

So for the sense of touch, you can collect items of different materials for your baby to felt. Of course, there are many touch books available but still, I prefer to give the kids what I can find around the house.

Activity 1

The following are the different types of materials you can give to your baby:
1 ) Fabric- example: Clean Kitchen cloth / clothings / handkerchief.
2) Plastic- Plastic bags ( Cut a square piece out for safety reasons / plastic bottles )
3) Sandpaper
4)Cotton ( Cotton wool)
5) Fur
6) Metal ( Metal spoon / Metal scrub)
7) Wood ( Wooden Spatula)
8) Silk
9) Sponge

Allow your baby to feel each item one at a time. Encourage your baby to feel as you talk to them about the colours and describe the texture ( e.g. Smooth, rough)

You can explore your own kitchen to look for safe and simple items for your child to play. Remember, you don't always have to buy expensive toys for your child. You have enough items at home for your child to play. Always check to make sure it is safe for your child.

Sense of Hearing Activity 5: Musical Instruments

 Activity 5: Musical Instruments

Have some musical instruments in your house. 

Don't hide them in the store room. Take them out and let your baby have fun. 

I have a box of toy musical instruments as well for the baby to explore sounds.

Sense of Hearing Activity 4: More or Less

Activity 4: More or Less 

Find 2 empty containers, fill up one of them and fill up to about 1/3 full for the other. 

Remember to seal the container using white glue and scotch tape.  

Let your baby explore and listen to the sound produced by the beans in the 2 containers. Some what, the baby prefers the container with fewer beans.

 I even took the chance to introduce the concept of more and less. I simply created 2 small cards with the words "More" and "Less" in both English and Mandarin. I place the cards on the containers and teach her the words. Then I give her a card and ask her to place on the right container.

Sense of Hearing Activity 3: Sounds produced by hitting different materials together

Activity 3: Sounds produced by hitting different materials together

Need to keep your child busy for a while? 

Simply go to your kitchen, get some bowls, spoons and cups of different materials. Give it to your baby and your little one will be busy producing sounds (Noise). 

Introduce the items and the materials they are made of. Encourage the baby to play with different combination to produce different sounds.

Your child will soon realise that by hitting different materials, they will be producing sounds of different pitch. You will be surprised that your little one loves to produce high pitch sounds by hitting metals together. 

Introducing the materials: Plastic, metal, wood.

Encourage the baby to explore on their own. 

Encourage the baby to play with different combination to produce different sounds.

Baby enjoying high pitch sounds.

Tips: I have a box of music toys which the baby can play as well to stimulate the sense of hearing.

Sense of Hearing Activity 2: Sounds in a bottle

Activity 2: Sounds in a bottle

Step 1: Collect some empty bottles.

Step 2: Fill it up with different materials(whatever you can find at home) such as: 

1) paper balls (paper)

2) paper clips (plastic)

3)Paper clips (metal)

4) pieces of erasers

5) beans

6) coins (Metal)

7) Sand

8) crushed aluminium foil

Step 3: Seal the opening of the bottle with scotch tape. 

Step 4: Get your little ones to play with it, encourage them to listen to the sound and introduce the materials to them. If you have older kids, get the older kids to guess what is inside. Your little one will be playing with these bottles for a long time- As long as your bottle can last. 

Sense of Hearing Activity 1: Music

Play soothing classic music for your baby during the day when he is playing or at night to calm him down. Relaxing Music such as Canon in D(my favourite) always helps the baby and mummy to sleep better at night as well.

Teach simple actions:
In the day, you can also play nursery rhymes and teach your little one simple actions such as clapping to the rhythm, swaying side to side or even show him how to jump. Try and play songs like "If you happy and you know it" so that there will be a lot of actions that you can show.

Flash cards for songs:
Alternative, I have created flashcards for songs as well and as the songs are playing, I'm flashing the cards to help my little one form the image.

This is part of the set of flash cards for the song "The Bear's Party" which teaches number. 

Simple Games:
Simple games can be played while listening to music. For instance, you can get a ball and place it down the edge of your bed or table when playing the song "Humpty Dumpty" and when the song sings and it "all falls down", roll the ball over and you may actually get a laughter from your little one.

Stimulating Sense of Sight Activity 8

Be My Guest

Bring your newborn around the house and introduce the house to the baby as though he is your guest. Let him get familiar with his surroundings and help him explore the house.

Tell him that "This is our bedroom. The walls are painted in blue because blue has a calming effect and helps us to sleep better. This is your baby cot, it is also in blue. This is where you sleep. This is mummy and daddy's bed...... Let's go to the living room and see what's there."

Make this a routine. Don't worry about repetition. Babies learn best through repetition and they love repetition.

Stimulating Sense of Sight - Activity 7

Activity 7: Object permanence – A baby does not have the concept of object permanence. Simply put: out of sight, out of mind. So, to teach the baby object permanence, you can make a paper plate mask/face, hide behind the mask and then move the mask away. It a little like playing peek-a-boo. You can use your hands to cover your face as soon.  

Stimulating Sense of Sight - Activity 6

Activity 6: Training sight and memory- Choose a small object that your baby can identify with. Show it to your baby, and then clasp your fists with the object being concealed in one of them. Then ask your baby to point to which fist is the object being hidden. Remember to praise your child when he gets it right. 

Stimulating Sense of Sight - Activity 5

Activity 5: Developing Self Awareness using a Mirror: Give your baby a mirror (preferable a non breakable one, many baby books include a mirror too) and let the baby explore. At a young age, the baby will not realize that the baby in the mirror is his own reflection. The baby will try to communicate with his own reflection and touch it. This will increase the baby’s awareness of his own image. 

Stimulating Sense of Sight - Activity 4

Activity 4: Eye- Training: Use a baby toy (best without sound) to catch the attention of your baby. Then move the toy from left to right and right to left. See if your baby’s eyes follow. Repeat this activity everyday to allow your baby to practice moving his eyeballs from left to right. This is a very important skill that your baby needs to learn in order to read in the future. I still do this eye training exercise with all my children (not with baby toys anymore, of course). 

Simulating Sense of Sight - Activity 3

Activity 3: Response to light and shiny moving objects: Bring your baby to the window and allow your baby to turn his head towards the direction of the light. You are teaching your baby to react to a light stimulus. 

Simulating Sense of Sight - Activity 2

Activity 2: Crib toys, mobiles and cradle gym can also excite your little ones while they are awake. Change the toys once in a while.

Training hand-eye coordination: When the baby is about 1 month old, he will have better control over his hands; this is when he will want to start grabbing things. Encourage it by hanging an object within his reach so that he can try and reach for it to hit it or grab it. Repeat this activity and you will realize that your baby is becoming more accurate in catching it. Don’t worry if your baby does not reach out for it. Simply, repeat the activity again when the baby is older. 

Simulating Sense of Sight - Activity 1

Activity 1: Black, white and red images

From birth, the baby has a blur vision. Therefore, a baby can only see images with strong visual contrast. This is the reason why many baby products come in red, black and white.

For me, I used a set of black, white and red flash cards/pattern cards, and books to stimulate my baby’s sense of sight.

First allow the baby some time to look at the image and start talking to your child about the image. Describe the image by saying “This is a giraffe. This is its neck. It is long. Here is the eye.” You can even make the sound of the animal at this point in time. You will be surprise as some babies will try to imitate the sound that you are making.

* Try to show different shapes, curves, vertical lines and horizontal lines to your baby. As your baby grows older and reaches about 6 weeks, you can switch to images with smaller circles and more details. They can see better by 6 weeks.

These are some examples of the red, black and white flash cards.