MySmartKid: Toddlers

19 February 2015|

Do you have a baby or toddler?
Do you live in South Africa?
Have you subscribed to MySmartKid?
No? Why not?
You are missing out BIG TIME!!
Several months ago, I subscribed to MySmartKid, and after receiving four boxes, I am thoroughly impressed with this service. It’s worth noting, however, that there is another great service that can make life easier for moms like me: 123 Baby Box. With this service, moms can have everything their baby needs to be delivered directly to them, ensuring that they never run out of the essential items that they need to care for their little ones.
Our box just arrived via courier and
another three fabulous goodies for SJ – she won’t put them down!




1. Super Stickers

These stickers and the pattern boards are
perfect for developing:
  • Spatial
    relations
    – the awareness of objects in relation to
    each other.
  • Cooperative
    play
    – taking part in an activity which requires
    two or more people to work together.
Choose a sticker board and matching
stickers. Look at each sticker with your child and make sure they know what is
on the picture. Do this by pointing at the picture and naming it.
Now ask your little one to name the picture
as you point at it. Plan where you are going to place the stickers by using
words like ‘top’, ‘bottom’, ‘behind’, ‘in front’, ‘above’, ‘below’, ‘up and
down’, ‘next to’ and ‘in the middle’.
The stickers provide a great opportunity to
your little one to learn new words and understand the concept of an object’s position
in relation to another.
Encourage them to try and put the stickers
on the board themselves. If creases bother your little perfectionist, offer to
pull the sticker off and give them another chance to stick it on. Pulling the
stickers off requires advanced fine motor skills so your child will need help
to do this.
Assist your sweetie pie to remember
instructions by keeping them simple and give only one instruction at a time.
Make sure they understand each word of the instruction. You can ask your child
to hand you the sticker with the fire truck on it. If they take the wrong one,
gently correct them by saying:  “Not the
car, darling, the fire truck please”. Always give lots of praise for both
effort and success.
Once your child easily completes one
instruction at a time, increase the level of complexity by combining two
instructions, for example: “Please hand me the sticker of the bus and the car”.
2. Happy Hugs
We
love you, Hugless Douglas!
Has beautiful
illustrations and it will help with:
  • Sequencing – the ability to remember what was seen or heard in the order that
    it was presented.
  • Concentration – the ability to pay attention to an object or activity.
Remember to mention the title of the book
to your little reader and discuss what they can expect from the story. Treat
the story as an adventure of discovery by saying: “Oh my, I wonder what noise
they heard!”
Discuss the story again once you’ve
finished the book. Ask your little one questions like what kind of animal
Douglas is, what noise they think the sheep made and how they think Flossie got
up the tree. Some of their answers might not be very clear, but the exercise is
useful for developing their problem-solving skills.
Of course the story can also be used to
introduce certain values. Explain to your child that Douglas seems kind because
he was worried about Flossie and he was gentle when he placed her on the
ground. He also offered to help her in the future.
Develop your sweetie-pie’s sense of humour
by making little jokes with them. You can ask whether they thin the cows were
drinking s-moo-thies. Also take the time to explain abstract terms like ‘take a
seat’ to them.
Help your little one to become more aware
of the concept of time and sequence by using words like ‘first’, ‘next’, ‘and
then’, ‘after’ and ‘before’.
Reading offers the ideal opportunity to
model good language structure. For example, if your child says ‘bird hear
bear’, you can help them by saying: “Yes, the owl heard the bear”.
3. Play with puzzles
This simple puzzle has just the right
amount of detail to stimulate:
  • Language
    skills
    – the meaning of words and phrases.
  • Problem-solving
    skills
    – discovering how to get different results.
Look at and discuss the picture on the box
before you take put the puzzle pieces. Plan which animals you recognize and how
you want to build the puzzle.
Take out the puzzle pieces for the dog and
horse and mix them up. Ask your tiny tot to find all the pieces for the dog. If
they select the wrong one, show them the picture of the dog on the box and talk
about why the piece they chose is actually for the horse, not the dog. For
example, the dog is light brown and has the black spots. The horse is dark
brown and has a yellow saddle.
Build the puzzle and name and describe the
pieces as you do so. For example: “You have the dog’s head. Maybe it goes at
the top. What comes next? Yes, that’s right, the dog’s body and front paws are
next.”
Once you and your sweetheart have built all
the puzzles, look at each animal and talk about their appearance and the
different parts of their body. You can explain that all the animals have tails,
but their tails are all different. Now discuss the differences and similarities
between the animals.
Make the sound of one of the animals and
ask your child which animal makes that sound. Encourage your little one to try
and imitate the sound of the particular animal.
What do you think? Pretty impressive! And a
great way to use the toys to educate and develop your child – in ways that you
might not think of! I can’t wait for EN’s box to arrive.
You can thank me later
x

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I'm Caley a thirty-something wife & mummy from Durban, South Africa. Ellie Love Blog is all about me, my family and our beautiful life.

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