Teaching your child through their Senses actually starts months before they’re even born.

They develop hearing in the second trimester, so when you sing or talk to your belly, you are essentially starting to teach your child before they’re even born. As you progress into your third trimester, you notice movement, and you start to rub, rock, or lovingly cradle your belly. This is a sign that they have developed the sense of feeling. So those sudden hugs that they feel, when you are, in reality, protecting your belly from being bumped while in a crowd, or if a wall happens to jump out in front of you: to you: that is keeping them safe, to them: that is teaching them the feel of love, and to both of you: that is teaching protection and caring through their sense of touch. So, this article will hopefully give you some insight on how to satisfy your child’s senses through the essence of innocent play. So not only are you keeping them happily engaged, but you will also be giving them a healthy dose of censorial education.

Have You Ever Heard Of Hearing?

Hearing is one of the first senses to develop after conception, and one of the last to go just before you die. Though this might not apply to everyone in the entire world, it applies to a majority of us. I am going to give you some educational resources from my own experience as a parent, to teach your child how to develop and maintain this sense through interactive play.

Let’s start with a simple song:

You Are My Sunshine.

Singing this song from second trimester till when they learn to say: “I’m not a baby anymore.”, will:

• soothe them,
• teach them the sound of at least 27 different words and grammar among many other language properties,
• teach them pitch and tone among many other musical properties,
• and last, but not least, teach them the sound of love and affection.

What do I mean by “the sound of love and affection”?

When you say or sing certain words to someone close to you, like a child, it can have a hypnotic euphoric effect on the body, which will often raise serotonin levels.

This is why I chose to reference this song into the hearing section of this article, as it keeps baby or kiddo happy and engaged, but it is also healthy for them. It is also great for bonding, and can also be used to develop other senses which will be discussed in the following sections.

Smashing Smells That Can Bring A Smile

Sniff your way through this one, as I will be guiding you through the art of playing while developing and learning to smell.

Smell is a late bloomer, or at least it seems that way to the naked eye, but it’s actually not. Smell also develops in the womb. I learned this when researching how many baby blankets would I need to pack in my hospital bag. I never got a specific number, but I found out, if I slept with the blanket a night or two before my baby was due, he/she would take to it better, and rest better if I’m ever not able to hold him/her. So, if you find yourself wondering about when to teach your baby different smells, you can do it as soon as they’re born.

Now let’s get into how to do this with babies on up. With babies: You want to just take a small cloth or napkin, and incorporate the scent into it, then gently wave it in front of them, giving them a gentle whiff. This will allow their receptors to pick it up without being overwhelmed, and their brain time to process it and react to it. This, along with talking to them and telling them what the smell is, will allow them to make a healthy connection to different smells. We will get more into this later, but your facial expressions after sniffing it first, will also strengthen their connection to the smell, and teach them to differentiate between good and bad smells, though you want to really stick to the good smells in the beginning, because they get enough bad from puke and poop.

Now, as they get older, they will learn to sniff. So you will move away from waving, to incorporating it onto a toy or something that they can hold, briefly or continuously. This will allow them a hand’s on experience to smells, and again, talking it out with them helps increase the learning.

Then the fun begins. Buy a box of scented crayons, give them one, and tell them the name of the color and the scent, and that will teach them at least twenty-four different smells, depends on what size box you buy though. From this activity, you can then try to figure out their favorite smell, and either buy a stuffed animal or toy infused with that particular scent, or buy the essential oil of that scent and infuse what ever you’d like them to have for long periods of time with it. You would do this by wearing some surgical gloves, or just those cheap plastic ones you get in first aide kits or hair product kits, and putting five to ten drops on one of your hands, and needing the oil into the play product. Five to ten is a rough estimate, if it’s something that’s not so absorbent, like metal or plastic, you’d want to use two to three.

I hope you all enjoy all those smashing smells, because even something as simple as sniffing can have a healthy effect on your child.

See That Silly Something?

Here’s my rendition of I Spy, With My Little Eye…

So, both my daughters know I’m blind, which means I can’t exactly play I Spy without them going “But mommy, you don’t have batteries in your eyes!”. Which is whhy I’ve come up with “See That Silly ‘insert color here’ Something?”. Then I ask, “What could it be!”. This teaches kids all sorts of things, like:

• colors,
• shapes,
• numbers,
• alphabet,
• naturalistic things,
• and so much more.

This game keeps them entertained for hours during long waiting periods. You could even play it with your baby. Just fill in the blanks for them, and point out what you see or know to be in your surroundings.

Facial expressions is also a great tool used in combination with other communicative tools like talking and physical interaction. These tools will enhance the connection between the sense and the brain as they process the information being received through your education. If your child is blind or visually impaired, you can adapt this section to their specific visual inadequacies, or just skip it entirely, though in my opinion, it’s a great read.

Try it sometime, see that silly something with your seedlings, and watch their visual learning potential grow!

You’re Yummy From The Day I Was Born!

Well… Let’s hope your kid doesn’t read this and actually say it. That would be a little creepy, but it sounds cool for a section title, and I’m sticking to it.

Taste. In my opinion, the first sense to be developed during conception. Come on, agree with me, only a baby would come up with a liking for a sweet and sour extreme as pickles and ice cream. Don’t worry, I’m not actually forcing you all to agree with me, it’s just an expression of exclamation. Anyhow, back to the topic, taste is developed over the years. It actually evolves throughout life itself. This one I should have thought about a little more before I started writing about it, but here goes nothing.

How can you teach taste? Easy, just incorporate one thing, if you haven’t already, into your baby’s and kid’s routine, talk it out. Tell them what they are eating and/or drinking. If they put something that is not safe in their mouth, or even attempt to but are unsuccessful, don’t snatch it away and scold them for it, just gently take it away, give them something they can have, and kindly show and tell them why they couldn’t have the other thing. If you’re consistent in this practice, they will actually learn in a healthy way the difference between good and bad tastes. You could even make a game out of it. Don’t throw away your old deodorant or lipstick/chapstick tubes, save a few of those bottles you’ve used from bath/hair/medication products, rinse them out real good, and superglue them down one side of a huge poster board, and write the words “BAD TASTES” above them. Then repeat the same with old food and drink containers, but instead, write “GOOD TASTES” above those. Then you can touch or point to one, and ask them “what is this taste?”, or have them point to or touch one and tell you what they think the taste is. This will also teach them reading, because if they guess wrong, you can instruct them to read the words above the side they are pointing to or touching. This can also be adapted for a blind child by labeling the entire thing in Braille, from the words up top, to the containers and what they used to contain.

Enjoy teaching taste, and continue doing so happily and healthily with your kiddos.

Feel Flippy’s Flippers

Feeling is not just a mental, or from the heart thing, it’s physical too, it’s called touch.

Teaching your child through touch is going to be one of the most important things throughout their early educational years. Being able to touch something will just concrete every other sense and knowledge gained from them. The carrot and the orange are both orange, but why does one smell or look different from the other? Because one is a fruit, and the other a vegetable. How is three bigger than one? When you write down the numbers, they are the same size, but when you give your child one coin in one hand, and 3 coins in another, they can definitively comprehend how three is bigger than one. How about being bombarded with questions about something, like trees, or birds? Don’t give them a tablet, give them a book. Not only will this teach them to read, but it will answer all their questions, and holding/touching a book will make it all feel real.

Board books take the boredom out of paperbacks. Matching games increase their level of recognition. Arts and crafts tap into their creativity. And journeling teaches writing. These are just some ways you can educate your child through touch while incorporating other learning skills and still having fun doing it.

What about babies? Hold them and read a board book with them. Pause for a couple minutes a page while they touch and explore the tactile environment of what you are reading about. I’ve noticed a lot of parent’s will buy toys for their babies and teach them how to play with it and then just give it to them and hope they learned it the first time, don’t do this, play with it too. Talk to them, tell them what it can do, show them what it can do. buy an aqua mat, or some wonder color sets from crayola, they are specially made for not getting marker or crayon, etc, all over everything and show your baby or toddler how to hold it and let them scribble. Play gems are actually worth the money, as flimsy as they are, because they allow your baby to develop censorial skills through play. Sound boxes and books will foster their love of reading as well, if you don’t always have time to hold them and read to them. You can do some of these things with older kids as well, if they are comfortable with it.

Sincerely,

Your Child

Can I Convince You To Read A Conclusion With Me?

Yay, I’m glad you actually got this far!

When I first started my parenting journey, 6 years ago, I didn’t know even .1% of what I know now. I had to learn it. But now that I have, I want to share it all with you. That’s what this article is about. I know I’m suppose to care about keywords and grammar, etc, but I don’t, at least not as much as is emphasized in my training on how to set this place up. All I care about is whether you learn how to teach your child in a happy and healthy way or not. If I’m successful, with at least one person, then I’ve met all my goals. I hope you all have appreciated this bundle of knowledge, and I hope it product’s in a happy, healthy, bundle of joy.

Any questions? I leave out something? Want suggestions based on your unique situation? Post a comment,

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Best Regards,

Jasmine Brown