Find this article published in the September/October 2013 Infobébés and Infocrèche magazines.

From the very first months of life, tucked away in your womb, your child’s senses are already on the lookout for the slightest stimulation. Once in our world, they sharpen for an even richer playground. Today, it’s your turn!

Sunday, 4 p.m. Your little family is out for a walk, about to follow the winding paths through the forest. Suddenly, a few drops of rain begin to fall from a cloudy sky. You decide to turn back and offer your eighteen-month-old Mathéo refuge in the car. Change of plan: for this rainy Sunday, watching a DVD in comfort with the family will do him a world of good, you think. Stop right there! Have you ever put yourself in the shoes of a toddler? Have you ever wondered what sensory pleasures your child might enjoy in such an environment? It may be uncomfortable for you, but it’s nonetheless a source of fulfillment for your child. After all, even the most trivial experience is actively involved in awakening his five senses: the sound of birdsong, the feel of water on his skin, the sight of a rainbow, the scent of blossoming trees, the taste of a few drops of rain on his lips. If this sensory experience is so beneficial to him, it’s because his senses, still immature, are still discovering our world. As a parent, you naturally contribute to his awakening by taking care of him on a daily basis. However, a few simple activities can help you to provoke destiny and awaken him further, always with the utmost respect for his own rhythm.

Touch: rough, soft…

Invite him to run his index finger over different parts of your body: the softness of your hair, the moisture of your mouth, the curvature of your nose, the roughness of your wool sweater. Ask him to do the same on his own body. If he’s older, ask him to close his eyes and concentrate solely on his tactile sensations. These experiments will make your little Nathan aware of the limits of his body, which he will perceive as more unified. Let him discover the sensations of his environment: tickle his toes with a feather duster, run a felt-tip along the sole of his foot, or slide a blade of grass across his face. Take advantage of bath time or diaper changes to massage and caress your baby. Alternate gentle, continuous stroking with the palm of your hand, with brief, punctual stimulation with your fingertips. On a trip to the market, let him slip his hand into bags of pasta, rice or flour. Use hot, cold, air or water to enrich your activities. Unleash your creativity!

Good to know: Comfortably housed in your womb, your little one is already receiving tactile sensations from the amniotic fluid in which it is immersed. The cutaneous message is one of the first pieces of information transmitted to the fetal brain. Then, during the first months of life, touch is the key to communicating and learning about the world. For it is by touching, and being touched, that he discovers the world. The fineness of his skin makes him particularly sensitive to textures.

The sense of smell: with plants, spices…

Awaken your child’s sense of smell by exposing him to strong scents. If he’s smaller, place a sprig of mint or bay leaf under his nose and observe his reaction. Invite him to suck on his pacifier to make sure he’s not breathing through his mouth! If he’s older, ask him to play the scent game: let him smell cinnamon sticks, cloves, a strawberry tray or a mustard jar. You can also ask him to close his eyes and try to recognize their smell, in which case you’ll opt for everyday foods whose names he’s mastered. Be careful not to present him with unpleasant smells while his eyes are closed, otherwise he’s likely to stop trusting you! Of course, try to maintain an exploratory and playful dimension. In short, have fun!

Good to know: Smell is one of the first senses to develop in the womb. So recognizing your scent a few hours after birth is child’s play. Because he’s got flair! Already as a newborn, he expresses an attitude of rejection when presented with the smell of rotten fish or spoiled eggs, and on the contrary, an expression of satisfaction when presented with the scent of vanilla, banana or chocolate.

Sight: with colors, lights…

Darkness, light and color will become your favorite early-learning play partners! If he’s just a few months old, slowly move a pretty, attractive red ball thirty centimetres from his eyes, against a plain background. If he’s older, pull down the blinds and let colored beams of light dance on a plain wall or on his own body. Why not play with touching the lights with your fingers? Mirror games can also enrich these activities. And at his age, there’s no risk of him becoming narcissistic! Another idea: use your hands to create shadow puppets, which you can incorporate into a story with a common thread to keep his attention and interest in visual stimulation.

Good to know: For a long time, experts and parents considered newborn babies blind during their first two weeks of life. However, advances in research have revealed a sensitivity to light as early as the seventh month of intra-uterine existence! If, at this time, a fire engine’s flashing beacon is close to your belly, your little one’s heart rate has undoubtedly quickened and his four little limbs have started to move.

Taste: sweet, tangy…

It’s best to wait until the time of diversification to awaken your little Hugo’s taste buds. From then on, introduce him (or her) to the basic flavors of our diet: the bitterness of endive, the sweetness of a banana, the saltiness of a cheese, the acidity of a lemon. If he’s older, introduce him to the richness of spices from the four corners of the world. Invite him to dip the tip of his moistened index finger in a container of saffron, curry or paprika. But first and foremost, taste awakens through the discovery of textures. Suggest they taste the crunch of an almond, the sweetness of a banana, the softness of breadcrumbs or the velvety texture of gazpacho. As with other activities, invite him to taste them with his eyes closed, so that the taste buds on his tongue are on the lookout for the slightest stimulation. From the age of 5 or 6 months, why not let him taste on the tip of your index finger the tasty dishes you prepare for him. But make sure your child’s nose isn’t blocked, otherwise his perceptions will be impaired!

Good to know Already a newborn, your loustic is able to distinguish between likes and dislikes. Far from being a gourmet, he does have a certain palate. Already in your womb, research shows that he swallows more amniotic fluid when it’s sweeter. Other research even points out that your baby’s tastes are closely linked to your own eating habits during breastfeeding!

Hearing: with music, sounds…

Introduce him to the diversity of sounds from an early age: the thud of a drum, the shimmering sound of a xylophone. As he gets older, and without hoping to turn him into a little Mozart, let him spend a few minutes a day playing percussion instruments of all kinds, or even tapping the keys on the family piano. This will stimulate his hearing all the more if he initiates it himself, as he will gradually understand the cause-and-effect relationship between the movement he makes and the sound he produces. If he’s older, blindfold him, sit him comfortably and move around him, singing. Alternate sequences where you whisper a few melodies in his ear with episodes where you sing at the top of your lungs, more distant. And don’t hesitate to make him aware of discreet noises that usually escape his attention, such as a sigh, the sound of a tongue, a dripping faucet…

Good to know By the seventh month of intrauterine life, your baby can hear sounds of sufficient intensity to cover your digestive and cardiovascular sounds. As a newborn, he remembers the stories you read to him before he was born. At around eight months, they can even distinguish between sad and happy music! According to American researchers, all babies have an absolute ear until around ten months of age, enabling them to learn language. But unfortunately for us, this incredible ability loses its usefulness as we get older!

I’m sure you’ll agree that guiding your little one along the path to awakening is child’s play, but it’s also a way for you, as an adult, to give meaning back to your all-too-frequently neglected perceptions. On your next trip into town, let the environment invade your senses and experience it as if you were discovering it for the very first time, rich in its many unsuspected stimuli. It’s the necessary step to becoming a child again, if only for a moment.

Pro opinion: « Forget the idea of performance! »

« We often impose a desire for productivity and performance on our children during activities. A demanding framework for toddlers in the throes of experimentation. While some parents think this helps them to excel, they sometimes limit them in their discoveries. But a simple, benevolent gaze supports, values and encourages the child to move forward.

Isabelle Chalvet, Early childhood educator, in charge of the Relais Assistantes Maternelles in Carrières-sur-Seine.

Fine hearing, from mother to daughter

« My little Chloé has a particularly acute sense of hearing. This is probably because, as a concert performer by profession, I’ve always rehearsed my violin pieces in her presence, even when she was eight months pregnant. On the other hand, I’m amused to see that the two sons of my neighbor, a pastry chef by profession, have a highly developed sense of taste!

Clara, mother of Chloé, 18 months (Auxerre).

Beware of « over-stimulation »!

A high-tech environment equipped with television or electronic toys is far from beneficial to your little one. On the contrary, his senses are often not strong enough to withstand such intense visual and auditory stimulation. The risk? Sensory and nervous fatigue. So it’s best to keep them in a more natural environment. Believe us, the sound of his mother’s laughter or the song of a nightingale will make him the happiest of babies!