Expert tips by Jan Jones (Early Childhood Educator)
Our resources for your baby listed below, will help you develop the senses.
Area of learning | Babies to 12 months | 12 months to 2 years | 2 to 3 years |
| Visual (stimulate sight) | Mobiles (which can be seen lying down), pram & cot dangling toys, pictures (human faces), posters, activity centres, cardboard or vinyl books, hand puppets. | Books with card or cloth covers, magazines for tearing, kaleidoscopes, photographs of familiar people, objects. | Books – greater variety. |
| Promote hearing | Bells on elastic (firmly attached to wrist or ankle), rattles, squeaky toys, soft foam block or balls with bells inside, music boxes, wind chimes, saucepans with wooden spoons. | Simple musical instruments: maracas, drums, rhythm sticks, bells. | Greater variety of musical instruments, CDs of classical, folk, children’s music. |
| Promote feeling and touching | Teething rings, washable soft toys, various types of balls, texture rugs or mats, texture blocks. | Feely boxes or bags, sand trays, water paly, finger paint, play dough, textured fabrics, safe natural materials, (pine cones, smooth beach stones, etc.). | Clay, mud, textures cards, greater variety of safe natural materials, sand and water equipment, simple garden tools. |
| Foster small muscle development & coordination | Activity centres, blocks, nesting toys, measuring spoons, buckets, baskets, bath toys, sponges, simple posting boxes, clothes pegs in containers, push and pull toys. | Interlocking blocks, wooden hammer and pegs sets. | Variety of threading materials. |
| Foster large muscle development & coordination | Large plastic/fabric covered foam mats or cylinders for rolling on, suitable swing, large cushions, boxes and tunnels for crawling through, large blocks for climbing over. | Ride-on toys, climbing equipment. | Wheel barrows, small wooden ladders, short-handled brooms, mops. |
| Encourage imaginative and pretend play | Hats, bags, dolls, cars, wheeled toys, soft toys, mirrors. | Baskets for carrying, small cases, toy telephones. | Stove, sink, toy iron and board, sturdy wooden dolls’ house with range of people, zoo and farm animals, toy camera, vehicles, boats and planes. |
| Encourage art & creative expression | Large thick black crayons or thick black pencils with large sheets of white paper, thick paint (primary colours), stubbly handles thick brushes. | Coloured torn paper for pasting, easels and brushes, dough with rolling pins and cutters. |
Area of learning | 3 to 5 years | 5 to 6 years | 6 to 9 years | 9 to 12 years |
| Visual (stimulate sight) | Gradually increasing complex story lines in books. | Magnifying glasses, aquariums. | Poetry, science and history books to increase variety of information and formats. | Science fiction and “how to” (eg. cooking, gardening) books. |
| Promote hearing | Chime bars, xylophones. | Simple science kits: electricity/simple chemistry, prisms, microphones, microscopes. | Study of musical instruments: guitar, piano, recorder, etc. | |
| Promote feeling and touching | Greater variety of natural materials – more complex sand and water play equipment. | Magnetism experiences, hourglasses, collecting own materials and sorting into collections. | Fossils, radio kits, test tubes, care of pets. | |
| Foster small muscle development & coordination | Variety of blocks and accessories for blocks (cones, cylinders, cars, people, etc.) simple board games, felt boards with felt figures, picture lotto, more complex puzzles – 20+ pieces. | More complex puzzles with smaller pieces, games with dice or spinners, picture dominoes, complex construction sets, lego. | Pick up sticks, jacks, spinning top games, Chinese checkers, draughts, card games, more complex board games. | Tiddlywinks, darts, magic sets, memory games, vocabulary and spelling games. |
| Foster large muscle development & coordination | Woodworking bench with real tools, ring toss games, bean bags and targets, simple bat and ball games, obstacle courses. | Roller skates, seesaw, scooter, bicycle, tent, punching bags, tether ball, simple bat and ball games. | Structured games with rules: 4 square, hopscotch, skipping ropes, pogo stick, t-ball, etc. | Hobbies, team and group games, clubs, interest groups, Frisbee, volley ball, badminton, table tennis, tennis. |
| Encourage imaginative and pretend play | Pretend play prop boxes (fire fighter, ambulance, hospital, hairdresser, shop, dentist, post office, bakery, etc.). | Complex dress-ups, dolls’ clothes with small accessories, road systems, real cooking experiences. | Puppet shows, simple skits and plays of children’s own design. | |
| Encourage art & creative expression | Round ended scissors that really cut, staplers, hole punch, sellotape, masking tape, blunt darning needles (tapestry needles or bodkins) and wool, felt-tip pens, crayons, print-making, crayon resist painting. | Weaving looms, wool, coloured pencils, pastels, charcoal, greater variety of paints, paint mixing, screen printing. | Simple sewing projects. | Embroidery, knitting, potter’s wheel for clay modelling, carving, oil paints, macramé. |
