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Little Friendlies 2-in-1 Baby Gym
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Little Friendlies 2-in-1 Baby Gym

Developmental Benefits

Auditory Stimulation
Auditory Stimulation
Discovery Exploration
Discovery Exploration
Language Development
Language Development
Motor Skills
Motor Skills
Tactile Stimulation
Tactile Stimulation

Developmental Benefits

Little Friendlies 2-in-1 Baby Gym

Auditory Stimulation
  • Fun and interesting sound effects draw baby’s attention to play.
  • Even very early in life babies can hear a wide variety of sounds. Infants will turn towards the sound of a toy and begin to reach towards it. This ability to recognise the direction that a sound is coming from improves greatly during the first few years of life. Young infants listen longer to the sound of human voice and seem to prefer it to any other sound. They are especially aware of the sound of language and like to be spoken to slowly and with a high pitch. This is sometimes referred to as ‘infant directed speech’ or even ‘baby talk’. Young babies are quite sensitive in their auditory abilities and can perceive all the categorical sound distinctions in world languages. As babies develop their auditory abilities narrow so that eventually babies are only sensitive to those sound categories specific to their native language.
    As soon as babies are born they are influenced by what they hear around them and modify what they able to hear, accordingly. At the same time they become increasingly sensitive to music and musical patterns. Even in their first year babies are distinguishing between musical tunes on the basis of rhythmic patterns and later they begin to recognise the same melody played in a different key. Giving babies plenty of opportunities to hear music, singing, rhythm and talk enhances their learning and prepares them for the social world where they will talk, sing, play and listen to music.
Discovery Exploration
  • Heightens curiosity and encourages exploration.
  • Even young babies love to learn about the world through exploration. Kicking and waving their arms while lying in their cot can lead them to discover that a kick can make a banging sound. Exploration and play are closely linked in infants where, for example, discovering that a toy makes a noise leads to infants repeating the action that made the noise. Babies learn a great deal through repetition. Once babies are either crawling or walking their mobility gives them more opportunities to explore their world.
    Babies need to satisfy their curiosity about an object or toy by approaching and handling it. Adults can influence an infant’s confidence about the world by encouraging and smiling at them when they approach an unfamiliar object or toy. Babies can show uncertainty about a new toy and in order for them to confidently explore and discover it they need the emotional reassurance from their parent or caregiver. The confidence to explore and discover new things develops during infancy and creates a healthy curiousity about the world throughout childhood.
Language Development
  • Introduces the alphabet, letter sounds and vocabulary.
  • Babies start to babble at an early age and this can be seen as the first signs of language. They are predisposed to pick up the sounds of the language that they hear around them. Adults can facilitate babies’ language development by playing with them, focussing on particular toys, reading books and naming everyday objects. The more babies are exposed to language the faster they will begin to pick up it up. There are social skills involved in language acquisition such as realising that it is necessary to wait until the other person has finished speaking. Babies begin to learn about conversational turn-taking from an early age; if a baby is babbling the adult waits for a pause and then talks to the baby. Babies learn to take turns even before they are using words. Social interaction is important for language development and turn-taking games are a fun and educational way for babies and young children to learn.
    Young children also need to practice their language skills. Toys that name alphabet letters and everyday words satisfy young children’s need for repetition and rehearsal when practicing words and sounds. For instance, young children can press a button repetitively to hear the same sound or word again. Babies and children learn a lot through repetition and pick up words rapidly in this way. Once children begin to read their vocabulary expands enormously.
Motor Skills
  • Encourages fine motor skill development.
  • An infant’s growth and development in the first year of life is rapid. Many movements that young babies make are in preparation for the next stage of their development. When young babies watch a mobile they are constantly moving their head, arms, legs and even their mouths in response to the movement of the toy. Sound and movement attract a baby’s attention; if a toy is placed almost within reach of babies their movements become more animated. Bath toys provide opportunities to develop and use motor skills to great effect. For example, a young baby has greater control over their leg movements than their arms. You will often see young babies in a bath reaching with their legs towards a floating toy and kicking. All these movements strengthen muscles in readiness for the next stage - walking.
    As babies develop they become more adept at grasping objects. Young infants learn to grasp an object, for instance a cube. The grasping, at first, is quite clumsy but through repetition, and across time, infants become adept at grasping and develop fine motor skills. Infants first use the ulnar grasp where their fingers close against the palm when trying to hold an object. Within another month they are able to move the object from hand to hand. After the first year, infants adopt the ‘pincer grasp’ where they use their thumb and index finger to grasp even very tiny objects. Shape sorters help infants to fine tune their visual perception and hand coordination. Soon infants are building towers with two cubes; this also requires fine coordination skills. As the child grows computer games have been shown to help with hand and eye coordination. Spatial skills can also be enhanced when playing games that require concentration, quick responses and finely tuned motor skills.
Tactile Stimulation
  • Mixture of different textures provide stimulation for baby.
  • Babies learn about the world through their senses. The sense of touch is intimately linked with other senses such as sound and vision. Babies are provided with stimulation from more than one sensory system at the same time; this is termed intermodal perception. They learn about the sounds that different objects make when they bang or touch them. Toys that are have different textures and shapes facilitate infants’ learning. Babies put toys and other objects in their mouths from an early age. They also begin to reach for and grasp objects and then move toys from one hand to another. Toys that are made of different materials and are different shapes stimulate young infants to grasp, mouth and shake them. Babies then gain greater motor control and begin to pick up small objects with their thumb and index finger. They also begin to bang objects together. This combines tactile and auditory stimulation; they feel the vibration and also hear the sound.
    Bath time play is an excellent opportunity for tactile stimulation. Bath toys that are small and lightweight so that young babies can grasp them are excellent stimulus materials. Babies and young children can learn from handling toys in the water; there are many opportunities for grasping, squeezing and squirting water from objects. Tactile stimulation and learning is also experienced when infants and young children feel the weight of a toy when they have filled it with water and then after they have poured the water away. These types of experiences help young children to learn about the shape, pattern, surface, texture and weight of objects through touching them.
Best for ages:
Birth to 36 Months
Highlights
Introduces shapes and animals. Includes dangling animals, a soft cuddly cow cushion and plays 24 melodies and 6 sing-along songs
Description
Adorable soft and squishy fabric play mat filled with little animal friends! A lovely overhead gym that has 3 fun modes of play and varied textures that keeps baby happy and busy! Featuring a bright sun music panel that is detachable and can be added to any baby’s cot it features fantastic interchangeable light-up colours , 3 coloured shape buttons with animals on and dangling objects for motor and sensory development. Includes a dangling mirror for self discovery and a soft cuddly cow cushion for baby to squeeze and chew. Baby will love the 24 soothing melodies and 6 sing-along songs.

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