Having children is a wonderful and rewarding experience, but it sure comes with a lot of challenges. As a parent, your child becomes the centre of your universe and his needs and desires always come first. In the end, everyone wants to keep their children healthy and safe and to see them develop into strong and accomplished individuals.

It’s obvious that a concerned parent keeps a close eye on the child’s development rate by constantly checking his skills and abilities, to make sure everything is in order. Sometimes it’s not easy to figure out if a child has a problem or not, so you have to pay attention to everything related to your child’s behaviour.

Of course, not all children develop at the same rate and not all of them will have the same set of skills, and that is perfectly normal. But if you suspect that your child has serious developmental issues, then you should talk to a professional to help you assess your child’s condition and help you choose the right therapy if necessary.

The first five years of a child’s life are fundamentally important for their wellbeing. What they experience in this period will influence them for the rest of their life. There are six major areas of development that you should focus on during your child’s early years: 

  • Physical development – developing motor skills and coordination 
  • Emotional development – learning how to regulate emotions
  • Social development – learning how to interact with others
  • Language development – learning how to communicate
  • Cognitive development – developing analytical and intellectual skills 
  • Creative development – learning how to express themselves

To make sure your child has the best chance at living a happy and fulfilling life, you need to support them every step of the way. There are many ways to encourage your child’s development in all the above areas. Here are a few activities that will help him grow and have fun in the same time: 

Playing with Legos

Some parents dread Legos since they always have to gather the small pieces from all over the house and they always miss a few pieces that can only be found by stepping on them. Besides these small disadvantages, you must admit Legos are extremely fun for both children and adults. Children love to play with Lego blocks, but they are more than an entertaining game. They put to test their capacity to follow instructions and their creativity as well. Since it’s all about creating and building, Legos also promote spatial intelligence development. 

Going on an adventure

If you want to have fun together, you can set up a treasure hunt for your kid. Children are naturally curious and love playing the detective, so they’ll be thrilled to get into the game. You don’t necessarily have to come up with a very complicated mystery to get them hooked. All you have to do is hide some objects around the house or garden and leaving clues that will help kids find them. Of course, you can let your imagination run free and add a little story to go with it, so the hunt will be even more entertaining.

For smaller kids, you can create a scavenger hunt. Ask them to identify objects of a certain colour or shape in a specific space and give them examples that will help them with their hunt. These games are not only going to help you spend quality time with your kid, but they’re also good at developing their analytical and problem-solving skills and expanding their imagination.

Reading books

Reading books is a classic method to catch your child’s attention, help him learn new things and expand his horizons. Of course, not all children will enjoy reading right from the start, but with a little encouragement, they’ll soon be drawn into the world of storytelling. It’s better to start with books that also have pictures, to catch their interest. Choose books that will help them learn something new and stop to explain new concepts or anything your child might find difficult to understand. Teach them to ask questions and be curious about everything. Once they’ve got a taste of how wonderful reading can be, they’ll probably ask you for more books themselves.

Singing and dancing

Kids enjoy being active and fooling around. When they dance or sing, they’re simply having fun, but these activities are also great to help them improve certain skills such as coordination or memorising. You can integrate singing and dancing into all sorts of activities, you can create choreographies together, organize singing contests or just sing along during your car rides. Who knows? Maybe you’ll find out along the way that your kid might be a little artist in the making. But even if he lacks artistic abilities, singing and dancing are still amazing for helping your child gain confidence and increasing his self-esteem. 

Building puzzles

This is one activity where you’ll probably want to compete with your child, because not only children like building puzzles. Adults are pretty keen on it as well. Of course, kids should start with simpler puzzles. If it’s something too complicated, they can become frustrated, loose interest and give up in the end. Puzzles with fewer pieces, but bigger in size are best for beginners. In time, you can move on to more complex puzzles. They’re amazing tools for developing shape recognition, fine motor skills and concentration.

Colouring books

Not only storybooks are useful when it comes to child development. Colouring books are also a fantastic way to help children grow while playing. Give them a colouring book and some crayons and let their imagination run wild. Besides stimulating creativity, colouring books also help kids improve the motor skills they’ll need when learning how to write. And this is not all, colouring can actually be used as a therapeutic method, since it’s a well-known soothing activity. So, if your child has had a tough day or is feeling a little anxious, this is a very effective way to help him relax. 

Author's Bio: 

Cynthia Madison