I have been very quiet of late as starting a part time job, mainly working from home, has sucked up anytime which used to be used for blogging or sewing. However, today I am stuck in bed with the flu! Thankfully much better than I was hence I am on my laptop. Also very thankful to my hubby who has been looking after our little girl, despite the fact that he too has a sore throat - something he tried to hide from me so I wouldn't worry.
I thought I'd take this opportunity to share a very easy activity that my daughter has enjoyed. A month or so ago she hit the stage of climbing. At first just the reflex to climb was noticeable but she soon realised what it was for and started attempting to climb. Being a bit on the short side she had very little success in actually climbing onto anything despite her best efforts. That's where this activity stemmed from.
I thought I'd take this opportunity to share a very easy activity that my daughter has enjoyed. A month or so ago she hit the stage of climbing. At first just the reflex to climb was noticeable but she soon realised what it was for and started attempting to climb. Being a bit on the short side she had very little success in actually climbing onto anything despite her best efforts. That's where this activity stemmed from.
Activity: Climbing Monkey
Development: movement, cognitive and learning
Materials needed: a large, fairly firm, cushion (one off a lounge suite is ideal), a mattress would be great too
Age: 7 months + (once baby is crawling)
Once again, this is an amazingly quick activity (you may have noticed I'm all for quick and easy activities). All you need to do is grab a seat cushion from your lounge suite, put it on the ground and you're done.
Now just let your little one enjoy climbing. It would be a good idea to be close by at first as if your child is anything like mine, they may attempt to sit on the cushion and actually tumble off it until they learn the dimensions and how to balance on the cushion.
This activity is great if you don't have stairs (like us) as it helps your baby climb up small things in that stage before they're able to tackle bigger things like chairs. To my amazement though, within a week of practicing her climbing on this cushion, my daughter had learnt to climb off the cushion backwards and was then able to climb down stairs too, something she previously hadn't managed.
Her climbing ability has quickly developed though. Not too long ago she was pottering around in the lounge while I finished off some baking. I had a quick look around the corner and freaked out when I saw that she was no longer on the floor, or even on the small chair she had learnt to climb. Instead she was crawling around on the coffee table having managed to use her toy box as a step up!
All the crawling and climbing involved in this activity is excellent for the brain as it encourages both sides of the brain to work together. Plus it also helps develop spatial awareness, visual skills, persistence and resilience, coordination and core body strength. Love all that goodness packed into something so simple!
As always, if you have a go with this activity I'd love to hear how your baby responds - do they love it or hate it? Let me know by commenting below or on my Facebook page.
