We all know that a baby needs to have bodily contact with his mom and dad. By this, I mean rocking, snuggling, holding, carrying, dancing, or baby massage. But why?

It is the sensations from these kinds of bodily touch that are interpreted by the brain and helps him form his first emotional attachment.  

Touch is a baby’s source of comfort and security. Bodily touch leads to bonding, and gives your baby her first knowledge of her physical body. If this first emotional attachment is incomplete, it will be harder for your baby to form emotional attachments later in life.

If you’ve been in both Village and Our Time, you’ll realize that these classes give a very different experience. And our Kindermusik moms and dads and grandmas and nannies all treasure the Village experience. They might not be able to put it into words, but it is all the touching we do that makes this time so special.  

So, hold your baby close. Dance a little more often. Snuggle a little bit longer. Far too soon they will wiggle out of your arms and begin their journey towards independence.

It is what you do now that has a tremendous impact on your baby’s ability to have happy, healthy, well-adjusted and secure relationships as a grownup.

-posted by Miss Analiisa, who is a wee bit sad that she no longer has babies to snuggle in her arms, but is glad her youngest still is small enough to cuddle in her lap.

Anne Fernald is a psychology professor at Stanford who directs the Center For Infant Studies.  Dr. Fernald specializes in children’s language development. She believes there is a kind of universal music inside language, and first made this observation at a hospital in Munich, where the obstetric ward was full of Turkish, Sicilian, Greek, Russian, Dutch and Jewish women.

Dr. Fernald couldn’t understand anything these mothers spoke. However, the moment they put their babies down, and no longer were touching them, the mothers starting to almost “sing” to their babies. They used “spoken melodies” to remain in touch with their babies.  (Think about how you speak to your infant – “There you are, Livvy.  Hello beautiful girl!”) Try it right now. Imagine you are speaking to baby who is lying on her blanket on the floor.

So Dr. Fernald packed up her tape recorder and went off all over the world, recording how parents talked to their very young babies.  It did not matter if the language spoken was a romance language or a tone language; she heard the same melodies. When a parent wanted to show the child they were happy, the melody was always a rise-fall, no matter the language. “Good boy! You got it!” She saw that the melody kept the child doing a behavior or action.

There are three other universal melodies as well. If a parent wanted their child to stop, the melody was short and sharp and staccato. “Wait. Stop. No.” To draw a child’s attention to something, the melody was a higher, rising pitch – “Look at the horsie.” The fourth melody is one of comfort. “Oh, sweetie. I’ll be right there.”

This is music that is understood by infants who are just new in the world. We all know these songs and what they mean, no matter what language is being spoken. To Dr. Fernald, this isn’t about the language, or even the words; it’s about the sounds. The sounds which are more like touch. Do these sounds startle or caress us gently? She defines sound as “touch as a distance”.

Looking back, I see that I did this same thing with my own babies, as well as other little ones I currently come into contact with. Parents everywhere speak “music as touch”, (it’s technically called “motherese”), and no one taught us. And it doesn’t matter if we are in a public place; we do it without regard for who might overhear. What an interesting, universal, musical language.

If you are interested in hearing the whole podcast, you may listen here.

-posted by Miss Analiisa, who just realized she is instinctively using this same “motherese” on her son’s Christmas present – a 4 ½ month old beagle puppy. She’s not sure if it’s working yet.

My husband and six-year-old son were horrified. They couldn’t understand how I could justify the use of a gummy worm for a purpose outside of delighting the taste buds and meeting the demands of a sweet tooth. As they huddled around me to make sure I only took one precious gummy worm from the bag, I tried to tell them it was a sacrifice for science. Our aim was to explore and understand the many types of body coverings that animals have and how they differ from our own body covering. I explained to my son how the smooth bendable texture of the candy resembles its life-like counterpart, the worm, as well as some amphibians such as salamanders. We glued our carefully selected specimen on an index card. Horror soon turned to giggles as he gingerly applied the glue and began placing sequins all over the body. Googly eyes completed the process, making a very cute snake.

Next, we searched the pantry and craft drawer for other items we could use to make the body coverings of other types of animals. My son applied sequins to recreate scales on a picture of a fish. Using macaroni, he made the hard shell on a picture of a turtle. We applied feathers to a picture of a bird. We also went to the kitchen sink and used a spare feather to demonstrate how the oil on feathers repels water. For some strange reason I didn’t have any fake fur just lying around for a craft, go figure, but slightly stretched cotton balls slightly make a very believable polar bear. We also touched the inside of his jacket that has material fabricated to resemble sheep’s wool.

Children LOVE to explore the world they live in. They also love to compare themselves with the information they discover. The fur of a dog is similar to the hair on our heads, which serves the same purpose, to keep us warm. The nails on our fingers are hard like the outer covering of some bugs. Our nails serve the same purpose, protection for a softer body part. Awakening all of children’s senses by experiencing the taste, texture, sight, sound and/or smell of something provides a more rounded understanding of the how and why of their discovery.

After seeing the gummy worm turned snake and the pride in his son’s face at displaying his creation and knowledge, my husband totally agreed it was worth the sacrifice. If you haven’t tried simple science projects with your child, I encourage you to do so!

Have you done any fun science crafts? We would love to hear about them! Sacrifice some food or other household item for science and tell us about it.

- posted by Miss Jesikah, who absolutely loves science and watching the world unfold through a child’s eyes.

Did you know there are 8 sense systems? (tactile, vestibular, proprioception, auditory, visual, gustatory, olfactory and inner senses) Most of us only know 5. I’m going to blog each of these systems, and provide you with some activities for stimulating (stimulation is a good thing in this context!) and calming these senses.

The tactile system, or our sense of touch, is the largest sense system. It helps us to identify properties of objects and gives us information about our environment. The tactile sense has two parts – the protective system that has the body automatically withdraw from touch that is perceived as being harmful. (Like from something poky or sharp.) The second part – the discriminatory system gives information regarding the texture, size, and shape of objects. (Like round, smooth, and tiny.)

Tactile play is often messy, but totally fun! I bought a “splat mat” long ago, and it’s perfect for these kinds of activities. I found a great company that sells laminated cotton so you can make your own.  You can look up local stores that sell it, and I’m thinking that no sewing is required. The CUTEST patterns, too! I’ve contacted a local mom and have asked for sewing instructions, so stay tuned.    

You’ll also want a tray (try a cat litter tray) cookie sheet, shallow bowl or dishpan.

Here’s a list of tactile activities to try. Remember to play with your child. You’ll have lots of fun, and you’ll be modeling ways to experiment. Please share your ideas with us, too.

Put any one of these on your tray (on a splat mat, of course!): cooked pasta or spaghetti, jello, canned kidney beans, or mashed potatoes, and let your child squish, move it around, fill small containers, or anything that comes to mind.

On a tray (or my favorite to easy-to-clean-up place – the shower wall), put pudding, shaving cream, or finger paints, and make shapes, squirls, and pictures with your child.

In a dishpan or plastic tub, pour any of these: sand, dried pasta, water, dried lentils (orange lentils are pretty to look at), or bird seed, and provide your child with spoons, scoops, funnels, small containers to fill and pour.

Sink or float: fill a dishpan with objects that sink or float (or both!). Cups, sponges, small toys, rocks, wooden spoons, plastic lids or bottles. Put in some bubbles and colored bath tablets for fun. Let them play and experiment.

Mix a 1 lb box of cornstarch and about 1 2/3 cups of water. You can pour it, pick it up, bounce it, roll it into a ball, step in it (tactile play isn’t just for hands), and play!

Fill a box with toys that have a variety of textures – textured and smooth blocks, a knobby Gertie ball, snap beads, and items from around the house: wooden spoons, egg shakers, rolling pins, whisks, sand blocks, most anything child safe from your utensil drawer.

Put small objects in a bowl of rice or sand and play “hide and seek” with your hands. Push small objects into a ball of playdough and have your child pull the clay off in piece with their fingertips to uncover the objects. Note: This a great activity to develop a pincer-grasp, a necessary precursor to grasping a pencil properly.

Play, play, play with playdough! Tomorrow I’ll blog some great playdough recipes.

-posted by Miss Analiisa, whose children played sink or float for hours!