play ideas- for tiny tots

Keeping a 1 year old one busy is quite a task! Mothers have been known to have lost weight and patience, running around with and after the toddler the whole day. Toddlers, who have just skilled the art of walking and running, are best known for their ‘restlessness’. Parents often find themselves exhausted just keeping the young one busy with a suitable toy. A particular toy may become boring after a while. So parents end up emptying their wallets in keeping the toy-room full at home.

While there are many toys available in the market for this age group, there are many things you can do at home, without really draining out your salary into toy shop’s account. 

You should try with a rough routine to follow for your young one. You need not wait for the child to go to school for a routine to start. A little bit of routine helps the child to expect ‘what next’. This reduced restlessness. You may make a pictorial time table on a piece of paper and stick it on wall/fridge at a height where your toddler can see. It shouldn’t be very complicated. Just the time for major activities like brush teeth, bath, eat, nap, play, sleep. Pictures should be simple enough for your little one to understand. It may seem very daunting in the beginning, but a little bit of organized playtime definitely goes a long way in channelizing the toddler’s energy along with enhancing his cognitive skills. Not to mention, it also goes a long way in restoring the sanity of a frazzled mom!

Activities for your 1 year old one!

•  Reading stories to the child (the content of the story doesn’t matter as much as your intention to read)
•   Looking at board books/ cloth books/ pop-up books together
• Singing rhymes to the child
• Scribbling with big crayons or chalks (the size of adult-male thumb). You may use papers, or a lap-slate or an easel for the same.
•  Catching-throwing-kicking a soft large ball (a soft-plastic or cloth ball should do)
•  Traditional active-rhymes like “Simon says”, “now I see a”, “mulberry bush”, “ring-a-ring-o-roses” (initially while you sing and perform, the child may ‘perform’ with you. Later you may sing or put the CD and the child can dance to the songs)
•  Walking together in park (It’s a great source of information for your toddler, who is observing many things around as you are explaining.  It’s a great source of bonding too.)
•  Digging sand/soil in the garden or sand-area with plastic shovels
•  Playing with play-dough or natural-dough with food colors
•  Playing with shapes/size/color puzzles
• Throwing soft balls into a basket kept at a distance.
• Painting the walls of the shower area with old shampoo mixed with food color
• Making towers- of cushions, building blocks, empty DVD boxes, light-weight empty cartons (breaking the pile is more fun! This building, breaking, re-building can sufficiently engage him to give relaxed-cuppa-coffee-time to you) 
• Playing with water-balloons ( lightly filled, so that they don’t burst easily)
•  Playing traditional outdoor games indoor, like catch-me, hide and seek
• Matching cap-bottle (have lots of bottles and their caps. Mix them up. Have your toddler figure out which cap will fit which bottle)
• Thumb printing, vegetable dabbing on a sheet (make sure to spread lots of newspaper on floor for easy cleaning)
• Collecting all coins in a box ( you give few thick plastic coins/ small balls and ask the child to put all of them in an empty metal box. The ‘clink’ sound is very gratifying. Emptying the box out on floor is even more satisfying.)
•  Stacking spoons in a Styrofoam/thermocol slab (it should be thick enough to hold spoons. You get plenty of such pieces in the packing material when you buy some furniture or electronic item. Store them!)
•  Pouring water from one glass into another (if the weather permits). As children love to play with water, this can engage them for quite some time!

Toys(useful but not mandatory) for your 1 year old one!

• Push-along or pull-along toys
•  Large truck-toys that can carry smaller toys too
• Stacking cups
• Interlocking rings
• 2-4 piece(large) puzzles
• Light-weight balls
• Shape sorter with large pegs for easy grip
• Alphabet boards, where you press the alphabet and the sound comes
•  Musical toys (drums, 1 button-touch keyboard)
•  Board books/ cloth books/ Pop-up books
• Activity tables
• Rocking horse
• Soft toys/ Hand puppets
• Pretend-play toys like telephone, tea-set, dolls

What is mathematics for small kids?

When we think of mathematics, we think of numbers, addition, subtraction, tables etc. But maths is actually much more than that. we need to be sure that our child has mastered his pre-maths skills before getting his head deep into numbers. We must teach pre-maths skills to the child. Also, when we are teaching numbers or any computational skill to the child, we must explain to him the usefulness and need in our day to day life.

Mathematical concepts to be taught to a preschooler:

1. Shapes: a 3 year old can be easily taught to identify the various simple shapes like circle, squares, rectangle, triangle, star and oval. He can also be taught the 3-D shapes like cubes, cuboids, cylinders and pyramids. To teach 3-D shapes, it’s a good idea to stack up the 2-D shapes and show him how it forms the 3-D ones. Like how 10 circular cardboard pieces stacked tall would make a cylinder. He should be explained the number of sides each figure has and shown the related objects from around the house that he is familiar with. When we show the particular shaped object to him, he understands two things- the shape and the usefulness of its knowledge!
2. Counting: remembering numbers doesn’t make sense to any child. When we ask him to simply repeat 1-20 he cannot make head or tail out of it. But when we teach numbers through counting real objects to begin with, it does make a lot of sense to the child. So start counting right from the very early days. Count anything to everything, like spoons (when you setting table), stairs (when you are climbing up or down), balls (when you are arranging), toy-cars (when he is playing with them), vehicles on road (when you are travelling together), bogies of train (when you are waiting at the train crossing) etc. Later, move on to counting in print- both objects and number representations- upto 20.
3. Positions: the child should learn the positional concepts like above and below, inside and outside, left, middle and right, top and bottom, far and near etc. You should teach first using the real objects and people before moving to printed material.
4. Comparisons: learning maths requires the basic concept of comparisons very clear. For example, more and less, heavy and light, long and short, tall and short, wide and narrow, costly and cheap etc. Again use examples from everyday life before moving onto doing activities in books. Step up on the weighing scale and show him what the pointer indicates. Then tell him to step up and show him his weight. He will learn that 60 kg is heavier than 12 kg. Give him an inch tape and show him how the fridge is 50 cms away from the cupboard, while the oven is only 20 cms away. Thus oven is closer to the cupboard than the fridge is. This also teaches him the concept of measurement.
5. Patterns and balance: teach him how continuation of a design makes a pattern. Like many Vs put together make a zig-zag pattern. Similarly teach him balance through the concept of symmetrical versus asymmetrical shapes. Like how a pair of trousers is symmetrical and how a cloud is asymmetrical. Patterns and balance give him a very good idea of non-geometric designs.
6. Basic computation: give him two coins and ask him to return one. Ask him how many does he have remaining. Similarly, give him two biscuits and soon give him two more. Ask him how many he has now. These are some of the easiest ways of teaching that there is something called addition and subtraction.
7. Sorting and grouping: show him that pizza, chips, curd, rice are all edibles; TV, fridge, computer, oven are all appliances; chair, table, stool, and almirah are all furniture. So food, appliances, furniture etc are called groups and things belong to some group or the other. This will teach him to sort out a cluster of objects into various groups according to the similarity they hold in common.
8. Time and date: small children have a very vague idea of time. They cannot clearly understand how much is 2 minute or how long is 2 hours or 2 days and which one is shorter. It’s not a bad idea to show them the clock that has big and bold numbers written on it and explain that the short arm indicates the hour and long one indicates the minutes. To teach days and dates, it’s best to use calendars. Have one calendar for him, mark the important dates, teach him to count days before that date etc.

teaching the usefulness of maths:

We are using numbers day in and day out. But our children don’t ‘see’ us doing so. So they doubt the use of learning 1-2-3-4, odd number, even number, multiplication in their text books like crazy. They  need to be given some pre-maths skills first and then shown how we use numbers in our lives continuously.

Let the child feel that numbers are beyond the activity books too. And how numbers are used in our day-to-day life to make things easy for us, like

1. temperature setting in oven, fridge, AC
2. time setting in washing machine,
3. reaching a particular channel on TV
4. dialling someone’s number on phone
5. shopping for the correct size of the T-shirt 
6. measuring height and weight of the family members
7. measuring two things and understanding if one thing will fit into the other or not
8. number plates of cars
9. while ordering for a pizza how many people are there, so how many pizzas should be ordered, how much money should we keep for the delivery boy and so on.

Creative activities for small kids

Keeping a preschooler occupied creatively is a big task. Children between the ages of 2-5 are most dynamic, active and sharp. They find it difficult to sit idle and parents find it difficult to keep pace with the high voltage play. Parents can play together only till a point and then want the child to play on his own as they get tired and have a lot of other chores to do as well. But the moment they want to leave, the child makes a huge drama because his energy is still bubbling inside and his need to play is not yet satiated. It’s very important to satiate this need else it may get expressed negatively in the form of hyperactivity, aggression, fighting, irritability etc. Children are also known for their boredom that comes with repetition of a game. So all in all, it becomes quite a monumental responsibility to think of new plays and games.

So here comes a list of some very interesting and educational activities that can be played by the child, with someone or by himself:

To do together:

1. Read or look at books, children encyclopaedias and photo albums together.
2. Collect pebbles, leaves, flowers when you take your child to park or beach. Talk about the various shapes, textures, colors of each thing and their role in nature. Create a scrap book and stick flowers and leaves in that. Color the pebbles and use them as decorative pieces. Your child will learn a lot about environment through this activity and will be thrilled to show off his collection to guests.
3. Take a bowl of beans and have him stick them on a picture to make an art-work. This is a good activity for visual motor coordination and concentration.
4. Give him an inch-tape and teach him how to measure small distances, like from table to chair or from fridge to the cupboard. It teaches him about comparative distances (far/near) and numbers.
5. If you have a weighing scale at home, teach him how to weigh objects. Then give him objects of his choice and let him weigh them. This is a great way to teach comparative weights (light/heavy) and numbers.
6. Evergreen role-plays like doctor-patient, shopkeeper-customer, and passenger-bus driver are a good way to teach social skills. If you do role play of child-parent where you become the child and he becomes the parent, you might be amazed to find out his perceptions and ideas on parenting.
7. Play rough games like pillow fighting, tug of war using old dupattas, bedsheets etc. It discharges that ‘extra’ energy that would otherwise not let the child sit for a minute.
8. Make obstacle course in the corridor using small cartoons, small boxes, and plastic bottles and ask him to run and jump. Time him and maintain a record sheet. He would love to break his own records.
9. Hide and seek the toy, Simon says and Pin the tail are some indoor games that a child is bound to enjoy, besides the traditional ones like snakes and ladders, ludo, knots and crosses etc.
10. Hide and seek, tag, ocean-island and chain-run are some of the old fashioned but highly entertaining outdoor games that you can play with your child indoors too. You can use a small plastic ball, a plastic bat and a sideways inverted box to play golf too.
11. All children love coloring. And they love it even more when it’s done innovatively. Like vegetable dabbing, balloon dabbing, thumb printing etc. make a display board and stick his paintings on that.
12. Give him Atta-dough and ask him to roll out chapatti for you, while you cook vegetables. If he does it neatly, cook that chapatti for him. It will surely do wonders to his self-esteem if he can serve that chapatti to other family members.
13. Take small cans and put small items like coins, paper clips, sand, and marbles in the cans, making two cans of each kind. Let the child shake any two cans and see if the sound that comes is same. It enhances auditory memory and auditory recognition skills.
14. Take cotton balls and put different scents on them like perfume, toothpaste, peppermint, coconut oil etc. Blindfold him and ask him to smell them and recognize the odour. It enhances olfactory recognition skills.
15. Put some objects in a box. Blindfold your child, tell him the name of one object and ask him to take it out from the box. It enhances the sense of texture, shape, 3-dimensional feel and visual memory skills.
16. Use alphabet stencils and sketch pens and have him trace letters to make a sign board, like ‘welcome’ for the main door, or ‘cold’ for the refrigerator or ‘hot’ for the microwave.

To do alone:

1. Give him a coloring book, crayons and plenty of time to color as much as he wants. You can give him wooden puzzles or construction toys to play with too.
2. Give him a small box and some wool strings. Ask him to wrap the box with the strings in a way that box cannot be seen.
3. Give him a sheet of plain paper and a pencil to scribble on it. Ask him to ‘write’ a letter to his grandparents. Let him have freedom to scribble the way he wants. Make sure to post it to his grandparents later.
4. Cover the dining table with a big bedsheet and put some of his toys, favorite finger foods and a pillow inside. Tell him it’s his house and he can play inside for the next, say, 30 minutes.
5. Give him a bowl with mixed beans and legumes like chick pea, green moong, red rajma, white rajma etc. Give him 5-6 small bowls and ask him to sort the beans out. Instead of mixed beans, you can use mixed stationary items, cutlery items too.
6. Play dough, home made or readymade! Kids can spend hours making colourful stuffs and it’s very good for their visual motor coordination, creativity and concentration.
7. Use home made musical instruments like guitar (rubber bands tied on a plastic box), drums (kitchen utensils) and other ready made instruments like ghatam, whistle, musical toys etc. Dress him like a rock star and let him have fun with his musical talents.
8. Give him child-safe scissors and old newspapers. When children are allowed to do tearing, cutting like this, their destructivity gets channelized and you get less experiments done with your office files, bedsheets, curtains etc.
9. Let him play scavenger hunt. Give him a list of things by drawing the objects. Give him a basket/bucket and tell him to collect these objects from around the house.
10. If weather and health permit, give him soap and water and the desired object, like doll, ball, a utensil etc, that needs to be cleaned. Children love to clean and you can surely make use of this!

learning by doing

the traditional method of teaching children involves blackboard. this traditional method uses 2 basic sensory modalities, namely vision and auditory. children see what the teacher is writing and listen what she is saying.

now studies show that to cope with the pace of education, the traditional method of teaching has to be replaced by something that involves more sensory modalities of a child, so that he is more involved, more oriented and more focused.

so education psychologists have been trying to encourage the multisensory methods to be reinforced in classrooms. the modern methods like smart boards, educational toys, videos, etc engage more sensory modalities of a child. the modern multisensory method is also referred to as VAKT method. VAKT means:

V= visual (the child sees)
A= auditory (the child hears)
K= kinesthetic (the child does and manipulates)
T= tactile (the child touches and feels)

VAKT methods are extensively used for remediation by special educators and occupational therapists. children suffering from learning disabilities show tremendous improvement when they start learning by doing.

so why not teachers? if teachers start using VAKT methods, many children at risk of dyslexia can also be taken care of easily in a group.

when children are allowed to learn by doing, they learn better. they understand better. they remember better. these methods can be used for small and big children both.

some examples of VAKT to teach small kids:

1. to teach colors: asking the child to lace all red balls in one row and all yellow balls in another, instead of showing the two colors from a book.
2. to teach shapes: asking the child to roll out play-dough and cut out circles and squares, instead of showing the two shapes from a book.
3. to teach alphabets: asking the child to trace fingers on sand paper letters or asking him to make long noodles with play-dough and then form alphabets with them, instead of only tracing and writing on paper.
4. to teach addition: asking the child to take out 2 apples from the fridge and keep in a basket, then asking to take 1 more apple out, and then asking to tell you how many apples are there in the basket instead of doing 2+1 in a worksheet by drawing lines
5. to teach subtraction: asking the child how many apples are left in the fridge now
6. to teach measurement: giving measuring tape to the child and asking him to find out how far the fridge is from dining chair, instead of teaching 1metre=100 cm

this is just a very small list of few VAKT activities to give you a feel of how to move on from typical books/blackboards to using various objects around for a deeper sense of learning.

Activities to improve memory

1.    Digit span: the child is given few random numbers at the count of 1 number per second. The child is asked to repeat the numbers. The span is the length of numbers he can repeat without making mistakes.

2.    Word span: the child is given few random words at the count of 1 word per second. The child is asked to repeat the words. The span is the number of words he can repeat without making mistakes. The recall can be of 3 types- immediate, delay without distraction, distracted delay.

3.    Reading short stories: after reading the stories, the child can be asked few questions for comprehension. he can also be asked to recall and repeat the story in his words.

4.    Repetition of sentences: the child is told sentences and he has to repeat them. again, the repetitions can be immediate or delayed.

5.    Word pair recall (both familiar and unfamiliar pairs: familiar can be cow-milk, unfamiliar can be paper-water). First the whole list of pairs is told to the child and then 1 word of the pair is given and the child has to give the other word of that pair.

6.    Word game (first person says one word, second person says the first word and gives another word , first person says the first two words and gives another word, and so on).

7.    Object memory (few objects are shown to child and later asked what was shown).

8.    Visual mapping. (Objects in the room are shown to the child. Child looks at them and repeats the names. Then the child is asked to recall the names of the objects by keeping his eyes closed).

9.    Remembering visual details from TV ads.

10.           Route mapping (the child recalls the details of the route from place x to place y, like the number of right and left turns, landmarks, etc).

11.           Blind folding (an object is given in child’s hands who is blindfolded. It is then mixed with other objects in a box and the child is asked to find out the object from it).

12. Grid copy: a grid is shown to the child with few lines drawn. the child has a blank grid, where he can draw the lines at same dots without looking. the complexity of grid depends on the age of the child.

13. Sorting: a card with 10 pictures is shown to the child for few seconds. another card with 20 pictures(in this card the 10 pictures of previous card are also there) is shown and the child has to find out which are the 10 pictures he has seen in the previous card and which are the new pictures.