Here are the answers for what things can stimulate your baby’s senses and enhance their intellectual growth:
Vision
Sight can be stimulated by making plenty of eye contact with the infant, this also helps them remember your face and commit it to memory. Another way to nourish intellectual growth is by making various facial expressions so your baby will learn to mimic you and thus develop mentally. Do simple things like smiling or sticking your tongue out. You can also let the infant look at itself in the mirror as the baby will think that it is seeing another infant and begin to make gestures. Something else that really helps is if the baby is surrounded by lots and lots of colour and different scenery.
Hearing
Talk and talk and keep talking even if you think the baby does not understand just keep chatting away making sure to pause in places because the baby will pick up on the pattern in your speech quickly and fill in the silence in some way or the other. Sing to your baby and make cooing sounds or talk in a high-pitched tone because infants respond well to this. Another cool thing to do is make announcements for various things such as “now I am going to put you to bed!” or “It’s nap time” since the baby eventually learns cause and effect through this and will also develop its vocabulary.
Bonding Time
Breast-feed if you are able to and talk to or stroke your baby’s scalp during the feeding. And when it is time to change your baby’s diaper turn those few minutes into a learning opportunity for the baby by teaching body parts and clothing items. Bonding time does NOT mean TV time! If you truly want to bond, then interact with your infant on a one-on-one level and give the child your undivided attention. Pay close attention and listen to your infant and understand what he/she wants from you, they will obviously not communicate the same way as you do but they do their best to get a message across when they need to and more bonding time will help you understand the needs of your baby better.
Play and Explore
Make a play area for your child with plenty of stimulating toys or merely let the child lie or wiggle or crawl (depending on the child’s age) on the floor as this will help the infant develop better coordination and problem-solving skills. You can also enhance the infants motor skills by placing things like boxes, pillows and other obstacles on the floor around it so that the infant can try and figure out how to reach for, get to or avoid these objects. Get your baby to follow your lead and vice-versa as this helps development as well. Take the child on walks and strolls in different places and give it the chance to experience new locations.
Touch and Taste
Let your baby feel various items of different textures as this is beneficial for the baby’s sensory development. Rub different textures on the baby’s palms, feet and even tummy or cheek as long as the material it not harmful to the baby’s skin. Also let your baby feel its way around the house and let it touch plants and even its own food (once the child is eating solids) during feeding time. Provide it with different fruits and vegetables so that the child may try new flavours as well.
Language and Numbers
Read plenty of books even if you have to read the same book multiple times as this will help with the baby being able to understand and identify the sequence of words which ultimately enables them to learn a language. Have a set story time or simply share different made-up stories whenever you have the time and as the baby gets older ask him/her to fill-in-the-blanks of a story as this stimulates the imagination. Teach the baby to count by counting everything your baby interacts with as this will help the infant learn numbers a lot quicker.
Keep this information in mind and your baby will be learning a-mile-a-minute thanks to all of the intellectual stimulation you are providing.
