THE IMPORTANCE OF TOUCHY-FEELY LEARNING AND PLAYTIME

To increase your child’s hands-on learning and play, try these fun activities with him or her at home:

• Do a puzzle with your child – this classic, fun “game” doubles as an exercise to stimulate visual, hand, and brain coordination.
• When helping your child to learn his or her letters, try having him write the letters in shaving cream to enhance the feeling plus visual connection.  To avoid messes, keep an artist’s tarp handy to throw over your kitchen table, or engage in this fun, interactive form of “gooey” learning on a backyard patio table that can be hosed down!
• Have fun learning numbers with a game of stacking toys – count with your child (1, 2, 3) as he or she physically moves a stacking piece to the top of the pile.
• Learn about geometric patterns and shape names with the highly physical action of placing those items into a shape sorter (rather than just viewing a one dimensional shape on a piece of paper or in a book).  The same can even be done while baking with your child by picking up a few new types and shapes of cookie cutters to create an in-the-kitchen game that can dual as a fun, interactive lesson in size and depth!

With a few simple learning tools and a bit of imagination, you can easily enhance your little one’s hands-on learning experience in your own home.