Using everyday household objects, you can support your child’s development with fun activities and help them learn new skills:
6 months – 1yr old:
– Use a towel or rolled blanket or your leg: place the towel or blanket under your
child’s chest/trunk to help develop control of their head, and practice lying on their tummy. This encourages them to push straight through their arms and position themselves on their hands and knees.
– Second draw down: where everyone keeps the cooking utensils right? Tongs, wooden spoons, spatulas and whisks all help your child to develop their grip strength, manipulation and hand eye coordination.
– Laundry basket: sit your baby at one end to help them learn to sit by themselves, you can use pillows in front of them on their lap to help prop them up.
– Slippery shower curtain: you can place your baby on this when they start to army crawl or creeping on their tummy. The shower curtain will make it much easier for them to pull themselves forward.
– Pillows and doonas: creating an obstacle for your baby to crawl over will challenge their strength and balance skills. When your baby is little, textured rugs are great to learn to scratch and explore textures.
1yr and older:
– Upside down laundry basket, footrest or dining chair: When taking their first steps these objects are great to hold onto and push around. These items wont easily roll away from the child and makes them an easy support in the early stages of learning
to take steps.
– Paint brush with tap water: to avoid the mess and clean-up of using paints to get creative. Head outside on the footpath or driveway and get painting, let the sun do the clean-up.
– Shoelaces and dried pasta: These are great objects to practice threading. And they can give grandma a pasta necklace to wear later.
– Rope, hose or a plank of wood: Once your child is up and walking, you can use these objects to challenge their balance and coordination, or for their jumping skills.
