I had the honor of designing a workshop on Infant Massage for Hacienda CDC, this organization has a group of teachers who are in charge of visiting and supporting Latino families with young children.
That is why it was decided to work with the teachers and involve them in this topic of infant massage since it is an excellent method of early stimulation and a relaxation technique that strengthens the emotional bonds between mother and child. In addition, it helps to form safer and more intelligent children and to allocate space for interaction between mother and child.
This is part of our commitment to our community. Here I show you some photos of the workshop.
We had the honor of giving a workshop for the Latino community in the Multnomah County Library in Fairview, in Gresham, Oregon. This workshop involved parents and children in developing a sensory educational toy made by themselves; this allowed them to connect more with their child, motivating their affectivity and promoting socialization, allowing them to express their feelings.
This is part of our commitment to our community. Here we captured some moments from our last workshop at Fairview Columbia Library.
If your baby is close to one month old, it is time to start activities and play together, I am sure you will enjoy it a lot. One activity you can do is stimulate their vision; This will allow the brain to receive the stimuli it needs to develop. The newborn still does not coordinate his eyes very well, his vision is blurred and he focuses on objects at a distance of 25 to 30 cm. If you observe your baby, in the first weeks you will see that he shows interest in black and white patterns, circles, squares, and stripes that attract his attention. Later you will be attracted to the color red for being the most striking.
Contrast cubes, cards, and mobiles are important materials for visual stimulation, I always carry them with me in my early stimulation classes, because with them, through play, you are encouraged in the following aspects: • Develop the cognitive system • Increase your ability to focus attention and concentration. • Allow exploring their environment. • Strengthen the affective bond with the adult and the family. • Strengthen your eye coordination That is why early stimulation experts encourage parents to expose children to a variety of sensory stimuli so that they come to understand that the world has different sounds, colors, smells, shapes, and textures. Babies have the ability to absorb information through their senses. The wealth of sensory stimuli benefits the development of thought, intelligence, and language development. I invite you to know how to use these innovative contrast toys for babies, click here and it will take you directly to the CONTRAST CUBEinstructions to learn more about it.
Gaby Delgado loves children. Everything in her life reflects that love, including her service for the past three years as a program assistant with Library Coordinator Delia Palomeque Morales in the Listos para el Kinder (“Listos”) program. Listos is a youth services program for Spanish-speaking children aged three to five and their parents. Sessions are conducted entirely in Spanish, and teachers emphasize early learning skills, such as pre-literacy, early math, self-regulation, and interpersonal skills. Parents are encouraged to observe how their children learn best and how to build confidence and connection with their children as they grow. Listos families frequently become library users.
The Robot is a toy made of large and small cubes where the child has to join the pieces. These games to connect or fit together are part of the activities that children can develop from the first years. It recognizes shapes, characteristics, and colors, exercises coordination and manipulation, managing to put the pieces in their correct place. These toys arouse the curiosity of the little ones, training them to discover and solve problems.
Use of the toy:
Show the robot to the little one so you will get his attention.
Talk and tell him that he is a robot that has many pieces.
Begin by gently pulling the pieces out to capture the child’s gaze.
Reassemble the robot, trying to get the little one to observe you.
Place the toy near the little one so he can experiment on his own.
Give him a chance to do it at his own pace and don’t interrupt when he’s playing.
When he finishes playing, you can describe what the robot is like: color, shape, etc.
The language cube is a toy for children from 6 months to 2 years old. At this age, children are like sponges they absorb everything you want to teach them. By playing this game we are not only reviewing the vocabulary, but we are also implementing visual discrimination, and we are working on attention. It helps you have a wide vocabulary: • Talk and communicate with your baby, thus stimulating their language. • Convey love and emotion by verbally responding to their sounds, it is a way to motivate them. • Complete the sentence that he wants to tell you. For example: if the baby says “pa”, you say “papa”. • Allow yourself to be wrong and celebrate your achievements. • Ask him questions and encourage him to be curious. • Give him a chance to do it at his own pace and don’t interrupt him when he’s playing.
Use of the toy:
Make the language cube sound, and you will get their attention.
Allow him to pick up and look at the shapes on the 6 sides of the cube. Give him his playtime.
Name the shape of the toy and count the sides. For example: “look it is a cube and it has 1, 2… 6 sides, it is a cube of many colors.
Name the shapes on each side. For example: “I see an apple, it is red and round.” Do you want to touch it? Play as far as the baby allows it.
Put the items in the language cube on a table or blanket.
Roll the cube and let him mention the name of the figure that appears (1 to 3 years old)
Have the kid look through the blanket or table for the item shown on the cube rolled before.
Let him make a comparison between what is real and what is in the cube.
The rattle is one of the baby’s first favorite toys for 3 to 6 months, it entertains him, stimulates his senses, improves his eye-hand coordination, and creates an emotional bond with the adult.
Use of the toy:
Make the rattle sound, the child will move and you will get their attention.
Put the rattle in the baby’s hand and gently shake it.
Play hide-and-seek with the baby and gently move the rattle to the right side, then to the left side. You will see how he moves his head and his eyes trying to locate the toy.
How to use the cubes, especially for babies from 1 to 6 months:
Present the toy in different positions. The baby can lie down, face down, sit, or stand up. The required sessions are short and daily. They will be considered twice a day, lasting 1 or 2 minutes. The sessions are held according to the child’s demand and if possible at the same time. If it is observed that the baby is happy with this material, it can be repeated again. The environment should be calm with no distracting elements (no music, no cell phones, no television). From the fourth month on, use classical music.
Use of the toy:
The 6 sides of the cube should be used, preferably starting with the figure of the circle.
Start by presenting the cube without moving it in front of the baby’s face at a distance of 12 inches (30 cm). When we see that the baby’s gaze is fixed, we begin to move the black and white cube with a horizontal movement slowly to the left, up to the height of the ear, then we move the cube slowly to the right, up to the height of the other ear (two times).
Then we center the cube in front of the baby’s face at a distance of 12 inches (30 cm). When we see that the baby fixes the gaze we begin to move the black and white cube in a vertical movement slowly from the center, first upwards upper part of the forehead and then down to chest height. You have to “look” for the baby’s gaze.
For the last circular movement, the cube should be centered in front of the baby’s face at a distance of 12 inches (30 cm) when we see that the baby has fixed his gaze and we begin to move the cube in a circular movement and from there rotate towards the clockwise right.
In the end, we can say sweetly: “Very good” or give you a smile.
