Bathtime Boat

Developmental Benefits

Imitative Play

Language Development

Motor Skills

Sensory Development

Developmental Benefits

Bathtime Boat

Copying observed action encourages social and emotional skills.
Imitation begins very early in an infant’s life. Young children learn socially from older children and adults by copying them. Imitative play is a fundamental part of learning; young children watch adults and then copy them extensively. Throughout their early years children are learning to adapt to the cultural world into which they have been born. Imitative play allows children to experiment with the cultural tools and behaviour that they have observed. Children try to use laptops, phones and any other electronic device available to them because they have seen adults using and interacting with these devices. Young children’s manual dexterity and hand and eye coordination is well adapted for using mobile phones and other devices. Children can benefit from having replica items available, such as an infant laptop or an imitation mobile phone. These electronic items can enhance manual skills, hand and eye coordination and spatial skills.
Imitative play requires children to observe and copy other’s behaviour. Sometimes children watch another child performing an action but don’t copy the action immediately. Lots of imitative play occurred in our nursery school study where we observed children playing with VTech toys. Children learn through observing and copying others. Young children watch other children and observe the consequences of actions without having to perform the actions themselves. This can help with social and also motor skills. A young child in our nursery study watched another child press a button on a toy to play some music and then jig up and down. After wandering off the young child who had observed the jigging returned to the toy pressed the button and began to jig up and down to the music. Children learn from each other as they play. Imitative play allows for lots of repetition which is also a valuable learning activity.

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.

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.

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.

Best for ages:

12 to 36 Months

Highlights

Bathtime boat includes light up snorkel button, 2 shape-sorter life buoys, turning flag, penguin water scoop and spinning water wheel! Features 3 songs and 20 melodies.

Description

Set sail in the bath with the Bathtime Boat by VTech! This cute little boat with a chunky light up snorkel button will entertain your little one with playful phrases, fun sounds, 3 sing-along songs and 20 lovely melodies. Teaches fun weather concepts which make bath time both enjoyable and educational! The friendly boat has 2 shaped life buoys to encourage shape sorting. Your little one can also turn the flag at the back of the boat, use the cute penguin scoop for water play fun and spin the water wheel round and round to help develop fine motor skills.

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