He spoke yesterday that it is possible and without buying toys or expensive gadgets to offer our babies the necessary and natural stimulation necessary to favor their development in all cognitive, sensory and motor aspects. Yesterday I talked about musical stimulation and today I will talk about the tactile stimulation.
Touching is natural in the child. Touch with your hands and also with your mouth, your first tactile organ. What we must do is proportional to many varied, natural and pleasant experiences, always having, of course, the present security.
I offer some ideas to offer the child tactile and sensory stimulation at home and everyday life.
Touch sensory stimulation
It is not necessary to offer children boxes of textures or shapes to stimulate the tactile appearance. The world is full of things to touch and, with a little attention, they will be safe for them.
The key is let the children accompany us in our daily activity and give them objects to manipulate. Putting them in the crib, stroller or park will greatly limit their experiences and, although we can use these objects in a timely manner, the best way to stimulate our child is to let him share our experiences and our movements.
Both for the baby that goes in arms or in a baby carrier, as with young children, it is best that they be with us all the time. In fact, when they are small, they even gladly accompany us to the bathroom.
Wherever we are there will be things that can touch, manipulate, throw and put in the mouth, always, I repeat, considering that the first thing is safety. They cannot be sharp objects, with sharp edges, or broken into pieces that they can ingest, or that are poisonous. Of course, electrical or fragile appliances are forbidden.
Children love to take things out of drawers, be it clothes, casseroles, ladles or towels, although they will have experienced their textures, shapes, colors and even smells. The rolls of toilet paper, the coleteros and other personal care items are very interesting.
The kitchen, that great laboratory
In the kitchen they can also accompany us whenever we have the precaution that they cannot touch anything hot, neither electric nor sharp. We can give them food to play with: an apple, a leaf of cabbage or lettuce, a carrot. And, of course, pans, spoons, ladles, casseroles and tapas are fascinating to them.
The older ones will be able to do mathematics while stimulating the tactile aspect and fine motor skills, helping to classify vegetables or playing with vegetables of different types.
Flour, sugar and salt are great resources to offer and also combine making doughs that they can fiddle with. Dried herbs and spices add flavor and smell to the experience and can be mixed by playing with them.
And of course, we should let them touch the food with their hands and even get smeared with it. They need it to know all its aspects.
Nature is full of stimuli
We should also favor tactile experimentation with objects and natural spaces and allow children to stain and freely touch water, mud, sand, earth, leaves, grass, tree trunks.
We may even consider it necessary to offer new tactile and sensory experiences in natural spaces. Going to the forest, the mountains, the snow and the beach is important for them and is very enriching. Nothing like the wind in the hair or the rain on the face to discover new sensations.
Of course, that they roll over on the grass or walk with bare feet is an experience I would almost say vital, as much as it is that they get dirty without being cleaned or banned all the time.
The skin
I cannot logically mention the importance of touching the skin in tactile stimuli. Stroking, hugging, kissing, and giving massages are essential for the integral development of the child. Not only will they favor the emotional bond but they will help you begin to recognize your own body and its sensations.
The importance of touch
Tactile stimulation favors their development of fine motor skills, allows them to discover textures and shapes, begin to understand physical laws, feel temperatures, hardnesses and flexibilities, recognize objects and perform mental categories.
In addition, we can complete your experiences with games made with homemade and simple things. I will talk later about how to prepare some stimulating games that will cover all facets of their development.
