How to support your baby’s development –
In this short blog piece, we’re going to give you some great tips on what we think are the best ways to support your baby’s development through fun activities you can do at home and also whilst out and about.
Read to Support your baby’s Development
Reading to your little one has so many benefits. Your baby learns all of the sounds it needs to produce its native language before they reach 12 months old! How crazy is that!? Therefore, what better way to teach them about their new language than reading a good book. Reading can provide your little one with comfort, confidence, relaxation, and happiness as well as it being fun! Giving your child your undivided attention while you cuddle up together and read a story shows them that you have time for them. Not only does reading feed their imagination and ever building vocabulary but studies show it can also improve your child’s sleep too!
Sing
For small children singing teaches them about rhythm and rhyme as well as explaining their new found vocabulary in a creative way. Many nursery rhymes have a lot of repartitions in their choruses and verses which is great for making them memorable. It also promotes confidence and self-esteem ultimately making your little ones happy. Singing is an inclusive activity that can be enjoyed by everyone which also promotes social inclusion helping your little ones develop their social skills though music and song.
Talk
Talking to your baby should be part of your daily routine. Commentating on what you’re doing, such as, getting dressed or making their breakfast. Explain to them what you are doing when you’re doing it. It might feel silly at first but your little one will soon learn the routine and they will love hearing your voice telling them what’s going on. Another great way to build their vocabulary is to have a two way conversation with them, as it’s not all about filling their heads with words but also giving them the time to respond. If they’re babbling or cooing wait for them to finish what they are saying and then respond with what you think they may have been telling you. It’s a great way to encourage their voice and build their confidence.
Experience
Giving your little one as many new experiences as possible will really support your baby’s development. At adventure Babies, our sessions are filled with books, songs, sensory and messy play, bubbles, lights and so much more! Join an adventure babies class today and give your baby an amazing new experience and maybe make some mum mates too!
Take a look at the courses available near you here
Stay in touch with our mum community here
Is it your Baby’s First Christmas?
In the run up to your baby’s first Christmas we’d love to give you some tips and ideas on how you can provide a magical experience for your baby whilst also reducing waste and helping your bank account this festive season.
We all know it’s an expensive time of year, especially with little ones. You want to give them the very best of everything but does that really mean buying ALL the toys?
Here at Adventure Babies we have found some great ways to help you celebrate in style but not fill your house with unsustainable, brightly coloured plastic and hopefully, not break the bank either.
Decorate your tree with handmade decorations
What could be more satisfying than helping your little one make their own decoration for the tree? You don’t have to go all out on expensive “fill your own bauble” kits (although they do look swish), you can simply grab a piece of wood or carboard and make a handprint/footprint decoration for the diddy babes, or for the older ones, get the glitter out and let them decorate it themselves. There’s nothing quite as satisfying as watching your babe hang their own creation on the tree with pride!
Buy second-hand
This time of year is the perfect time for people to have clear outs in the run up to Christmas, knowing that their house will soon be filled with new chaos that the extended family have sent. Therefore, it’s a great time to get yourself on ebay, vinted, facebook marketplace or down to the local charity shop. You’re sure to find some gems at less than half the price of a new item and some will barely have been played with too!
Ask for a membership or a term of Adventure Babies!
Grandparents are always desperate to get their grandchildren everything they want for Christmas, so why not ask for an Adventure Babies Gift Card or a yearly membership to your favourite day out place. Things like The National Trust, Stately homes, farms and zoos have great deals if you sign up for the year and then you can enjoy the place or activity again and again. If you come along to Adventure Babies you can be sure to have many memorable moments and pictures to share with whomever gifted the course to you.
Join your local toy library
Get to bring home new toys all year round, then give them back when you’re done with them. It’s such a great idea and you can generally borrow huge toys which you’re not wanting to commit to forever. Things such as sensory lights, climbing frames and soft play items can often be loaned from toy libraries so why not look up your local one today.
Is it your Baby’s First Christmas?
We would love to hear from you with more ideas on how to reduce the festive waste this year on your baby’s first Christmas. If you’ve got a great tip send it to us at emma@adventurebabies.co.uk
This blog post is all about language and communication development in babies and toddlers which is so exciting because it is at the heart of why we do what we do at Adventure Babies sensory storytelling adventures. In this post we think more about what language and communication development actually is, why language development is important and what you can do as a parent to optimise this language and communication development.
What is language and communication development in babies and toddlers?
As humans we are blessed to be able to communicate through the use of individual sounds which build into an intricate way of communicating. Regardless of the language there is a natural sequence that always happens. Babies start with listening and identifying individual sounds before moving on to speaking. Speaking will start with individual sounds and progress to words and sentences. After this reading can be learned and after that writing links symbols to the sounds and words that children already know. These stages are all are essential for effective language acquisition. If we can hear the sounds, then we can repeat the sounds. This process of development begins from before day 1 with babies listening to their mother talking or reading whilst still in the womb!
Why is language and communication development important?
When a baby is acquiring language, they are using the whole of their brain to make mental connections and their whole brain is growing, this language is becoming part of their brain’s foundation during this process of absorbing. From birth to 3 years old babies and toddlers are making so many connections within their brain and language is so important because it is a huge foundation for how they will be able to learn in the future. Once babies get to 3 they go through a process called pruning, which is where they lose the mental connections, or synapses, that are not being used. Therefore, you have endless capability from birth to 3 years old as far as language! This is why it is so important to talk and read to your babies as much as possible within this time frame. There is a window of opportunity to give them a foundation that will set them up for success later on. This language is a key foundation for all learning. Children learn to read and then read to learn therefore helping children fall in love with books and reading is so important for their all-round and future development.
How can we optimise this?
You need to be at ease and have a loving environment for growth lovingly talk, read and sing to your baby. During the first days and weeks of life hearing language spoken, read and sung as often as possible. We can enhance this development by speaking using normal adult language which teaches vocabulary right from the start. Use afflictions to make your voice interesting to a baby but don’t use too many baby terms. Have as many adults as possible read to babies so that they hear different voices, accents and intonations. In addition to, this reading needs to be done with emotion and passion. Use different voices for the characters in a book and make sure the two characters talking have different voices. Babies are also really attracted to the rhythmic and rhyming type of books and often choose these again and again so having a selection of poetry books is a great tip.
Commentating about what is happening around you and your baby all the time will really help their language and communication development, for example, ‘Oohhh look at the green van coming along the road.” This gives babies new vocabulary and if giving them space to respond teaches the structure of a conversation and lets them know that they are expected to participate, modelling back to them their response allows them to hear the noise they made and make adjustments.
Listening to music and singing to your baby will support their language and communication development. Singing lullaby’s and songs with actions are brilliant for language acquisition, they are also a lot of fun for babies and toddlers. A certain type of music has also been recommended to help with development, enjoying classical music with your baby can be positive and very beneficial. It is at a certain vibration which is thought to be at a perfect harmony for development by some experts!
Let your child express themselves as much times as possible and give them as many chances to speak as possible. Encourage them to answer by leaving a pause for them and repeating back what sounds they make or say. Model correct speech and repeat anything that the child has said wrong rather that identifying that your child has made a mistake so as to encourage them in a positive way.
Less screen time is also recommended for babies because it is impossible for babies to learn language through the TV. As children get older this does change but when thinking about babies, they need the back-and-forth interaction, the serve and return experiences that real conversation offers, or by you talking to them and giving space for them to contribute by making sounds, or by the way our puppets tell stories at Adventure Babies. These are the best ways to enhance their language development.
Giving your baby a sensory basket with different items such as a variety of spoons from the kitchen drawer. This will give them something to play with, to touch and manipulate but if you talk to the m about the spoons, which ones are big or small or shiny or wooden you are giving your baby new language too and a chance to practice their back-and-forth communication.
The Top Tip for language and communication development…
however for language acquisition from experts is to read to your child! We would suggest coming along to Adventure Babies where you will have one of our highly trained baby development experts telling a story using all of the tips above to engage your baby, model to you a great way to read to your child and get to take part in so many activities that support their development in a nurturing and supportive environment where you can make other parent friends in your area!
Top Tips for keeping your baby cool in the heat
We’ve all heard that the weather is going to be unprecedented over the next few days so here are some tips from Tommys and NHS England for keeping your baby cool in the heat.
☀️Try to keep the room as cool as possible
☀️ If you have a fan, pop a bottle of frozen water or bowl of ice in front of it so it cools the air as it moves.
☀️ Do not be afraid to leave your baby to sleep in only a nappy if it is hot in the room
☀️ When checking your baby’s temperature, feel their chest or the back of their neck as their hands and feet will be cooler than the rest of their body.
☀️Use factor 50 or higher sun cream on babies over the age of 6 months. Babies under 6 months should be kept in the shade or should wear a hat to shade them if you are walking about.
☀️Regularly check your baby’s temperature and be prepared that they may need feeding a little more often.
☀️Run them a cool bath before bedtime.
You could always keep cool at one of our Adventure Babies Classes!
For more information or the full articles go to –
NHS England
https://www.nhs.uk/…/first…/safety/safety-in-the-sun/….
Stay cool out there mamas – we’ve got this 🙌
Developmental Milestones: Grasping
This is an exciting developmental milestone because it allows babies to grasp their toys and so take part in their own play!
Grasping at 0-2 Months
Reflex grasping…. cute! Babies at this age usually have their fists usually clenched or gripping onto your finger!
Grasping at 3-4 months
Hand to eye coordination and muscles are developing
Babies will begin to reach for things or bat at dangling objects
Grasping 4-8 months
Babies will pick up large objects but won’t let them go. They will start passing objects from one hand to another or shaking items for cause and effect.
Babies will enjoy using their raking grip and will now be trying to put objects into their mouth!
Grasping at 9-12 months
Baby will enjoy dropping and giving objects to people now. They will develop pincer grip for small objects and will enjoy banging objects together loudly!
Once this developmental milestone of grasping is nailed…. What comes next? Well, stacking and sorting, and then next thing your baby will want to do is throwing!
At Adventure Babies we encourage this developmental milestone, grasping, through using lots of different exciting high quality sensory objects. We use items that are easy for babies to hold on to and provide an interesting mix of textures to stimulate a sense of vision & touch. We encourage parents to move items so you’re your baby uses their eyes to track objects developing their vision, and work on their hand to eye coordination to calculate how to actually get hold of things.
Of course, all babies develop at their own rate so if your baby is not sticking to this timeline is not a problem!
Five Great Sensory Activities for Home
During the pandemic we moved all of our classes online and it was amazing how many brilliant Sensory Activities for Home Adventure Babies came up with and you parents joined in with at home. It is always helpful to have an activitiy on hand for when you need to change the mood or when you are fed up of your babies regular toys.
Here is a list of our top 5 easy peasy sensory fun at home activities
-
Sensory Bottles
This is a great one for babies and also means that you are reusing plastic bottles. Fill a small plastic bottle with water and add in other interesting items. This could be glitter, food colouring, beads, small plastic animals, plastic confetti etc. Encourage your baby to roll the bottle, shake the bottle and talk about the colours and the items inside with them. A drop of gorilla glue to secure the lid will mean that even bigger babies cannot get the tops off.
-
Squishy Pat Mats
These mats are brilliant for encouraging tummy time! Find a sandwich bag, Polly pocket or plastic zip lock bag. Strengthen the seams with duct tape, fill the bag with cheap hair gel or shaving foam, add some small brightly coloured items such as buttons or glitter (nothing that will poke a hole in the bag!) duct tape the top entrance several times and let your baby use their hands, feet or fingers to squish the contents.
-
Sensory Bins
Sensory bins are good things to make at home. Fill a shallow box or tray (shoebox or baking tray are fab) with a thin layer of rice and find several interesting household objects that your baby will enjoy exploring. Natural objects are lovely to use so anything wooden, metal or cotton. Just make sure that these are big enough that a baby would not be able to fit them inside their mouth. Talk to your baby about what they can feel and see inside the box.
-
Potion
Great for a sunny day. We always love making a potion in our house. A shallow tray or dish is perfect. Add some water but you only really need enough for baby to make a splash. Add some brightly coloured flower heads, strands of long grass or leaves that your baby will enjoy trying to pick up from the water. You can help them to smell the flowers, talk about the colours and tickle them with the grass.
-
Rice Shakers
Add a few spoons of dry rice, dried pasta, longer dried spaghetti to a small empty plastic bottle. Show your baby how to play with this shaking it and rolling it to make a sound. Babies will love the cause and effect that they create.
These sensory activities for home are quick ways to have a few minutes of fun with your baby and support their development at the same time. You don’t need any special equipment just use what you have at home. Use the play time as a chance to talk to your baby introducing new words for colours, sounds, textures etc. Follow their lead and please always make sure that your baby is playing with these home-made sensory toys under grown up supervision. You can then pop these safely away and your baby will look forward to playing with them again soon!
Come and join us on one of our Sensory Storytelling Adventures
Activities for your busy toddler
It is so useful to have a few activities up your sleeve to keep your busy toddler practicing their motor skill development on days when its bucketing down outside. We love a bit of puddle jumping and a wet walk in the woods is one of our go to activities but indoor activities are useful too. Keeping toddlers moving is important for their physical development. By developing their gross and fine motor skills (the coordination of small or large muscle groups) you are improving cognitive development and language & communication skills. You are also building the blocks towards more complex activities such as early writing, mark making or playing team sports. It’s also the best way to wear your toddler out!
- Laundry basket target: Give your toddler a marker to stand on and a bunch of rolled up socks. Start close and show them how to throw the socks into the basket. When they can do it move the basket further away for them.
- Masking tape: You can use this to turn your living room floor into a major road network. Get the cars out and your toddler will be happy for ages following the tracks with different vehicles. Try to encourage them to create a narrative by modelling this for them for added speech & language opportunities ‘Oh look the green car is turning the corner’ etc If you wanted to add another layer of learning mark out parking spaces and stick tape with a number, letter or colour on the top of each car . Show your toddler how to match the car to the parking space to help them with number, letter or colour recognition.
- Scavenger hunt: My children have always LOVED this! You can make is as simple or tricky as you like. Theme is around a colour or a number for example, find as many red things as you can. Or make groups of 3! 3 teddies, 3 cars, 3 pieces of paper, 3 red things, 3 things from the garden or themed such as things you might find at a farm or zoo or for an even harder one based on the initial sound of objects such as anything beginning with ‘s’
- Balloons: As long as your child isn’t terrified of balloons bursting like my eldest was these are a cheap and easy way to keep a toddler occupied for hours. I’m sure some of you will remember these from childhood parties… Balloon volleyball, tennis, hockey with a cardboard tube or fishing net, basketball using a carrier bag on a door handle…the list is endless.
- Last but not least bubble wrap and boxes. If you haven’t had any deliveries recently you could always ask on local fb groups or at your local shop. Bubble wrap can be used for painting then printing on to paper to get a brilliant pattern, stomping on or making a sensory runway for children and toy planes and who doesn’t love to make a box tower to crash down or turn a big box into a spaceship or den?
Toddlers develop gross motor skills at different rates. If your toddler’s gross motor skills need a little extra help, keep practicing these fun activities. Or come along to one of our toddler sensory storytelling classes for even more great activities and ideas for home
Stay in touch for more activities for your toddler over on our facebook page
What makes a great baby class?
As a new parent with a new baby how do you know which baby class is the best one to go for? With so much choice, what factors should you consider important when making this important decision? As a baby class franchisor, class leader and parent I have made a list of my top 5 to help you.
- Logistics
Is the class in a place that you can easily attend each week? Does the venue have a carpark or will you be walking? Is there a café nearby to meet up with your new mum friends before or afterwards? The best places have easy access in venues with parking and cafes nearby. Having a baby is tricky at the best of times. Why add a complicated journey or difficult timings to your life when you don’t have to?
- Safety
In a world of Covid this is even more important than usual. Your baby is infinitely precious to you. This may be one of the first places that you take them, and it can feel daunting to start with. Check that the venue being used is Covid secure and that your baby class leader has a robust risk assessment updated to include Covid secure rules in place to keep themselves, parents and babies safe. As you will most likely be sitting on the floor with your baby venues need to be spotless, particularly the floor and toilets. Do the class providers have the correct insurance?
- Quality
Are the classes run by a reputable provider who has taken part in baby development training and teaching or coaching training? This will mean that your classes will be taught by a professional and experienced teacher following lesson plans designed to meet the needs of your baby at each stage of their development. It also means that all resources and activities are safe for your baby to explore at their stage of development and therefore you can relax and enjoy the experience.
- Variety
Does the baby class you are thinking of attending include many different elements or is it one session of the same thing? Do they focus on language and communication development, physical development, sensory stimulation or all of these things? The best classes to begin with will include a mixture of all of the above aimed for the specific age of your baby.
- Communication
In order to find out all of the information that I mentioned you will need to be able to communicate well with the person or group running your classes. If you are going to be paying for a baby class, you may understandably have some questions before you sign up. Do they have an informative website? Do they have a facebook or Instagram page? Can you email or message the person running your classes directly and do they respond to you? A friendly and caring class leader will make sure that you have the best time at the class and also support you as a new parent to make mum and dad friends who can support you on your parenting journey.
So as you can see there is a lot more to picking a baby class than you might have thought but by making a considered decision you will have amazing fun and bonding times with your baby, meet loads of new mum friends, gain support in the development of your baby and make countless memories.
Check out our classes here
Stay in touch with us at Adventure Babies Facebook or Adventure Babies Mailing List
Adventure awaits in 2019!
Welcome to the new Adventure Babies E-Bulletin!
Recommend a friend and get a free story book!
Most parents find our classes through recommendations so let us say ‘Thanks’, every time you introduce a new friend you will both get a free storybook to enjoy with your little ones at home!
Enter the code ‘babybuddy’ in the coupon section when booking your new block of classes and we’ll post the books out to you and your friend.
Announcing our charity partnership with Beanstalk.
We are proud to announce Adventure Babies will be donating 1% of all the bookings made to the charity Beanstalk.
Beanstalk provide 1 to 1 literacy support to children aged between 3 and 13, working with schools and training volunteers across the U.K
