At home, an activity as simple as rolling a ball back and forth on the living room carpet can be fascinating to your young child. How do you roll it so that it lands near the other person? How hard do you have to push? What is the angle you have to use? Will the ball hit other objects along its trajectory? This is experience-expectant learning at its best, with physics and math concepts thrown in for free. And it costs no more than the price of a ball.
And before you spend $25 on that educational toy at the mall, think of all the things you have around the house that baby will find very stimulating indeed. Pots and pans and plastic containers are a blast in the kitchen and make a great symphony with a wooden spoon (we never said this would be restful). Laundry baskets on their sides are great for climbing in and out of, as are the large boxes that appliances arrive in. For some reason, children love hiding in and under things and climbing in and out. Blanket forts made by spreading a blanket over a few chairs can be fun for hours if you join in the make-believe and make it grandma's house. Adding a pillow and a few stuffed animals and books inside can make it a friend's house or a room at preschool. And why do babies always like to pull things out of drawers? To see what's inside! Take one low drawer and fill it with surprising and fun things (stuffed animals, books, cars, pictures of family members, and so on) that you change periodically, and let baby have a ball unloading it all. Never underestimate the power of ordinary objects when examined with a child's eye. For children, they are not ordinary at all. And these experiences -- free and fun and unfettered with concerns about doing something educational -- all build better brains.
