what are the best products out right now that can help boost my children developmental skills?

Question

I have a 2 1/2 yr old and a 9-month old. I have tried Baby Einstein and Baby Genius cd's but they don't prove to be effective. I would like to have highly intelligent, intelluctual children. I would like to know what products are out there that provide what I'm looking for.

Answer 1

Being "highly intelectuall" Is based on a lot of factors including the right nutrients while their brain is devloping, genetics, and what they are exposed to from birth.

Ex: if you put on a baby einstein video your child is not going to pick up much from it just staring at the tv.
If the parent sits down with the child and points out things in the video then they will get more out of it. I used to for the color van gogh baby einstein, after they showed each color, I would pause the dvd and find objects of that color around the house for my infant to see.

You have to play an active roll in helping your child learn if you don't just want them to pick something up at a casual rate. However try and keep in mind everyone is different, pushing a child to hard to learn when they are not ready is only going to frustrate them and make them dislike learning more. Try to make learning fun and take the cues from your child when its time to give it a rest for the day.

Start by talking to your child ALL the time, sing to him/her, read him books, name everything around the house and what you are doing. "mommy is opening the cabinet and getting out a plate, this is a plate" Spend lots of time with your child.

Get developmental baby toys, NOT electonic ones. These are like watching tv, they entertain the child and do not require to use their brain to explore. Try shape sorters, blocks, large legos, pull along toys, lacing toys, puzzles, etc.

Try getting shape/color flash cards and making games out of them. Pull a card (say circle) and walk around the house together triyng to find toys that are circle.
Or number flash cards and count things around the house. In fact you can count pretty much anything just casually thrown in there while your child is playing with it.
Also try laying a few of the flashcards on the ground and make it a game by having the child find a card for you. (Can you find the cat? can you find the letter D?)

let your child finger paint or use whipped cream and food coloring

Cook together, even little ones like to crack eggs and pour stuff into a bowl.

Color with crayons, or chalk, or draw.

Go outside for walks. Stop to point out different things or smell the flowers. Blow bubbles.

put a word of the day/week on the refrigerator and try and use it with your child all day (it can be any language you wish)

Make and play with puppets.

spend time on the computer together. For infants and toddlers you can buy little keyboards, a mouse and programs, like jumpstart or fisher price, or just let them hit letters on a blank screen in notepad to see what it does.

make bath time fun with bubbles, toys, strainiers, measuring cups, new coffee filters, or ice cubes

make a cardboard box into: a car, a house, a bed, ect. color it and play in it. or take many boxes and stack them like blocks

Hide some toys around a room and ask for help finding them. (help me find all the ducks they ran away. or all the food for my shopping cart)

Put pillows and cushions on the floor for infants to climb on or children to bounce on.

Group items (3 or 4) with one different and have your child pick which is differnent.

Draw faces on paper plates with different emotions. Name them or ask your child to name how the person is feeling. Put on a show for your little on with the faces.

Hide a toy under a cup, mix them up and let them try and find it.

Hide something that plays a long song or noise and have them listen to find it.

Make big Feet out of paper and tape them to a hard floor. Put a letter on each and let them walk down the foot path and read the letters as they go.

Play copycat or simon says

Make a touch bag: fill it with items of different textures (smooth, bumpy, silky, fluffy, rough ect.) infants-rub the items on their hands, feet and cheek. toddlers/young children-have them guess what each item they feel is.

Clap, pat your legs, hit a drum and make simple beats and have your child repeat them.

collect items that go together like a sock and shoe or a spoon and bowl, lay them out and have the child match the items that go together

Whats wrong, get items like a sock and shoe, and book. put the shoe on then the sock or read the book upside down. see if they try and fix whats wrong, if not say "is this how this goes?" "wasnt that silly"

Play peek-a-boo, use a toy and a scarf for a bit of a change, if your baby is older play by leaving the room and re-apearing, for toddlers play hide and seek.

Buy a crawl tunnel or cut a large hole in the box to let infants crawl through.

Provide different sized containers and lids (like tupperware) and let them find which fits where

kids love to rip and crinkle paper. lay them on a sheet of wrapping paper to crinkle or let them experiment ripping and crumpling paper (supervise so they dont eat it)

take a paper bag and make an "underground" home for one of your childs stuffed animals that would live under ground (a fox, rabbit, groundhog, mole ect.) decorate the bag with crayons and markers making the bottom half look like dirt, worms, ect and the top half like grass and ant hill, ect. glue leaves and sticks to the top half. Discuss how and why animals live underground.

play "pigs fly", call out an animal name and have them flap their arms like wings when an animal flies and stop when the animal doesn't.

Ask questions to your child.

pull out the pots and pans as well as whisks and funnels to play with.

Use 2 littler plastic pop bottles as pins and a ball and go bowling.

set up an empty laundry basket and let your kid throw balls of different materials into it (crumpled paper, a sock, etc.)

Answer 2

NO PRODUCT has ever proven to truly increase a child's intelligence and intellectual capabilites. Because that's not what increases intelligence and intellectual capabilities.

If you're expecting a 2.5yo and a 9mo to show extreme intellectual abilities, you've got it all wrong. At that age, any extremes you hear about are to do with genetics--the child is pre-wired to be super intelligent. You can not MAKE an intelligent child, although you can foster their innate intelligence.

Some people swear by the Glen Doman books. You could try those--but be careful, there's stuff out there about how parents became too demanding, created a ton of stress in their kids and it all blew up in their faces. Too much pressure by a parent for anything can ruin a child. You might also check into Montessori, which is developmentally focused.

Make sure whatever you do your focus is on loving your kids regardless of whatever intelligence they show.

Answer 3

Nothing can replace personal interaction. Expose them to LOTS of things. Nature, music, art, people of other cultures, animals, etc. Their minds are like little sponges. They will soak up whatever you give them.

Take them to an animal shelter or the zoo. Go on a nature walk and point out trees, animals, rocks, water. Take them to a bakery and let them watch the people make cakes. Let them help you cook. Find a friend that speaks another language and spend time with that person. Read books to them. Turn on the history channel, discovery channel, the learning channel. Take them to the library and let them pick out lots of books to look at. Encourage them to draw. Talk to them in an intellegent voice, not baby talk. Let them spend time with older children so they can learn.

You don't need sophisticated equipment to stimulate them! Just expose them to NEW things as often as possible. They will pick it up. My kids did - my son is in the gifted class at school and reads on a 7th grade level and he is only 10.

Einstein, Edison, and Benjamin Franklin didn't have sophisticated toys, just the world around them.

Have fun!

Answer 4

Give them a wooden spoon and an old pot to bang on; they'll have a ball.
This other crap (and that's exactly what it is; for a child is not going to do any better if you cram this junk down his throat now or just let him be himself) you can toss by the wayside.
Come on, they're only kids once; why take it away from them?
Guaranteed, this will come back to bite you in the rear end later in life.

Answer 5

Play classical music at bedtime and read to the 2 1/2 year old often. Present the same story over a long period of time and add sensory experiences to them with art, music,visuals and play. You'll see the results, but it will take patience, time, and creativity on your part.

Answer 6

YOU are the best product to teach your children and assist in their development. Their potential is only limited by how much you know and how good you are. Do your research and start educating yourself on how toddlers develop and how best to get them to reach their fullest potential. Compared to an educated and well-informed parent/adult, anything you can buy off a shelf and stuff into the dvd player is 2nd rate.

Answer 7

m way.....has many products with natural herbs and no side effects.....