Health

A gift everyone will be talking about

Sentences

  • card games on which characters are performing actions;
  • games to regroup members of a family;
  • questions and answer games;
  • guessing games in which you must ask questions and find a character.

Auditory attention, visual attention, memory and understanding

  • games to differentiate sounds and associate them to objects and animals;
  • puzzles;
  • blocks, construction games with or without plans;
  • memory games;
  • games with sequences of sounds to reproduce;
  • miming games;
  • games to give or listen to hints and clues;
  • games in which you must give clues to discover a character
  • rules in general.

Abstract notions

  • games to learn time, seasons, colors, numbers. Several types exist but paths (dice and squares) are excellent choices. In addition to the notions that they introduce, they help children count and follow the rules.
Playing with your child

Helping your child means letting him explore the game by himself but also reading the rules and seeing all the possibilities that are offered to him. You should also check his understanding of the game, teach him basic rules like waiting for his turn, paying attention to what others do and being able to finish a game. In this sense, it is important to follow the age recommendations to make sure that your child has fun and is facing reasonable expectations. He must face challenges that are adapted to his development and he must learn in a friendly environment.

Childhood memories 

Who doesn’t remember afternoons spent colouring, playing cards, dice, playing with dough and even marbles with grandparents? Good memories, happy times and pleasurable and stimulating moments. So when you think about gifts, add these little objects to your list, put them in the stockings and let all generations play with these simple, cheap and accessible toys. 

Happy shopping and keep in mind that fun increases with use!

References

  1. Canadian Council on Learning
  2. Jouer avec son enfant en bas âge contribue à sa réussite éducative
Sylvie Desmarais
Speech therapist

Sylvie Desmarais has been a speech therapist for thirty years and is the mother of two big boys. She always wanted to make her knowledge about language and communication understandable and accessible. Former Université de Montreal teacher, she has given many conferences to parents of young children and she spent much of her career training doctors and early childhood professionals. She strongly believes in the importance of early detection of language disorders, which is why she participated in many activities to raise awareness and stimulate the development of language. For her, it is essential that parents follow the evolution of their children and communicate with them. It is to give them the tools to do so that she wrote the "Language guide for 0-6 years old children" (Guide du langage de 0 à 6 ans) published in 2010 by Éditions Quebecor. 2144, montée Monette Laval, QC, H7M 4T6 514-924-6471 sdesmarais@mon-orthophoniste.com


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