Baby rattles might not look like much fun to an adult, but these ordinary infant playthings spark an array of sensory experiences for a baby. A simple rattle can amuse and engage your baby as well as aid in his development.
Babies have to learn everything from the minute they are born. They learn how to cry, talk, crawl and walk. By taking in the sights and sounds of the world around them they are able to develop physically and cognitively. Most of the learning that your little one will do will be from play and exploration.
How do rattles help with cognitive development?
It is fantastic to think that any toy is meant to amuse and increase the sensory system of a child. Baby rattles are one of those toys that fill them with satisfaction and joy, with this toy they will be able to increase and develop many of their senses, although you always have to choose the most suitable depending on its functionality and the practice ability of each child.
The baby rattle has existed since ancient times and its main mission was to scare away evil spirits, but as time went by the superstitions moved away and it was cultivated as a companion toy. And it is that the designs of these rattles increasingly give way to larger functions and more creativity.
By integrating rattles into daily playtime with your baby, you can promote and strengthen your child’s motor abilities and help him reach cognitive milestones, which involve his ability to think and reason.
Hand-Eye Coordination
Hand-eye coordination is essential to an infant’s eventual ability to grasp and hold objects. It is a skill that children continue to develop throughout childhood, as they learn to feed and dress themselves, write with pencils and perform more complicated tasks, such as riding a bicycle. This skill begins with your infant’s ability to recognize, perceive, track and watch movement, notes the American Optometric Association.
During the first few months of your baby’s life, you can aid in the development of this skill with practice exercises using a rattle. Slowly move the rattle across your child’s field of vision, encouraging her to track the rattle with her eyes as it moves across her line of sight. This technique also encourages focus and attention.
Perception
Babies need opportunities to perceive sights, sounds, tastes, smells, and textures to develop their abilities to make sense of the world around them and come to understand it. Rattles can aid in perceptual development. During the first three months of your baby’s life, you can shake a rattle to help her experience and perceive sound.
Encourage textural perception by gently dragging a soft rattle across a baby’s cheeks or down his legs, so that he becomes familiar with touch and starts to comprehend the differences between touches and textures.
Sensorimotor Skills and Cause and Effect
Sensorimotor skills involve receiving sensory messages and producing a response. We receive sensory information from our bodies and the environment through our sensory systems, which include vision, hearing and touch, but we must then organize the information and process it. Baby rattles are useful tools for fostering sensory processing and motor output.
At 4- to 7-months old, your baby will likely hold the rattle herself, notes HealthyChildren.org, a website of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Place the rattle in her hand and assist her in shaking it to produce its distinct sound. She will remember that when she shakes the rattle, it makes a sound, perceiving the idea of cause and effect, which is a cognitive concept.
Imitation
Around 1 year, babies will start to imitate you so that they learn through pretend play. You may see your little one putting their rattle to their ear in the same way that they have seen you use your phone. Imitation helps them to understand how we use the objects in our lives and will help with cognitive development. Try and find toys that resemble everyday objects and make a game of using the objects together.
Object Permanence
Object permanence, another cognitive concept, is a baby’s ability to realize that when something is out of view, it doesn’t cease to exist. Encourage your child’s understanding of this concept with a baby rattle and a blanket. Sit with your infant and place the rattle on the floor in front of you. Playfully hide the rattle under the blanket and after a few seconds, lift the blanket up to reveal the rattle beneath it.
Stimulates Touch
Baby can’t help but be able to touch it and as his exploration increases, he will discover its different textures, soft and hard, rough or smooth. And is that they are made of many materials, from those made of fabric, plastic or rubber, and even wood. Handling this toy This will help with hand-eye and body coordination.
They establish routines and reinforce the baby’s memory
Your sound will no longer be a surprise and you may even have become familiar with your sound. This will lead to the creation of routines within your space and help to positively benefit your memory. One example is to associate the sound with a small routine such as bathing, feeding, or eating. By hearing the sound, the child can already anticipate the moment that will happen next.
