Essential Developmental Aids for Your Kids

Nothing is more important to a child's development than the first few weeks, months and years of their life. A baby emerges from the womb a tabula rasa, and within five years their personality is almost fully formed. It's also in this time that learning and growth are happening at their fastest.

As adults, we're used to the world staying relatively stable. We stopped growing (upwards at least) a long time ago. And the world is not the wonderland it once was. But for children, the world can be dazzling. Nearly everything is intense and exciting. That's why it's so important to provide them with the right learning materials to get the most out of this crucial stage in their development.

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Sensory Materials

The ability of children to manipulate their environment is key to their long-term success in navigating the world. Although it may look like not much is going on when kids play with blocks, geometric shapes or textured touch tablets, their brains are fizzing. Playing with, and manipulating physical objects with different physical sensations is crucial. It allows them to gauge how hard they can grip. It gives them a sense of the relative weights of different objects so that they can form muscle memory. And it allows them to work out which shapes fit together and which don't - important abstract reasoning skills.

There are also sensory materials - if you don't mind listening to banging all day long in the house - for sound. Different tins with different pitches can help children to improve their perception of pitch and tone. 

Math Materials

You probably have bad memories of math at school. But I bet when you were very young, you loved it. Children are often drawn to maths and logic. I think this is because it is something that they can master. But then something happens and their interest wanes.

But doing math, or so goes the old adage, can be fun. There are all sorts of montessori materials for helping children to get a grasp of the basic concepts. What about learning how to do long division with beads? How about a snake game that teaches you subtraction at the same time? There's even help for doing the dreaded fractions. 

Get Them Interested In Biology

Do you remember how interesting it was when you first found out that honey bees made all the plants grow? I do. It sort of amazed me that the whole world literally depended on a little insect, looking for nectar.

Learning materials don't just have to be an abstract concept. They can also teach you about important facts out there in nature. How much better is it to build a jigsaw of the life of a butterfly than to read it in a textbook? Building a butterfly jigsaw puzzle with a story behind it integrates all of a child's senses. They have to touch, look and listen to what they're learning. When it all comes together, which it will, they'll be more likely to apply what they've learnt to their own life. And when it comes to learning, that's what matters.