Little Singing Cora

Developmental Benefits

Sensory Development

Word Building

Basic Maths Skills

Language Development

Developmental Benefits

Little Singing Cora

A variety of textures, visuals and sounds stimulate sensory development.
Sensory development is intimately related to motor development. Babies are born into a world that stimulates their senses and to which they react. These reactions are bodily movements which create learning experiences. Sensory development in babies can be facilitated through toys that provide opportunities for them to experience sounds, visuals and textures. Young infants need to be presented with an adequate but not too great amount of sensory stimulation.
From an early age babies use touch to investigate their world; as they learn to reach they begin to run their tongue and lips over toys and then look at them. Tactile stimulation is also combined with other sensory information. Babies can perceive input from different sensory systems in a unified way; for instance, vision and touch are closely coordinated when using a shape sorter. Babies who handle shapes and also fit them through a hole are learning to solve problems through touch and sight. Infants also learn about the links between sights, sounds and feel of toys when these are demonstrated by adults. They begin to associate the sight and sound of a rhythmically shaken rattle or the nursery rhyme played by a particular toy. During the first year of life infants’ visual development is rapid and they begin to identify objects through shape, colour and texture. They also develop the ability to visually track objects. Toys give babies and young children many opportunities to enhance their sensory development.

Expands Vocabulary through age appropriate words.
In the first year of life infants are exposed to a spoken language but it is rare for them to be able to produce words. Baby sign language helps during this formative period where Infants understand certain words but cannot produce them verbally. Infants use symbolic language when they gesture and can even use a sign to mean a word. There is a gap between how many words babies understand and how many words that they can say. During the second year toddlers begin to produce words and are building their vocabulary; they can be using around 50 words by the middle of their second year. By the time a child is 6 years old they will have an extensive vocabulary of around 10.000 words. They achieve this large vocabulary through practice, repetition and by storing the words in their long term memory. Children learn about 5 new words a day and games and toys can help expand their vocabulary.
Once a child has learned the meaning of a word it becomes part of their vocabulary; this leads to faster comprehension of text and frees up space in their working memory for new words to be learned. Object and action words are used extensively in younger children’s vocabulary. Toys and games that reflect the types of words that are most common in young children’s vocabulary reinforce learning. Objects, for example ball and table, are often pointed to and named by adults when the child is young. Action words then begin to be used, such as, ‘put the ball on the table’. The next stage in word building is the use of ‘state’ words which are words that modify the noun such as ‘my ball’ or ‘red ball’. Word games are a fun way to reinforce understanding of the pronunciation and meaning of words.

Develops counting and number identification.
Even young babies can discriminate between a small set of objects and a large set of objects. Young children learn to match their culture’s number words and symbols (e.g. 1, 2, and 3) to specific quantities. Research has shown that maths skills can improve with practice; young children who are given plenty of opportunity to work and play with numbers and counting will improve their basic maths skills. Counting rhymes are very popular with babies and young children and teach them basic maths concepts in a fun way. A young child may make mistakes when learning to count (e.g. missing out the number 6 when counting 10 bricks). But this young child is still demonstrating the basic maths ability; linking number words to actual numbers, realising that each item can only have one number word, and that the numbers have a sequence. Number games, learning about sequences and singing counting rhymes all help to enhance children’s basic maths skills.
Repetition is also important, for instance, singing counting rhymes over and over again gets babies used to number words and their sequence. Toys that count as babies, for instance, place bricks in a slot and computer games that present children with fun maths problems are also useful learning tools. Play and practice with numbers is fun for babies and is essential for the development of young children’s understanding of quantity.

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.

Best for ages:

3 to 18 Months

Highlights

Press the 2 light-up pockets and slide the zip to learn emotions, colours, and numbers with lots of fun phrases, 3 sing-along songs, popular tunes and sounds. Pressing the buttons develops fine motor

Description

Little Singing Cora™ is an adorably cute learning toy for little ones to enjoy! Press the 2 light-up pockets and slide the chunky zip to learn emotions, objects, colours and numbers with lots of fun encouraging phrases, 3 inviting sing-along songs, 15 popular melodies and fun sound effects. Pressing the buttons develops fine motor skills while your little ones senses will be stimulated by the flashing lights, fun sounds and huggable textures. Cora can be attached to a cot, car seat or pushchair using the useful strap for fun on the go. English speaking voice promotes recognition and accelerates learning.