Children are amazing! They learn and grow with every new experience. Child development can happen in so many ways. Just by letting a child interact with the world around them, we help increase their capacity to understand. However, there are specific ways we can help children develop, and they can be very simple to incorporate into our daily routines.
The Sparkler app has hundreds of age-appropriate Playcards you can complete with your child. Simply pick an activity, read the instructions, and be present with your child as you play! Be sure to take a picture and add it to your scrapbook!
Vroom Tips is a website with over 1,000 fun, fast, and free activities you can incorporate into daily life that help build your child’s brain. Vroom gives you age-specific activities and allows you to search for different tips based on the activity you are doing (like at the park, during snack time, during bath time, etc.)
Another easy way to incorporate developmental activities into your day is to check out the Ages and Stages activities list. These activities can help children and babies with their development in gross motor, fine motor, communication, problem solving, and personal-social. If you would like more of these activities, or if you would like to fill out a child development questionnaire to see if your child is meeting their milestones in these areas you can call Help Me Grow at 801-691-5322.
Helping your children do crafts is a fun way to build their fine motor skills and see their creativity. For more information, you can read our previous blog post about the benefits of crafts.
Libraries are such a great way to help promote learning in children! Many libraries have storytime where children can interact with each other and learn about the world through books. Some libraries even have STEM programs or other fun activities to help encourage learning. You can find your local library here.
Playgroups are a fun way for children to learn to interact with peers. United Way of Utah County Welcome Baby has a series of playgroups both virtual and in-person that you can look into.
Stem Action Center Utah has information on how to incorporate STEM activities into everyday life with children. You can download these activity sheets that help give ideas for how to incorporate math and science into things like mealtime! Something as simple as estimating how long an object is can help children develop math and reasoning skills.
Early Childhood is full of exploration. As a parent or caregiver, you have the amazing, and often amusing task of being your child’s guide. There are so many tools at your disposal and so many resources to help you along the way. For more resources and other answers to parenting and child development questions, you can always reach out to Help Me Grow by calling or texting 801-691-5322. We wish you every success in guiding your little one. Childhood is magical!
