EARLY STIMULATION: GOALS, EXERCISES AND BENEFITS - ECONOMÍA - 2025

The early stimulation is a set of exercises / activities that serve to enhance certain characteristics of babies of different ages. Among other things, the senses are worked on, in addition to mental abilities such as memory, attention, curiosity and the development of the nervous system.

Early stimulation is key to helping children reach developmental milestones as soon as possible, as well as laying the foundation for them to develop advanced motor and cognitive skills later. In addition, it is also essential to promote the development of intelligence.

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The specific exercises related to early care will depend on the age of the child. Depending on the month or year he has, it will be necessary to perform different tasks that take into account his specific needs and the skills that are most convenient to work with.

In this article you will discover a series of activities that you can use to promote your baby's abilities through early stimulation. We have divided them by months, so that you can easily find those that best suit the specific moment that both of you are living.

goals

Allow the child to develop to the fullest

Extensive research has shown that for a child to reach their full potential in terms of physical, social and cognitive abilities, they need sufficient stimulation during their first months and years of life.

Thus, for example, mental capacities such as intelligence or creativity cannot be developed to their maximum expression if good early stimulation activities are not carried out. At the same time, certain physical capacities can also develop less than normal without these types of interventions.

Help him go through each stage of development in the best way

In their first years of life, children have to go through a series of phases in both their cognitive and physical development. Although it is believed that they can do it without help, early stimulation will allow them to achieve it more quickly and without experiencing so many difficulties.

Improve parent-child interaction

The fact of having a structure and guidelines that indicate how it is necessary to act during the first months of the child's life helps many parents (especially new ones) to know how to behave with them.

This can be very helpful in that it takes much of the pressure off adults, who may otherwise be overly concerned with how they are supposed to act to fully enjoy the experience of having a child.

Benefits

We have already seen that early stimulation is a fundamental process to help the little ones in their development. But what are its main benefits? Next we will see a small list with the most important ones.

Stimulates psychomotor development

The benefit that we can begin to observe in a child when we carry out an early stimulation process is the development of their psychomotor skills. These are the set of skills that allow little ones to learn to control their bodies in increasingly sophisticated ways.

Thus, for example, during the first months of life children will learn to control their limbs, stand upright, and grasp objects; and when they are a little older, they can begin to move on their own. Skills such as crawling or walking are also acquired more quickly with the help of early stimulation.

Promotes the development of cognitive skills

Children's intellectual development is even more complex than that related to physical abilities. Skills such as intelligence, curiosity, observation and creativity will only appear at their best if they are properly stimulated during the first years of a person's life.

Thus, genetics puts a cap on the intellectual skills that a child will be able to acquire throughout his life; but only through early stimulation will it be possible to reach this maximum.

Identify possible developmental disorders

Early stimulation is the best tool to get a child to reach the different stages of maturation as soon as possible. Due to this, it also serves to realize as soon as possible the appearance of any type of disorder, be it intellectual, language, or psychomotor.

This benefit is especially important, as the sooner a problem is detected, the sooner work can begin on it. Early intervention in this sense is essential for the child to achieve the best possible quality of life.

It allows the child to develop their affective capacities

The last of the areas in which the benefits of early stimulation can be seen is emotional. The interaction of children with their parents and close people will form the basis of the social and affective skills that they have as adults. For this reason, many of the activities that we will see below also have a social component.

Exercises by age

Next we will see what are the best early stimulation exercises that you can carry out with your baby depending on his age. Keep in mind that, although it is not necessary to do all of them, the more you practice, the more benefits you will get.

Newborn

During your baby's first month of life, the most important goal to keep in mind is to get him used to reacting to different types of stimuli. Therefore, early stimulation in this period focuses on providing you with visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory and taste information on a continuous basis.

In this period, it is not necessary to carry out overly complex activities. Stimuli as simple as singing to the child, maintaining eye contact with him, grimacing or trying to grab an object are more than enough to keep him active. Of course, talking to the baby (especially soft and sweet) is also highly recommended.

In addition, since they are born it is interesting to keep them during their waking hours in environments that have many stimuli. Thus, instead of leaving her locked in her room, taking her everywhere, taking her for walks and moving her around the house can be very beneficial activities.

Finally, physical contact is very important during this first month. Holding her, caressing her and interacting with your baby in general is essential for her development.

First month

After reaching the first month of life, children can begin to exercise some control over their own body. For this reason, although it is necessary to continue maintaining the activities discussed in the previous section, you can also start doing exercises aimed at physical and psychomotor stimulation.

In this sense, you can basically perform two types of exercises. On the one hand, gently grasping the child's limbs and moving them carefully can help her to realize where the limits of her body are. Examples of exercises might be to clap her, have her clasp her hands, or tickle her feet.

On the other hand, at this stage it becomes more important to help you gain some control of your limbs. To do this, it is best to introduce him to light and stimulating objects (such as rattles or rattle bracelets), and to encourage him to grasp and move them on his own.

Second month

During the second month, the child begins to be able to support himself and make small coordinated movements with his whole body. Therefore, in this phase the exercises should focus on helping you better control your limbs, and begin to move voluntarily.

A very useful exercise at this stage is to lay the child on his stomach with the intention of turning over on his own. Most likely you won't get it at first; But the simple act of trying will already help enormously in its development. To help him, it may be advisable to push him slightly to the side while in this position.

On the other hand, it is also necessary to help him keep his head up. One of the best exercises in this regard is the following. Place a stimulating object at eye level (such as a rattle), and when he is looking at it, slowly raise it until it is above his head. The baby should try to keep moving his neck.

Finally, at this stage children will also begin to make their first vocalizations. Talk to the baby a lot; And when it makes a noise, smile at it and repeat it as faithfully as possible. In this way, you are encouraged to produce more and more sounds, which will eventually become words.

Third month

The third month of life is probably one of the most important for a baby's development. In this period, children begin to look more closely at their environment, and try to understand how the world around them works. This is why sensory and cognitive stimulation is more important than ever.

During the third month, the above activities (especially those related to movement and limb control) continue to be very important; but it is necessary to put more emphasis on the senses and on the interaction with the child.

One of the most useful exercises in this period is to play "peekaboo"; that is, putting an object or hands on one's face, then uncovering it and making funny noises while the child is watching. This can help youngsters develop what is known as 'object permanence', which is essential at this stage.

On the other hand, by the third month, babies can interact more with their environment. Early stimulation in this phase should focus on talking to them as much as possible, teaching them different types of stimuli, and allowing them to explore their environment and act on their own. The baby's curiosity is likely to be greatly increased at this stage.

Fourth month

During the fourth month, the most important developmental milestones remain the same: achieving autonomy of movement, fostering their curiosity, and beginning to stimulate the production of sounds. This month's exercises can be very similar to the previous ones, although it will be good to challenge the child with increasing challenges.

Thus, for example, it is advisable to lay the baby on his stomach to play for long periods of time, so that he himself has to turn over if he wants.

He should also be seated in an upright position and try to keep him that way by himself, holding him with the minimum of force required so that he does not fall.

Fifth and sixth month

During this period, the baby will begin to interact with his environment in a more autonomous way. Among other things, it is usual that at this moment the little ones begin to pick up objects and throw them on the ground to check their properties. The task of parents is to make available a wide variety of stimuli so that they can investigate them.

In addition to this, putting stimulating objects slightly out of reach for him to crawl and grasp can be very helpful for the baby.

From six months to the year

During the second half of the first year, all kinds of changes occur as the baby goes from being totally defenseless to acquiring the first traces of autonomy. In this period, some very important milestones are normally achieved, such as the production of the first words or the crawling.

Early stimulation in this age should focus on both the physical and cognitive aspects as well as the social ones. Some recommended activities might be talking to the child, trying to get her to "respond," showing her pictures of objects and describing them to her, or making her crawl on the floor to join her parents.

On the other hand, all the typical baby games that involve physical contact (such as the "five little wolves") are highly recommended at this age.

Until the second year

From the first year on, the development of babies seems to skyrocket. In this period, new skills emerge such as walking, drawing, speaking simply, answering questions and being able to interact with other people in a bidirectional way.

If early stimulation work has been done correctly in earlier stages, children over one year of age tend to be much more autonomous and enter a totally different phase. From this point on, the little ones can explore on their own and will take a more active role in their development.

Exercises by skill

-Fine motor

1- Stimulates the sensitivity of the face. Place your thumbs in the center of the baby's forehead and slide them to the sides. Next, place your fingers on the sides of her nose and do the same on her cheeks. To stimulate the lips, do the same movement as if you were marking a whisker.

2- Stimulates body sensitivity. Go over the body of your little one with a towel or cotton and caress each of the parts of his body, trying to tickle him, as you name them. It is recommended that the baby is without clothes, so after the bath may be a good time for it.

When he's a little older, you can use his hand to play each of the parts while you name them. And when you learn to speak, it will be the same one that indicates each of them.

3- Place objects that have different textures in his hand, for example, a spoon, a paper, a sponge, a towel… and encourage him to examine it and play with it. You can also use objects of different sizes and motivate him to pass them from one hand to another.

While doing it, talking and interacting with your baby, you can ask him which of the objects he likes the most, explain what each thing is, etc. As he grows, you can let him play with play dough, dough, papers that he can tear and wrinkle, sand, water…

4- Sit down with him or her, open a story and let them turn the pages. Read the story to him and go pointing to the illustrations in the book, you can also ask him to be your baby who points to them while you tell him the story of each character.

5- Play with him or her to put objects in and out of a bucket or boat and classify them by color, size and shape. You can also encourage him to make towers and constructions out of pieces or boxes and teach him to string hoops on a string, helping him until he is able to do it himself.

6- Drawing is something very important during childhood, so you can motivate him to take a pencil and paper and start drawing. At first he will start with stripes and squiggles until he becomes more skilled and gets to draw figures and who knows if some work of art.

-Gross Motricity

1- Place him on all fours, putting a rolled towel or blanket under him / her, and show him a toy so that he tries to reach it so that he is supported on one hand. Also, you can rest the palms of your hands on the soles of her feet and push her to help her crawl and reach for the toy.

If he is already crawling, encourage him to go for the toy or to come to you.

2- Lay him on his back and gently pull his hands until he is seated, if he still does not stand alone, you can place cushions around to prevent him from going sideways.

When he is sitting, grab him by the shoulders and rock him to the sides gently, then do the same exercise back and forth.

If he is already sitting up by himself, teach him how to use his hands to support himself on the floor. When he has learned, push him slightly to the sides with the intention that he uses his hands to avoid falling.

3-When he's old enough, show him how to stand up. You can start by getting on your knees and then stand up holding on to you or some other support. Then you can teach her how to sit and squat.

To encourage him to walk, show him how by helping him to put forward and support one foot and then the other. When he has learned the mechanics a bit, you can put a toy in front of him and encourage him to reach for it. You will be his support until he can do it on his own.

10-As he grows, you can increase the complexity of the exercises he can do while lifting. For example, play with him to crouch and get up, to chase him to run, to jump rope or from small heights such as a step. Encourage him to play ball, to stand on tiptoe, to jump over obstacles, to dance…

-Language

1-Although babies do not know how to articulate words or phrases when they are born, that does not mean that they do not know how to communicate. Her form of communication, in the absence of words, is through gestures, babbling, screaming and, above all, crying. Thus, every time he makes a sound or babbles, imitate him and talk to your baby and, of course, if he cries, respond to his call. With this, you will motivate him to communicate, since the baby learns that every time he expresses himself, someone responds to him.

2-It is important that you call your little one by his name with a loving tone and that you talk to him, smile at him and show him affection.

3-At mealtime, name each of the foods so that they can be identified. Also, you can interact with him by asking him if he likes food or if he wants more. If he still does not speak, his response will be a smile or a gesture.

4-As he learns words, encourage him to call him by name whenever he wants something and take advantage of any moment to talk to him or her.

When speaking with children, the use of diminutives or modified words is very frequent and this is a mistake. It is important that children are spoken to clearly and in complete sentences, avoiding diminutives and including them in family conversations as if they could speak perfectly.

5- Share reading moments with him or her. You can read a story to him and then he / she will repeat part of the story to you and you can even do it in the form of a theater. Much more fun!

You can also teach them nursery rhymes, play word games, or play riddles.

-Social

1-Every time you interact with your baby, do it by looking at his face, with a smile and accompanied by a caress or gesture of affection. Make her laugh and celebrate her laughter, let her see what joy is enjoyed.

2- Get the little one accustomed to being with other people, to playing with them and relating. Always respecting his time and not forcing him to be with someone he does not want.

3- Teach him basic social rules like saying hello, goodbye, please, thank you… and good habits like washing hands, picking up toys once he's finished playing or helping you do chores around the house.

4- Help him to know himself, to know how he feels, to manage and express those feelings.

Some suggestions

• Develop activities with your baby in a calm, relaxed and safe environment. You can accompany them with music, songs and rhymes and turn them into a game.
• If he doesn't feel like doing the exercises, don't force him. This is supposed to be a fun time to share, not to have a bad time.
• Take into account the age and evolutionary moment of your baby and adapt the activities to his abilities.
• It would be interesting for all the people in charge of the baby's daily care to participate and get involved.
• A good time to do stimulation exercises is when you are awake and calm. If you have just fed him, allow at least 30 minutes before beginning activities.
• You can take advantage of daily tasks such as feeding, dressing or bathing to carry out stimulation activities.
• We all like to know that we do something well and that they reinforce us, so your baby will not be less. It is important that you reward the results obtained with a caress, smile or affective gesture.
• Repetition is necessary for stimulation to be effective. Repeat the exercises at least five times, preferably daily, and hold them for a long period of time to achieve the desired results.
• It is advisable to allow time between one exercise and another for your little one to rest, this will keep him interested and with a greater disposition to carry out the next activity.
• It is not necessary to invest in expensive instruments or toys to perform stimulation exercises, you can design the games and tools you want to use.

References

1. "The importance of infant stimulation" in: Brill Baby. Retrieved on: March 08, 2019 from Brill Baby: brillbaby.com.
2. "Benefits of early stimulation" in: Forest of Fantasies. Retrieved on: March 08, 2019 from Bosque de Fantasías: blog.bosquedefantasias.com.
3. "Stimulation for babies from 0 to 6 months, month by month" in: Children's Guide. Retrieved on: March 08, 2019 from Children's Guide: guiainfantil.com.
4. "Stimulation month by month" in: Face Mamá. Retrieved on: March 08, 2019 from Face Mamá: facemama.com.
5. "Baby games" in: Pathways. Retrieved on: March 08, 2019 from Pathways: pathways.org.