Are you a soon-to-be parent (or possibly the companion of one), searching for ways to stimulate your baby's mental faculties and boost their development? Well, look no further! In this blog post, I'm going to chat a little bit about Sensory Books, what they are, why they are so vital, and why they make a awesome gift for parents and babies alike!
Before we carry on, you can purchase these from Golden Occupational Therapist for just R300 each. Delivery is free in Groblersdal or courier can be arranged nationwide for R60 extra.
So, to start off, what are Sensory Books? These books are designed to stimulate a baby's senses through touch, feeling, sound, and sometimes even scent. They usually include an assortment of textures, colors, and visual perception components, such as folds, mirrors, and sound buttons. These books are purposefully made to create the opportunity for sensory investigation and ultimately, learning through play.
https://goldenoccupationaltherapist.co.za/shop/sensory-perceptual-book
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Babies are born with an innate interest and a drive to learn from the world around them. As they investigate their environment, they depend on their senses. When babies engage in sensory play, they are building neural associations in their brain that will help them develop higher cognitive skills in the future.
In addition to supporting brain improvement, Sensory Books also help little ones in developing their social and language abilities. From an early age, children can process in their knowledge of basic concepts, colours, numbers, shapes and so forth. When a parent is playing with a child, they can talk about the pictures and this makes a huge difference in helping babies learn previously unused words and develop their language skills.
Unfortunately, we live in an age of technology, cellphones and computer screens dominate and many parents are swopping old-fashioned books for more modern TV screens. This has a negative impact on the language, emotional and perceptual development of our children. Many behavioral issues have also been linked to this phenomenon, according to recent research.
Babies under the age of 18 months should have no screen time, and those between 18-24 months should have a significantly limited amount of screen time, says the American Institute of Pediatrics. This is because they cannot get appropriate cognitive stimulation from a screen. In contrast however, a Sensory Book gives opportunity to feel, listen, pull, look, and most importantly, learn. This does wonders for the attention and concentration span of these young minds.
Another thought, is that babies LOVE repetition. This allows them a feeling of familiarity and comfort. This may seem very boring for adults, but a book that has similar, but varying fastening methods such as in the picture, can be very soothing for an anxious child.
Did you know that these books have also often been used in old age homes with Dementia clients? I wont go into that in this blog post, but they have been a great tool in those settings! So now lets discuss why these Sensory Books make great gifts! Do you have a baby shower coming up soon and you just don't know what to get the mom-to-be? Well this educational toy is a great way to show that you care about the development of their little one, and that you want to help the parents in the process!
This is a winner at every party and is always guaranteed to score you some brownie points with the parents!