Baby Magic - Family Nurturing Circle Activities To Help Your Baby Develop
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Put Your Baby in The Family Nurturing Circle
Baby is the center of attention in this family nurturing circle activity, yet everyone will come away with a renewed sense of belonging and new interpersonal skills as well.
Our most basic human need for love and nurturing is combined with a healthy dose of togetherness, family values, and educational experiences in this simple concept. We all need to learn the basic life skills, including how to become a good parent and how to build a strong supportive family unit.
Our most basic human need for love and nurturing is combined with a healthy dose of togetherness, family values, and educational experiences in this simple concept. We all need to learn the basic life skills, including how to become a good parent and how to build a strong supportive family unit.
In this lens you will find the step by step guide for family nurturing circle activities and resources that will inspire you and help you in developing positive parenting skills with your baby and toddler.
Contents at a Glance
You Will Need a Baby Activities Starter Kit
Co-created by an award winning teacher and a mom, Time To Play Baby is an interactive, instructional DVD for parents and their babies.
You can use this helpful starter kit with a training DVD and 10 toys to begin your Family Nurturing Circle activities with.
Every activity, skill development and song was carefully chosen to provide only the very best activities for the first year of life. Whether you are a stay at home caregiver or a working parent, you can enjoy the comfort of these crucial classes in the convenience and cleanliness of your own home!
Early infant development is the key to creating a solid foundation for optimal brain growth and sets the cornerstone for future building blocks.
Every activity, skill development and song was carefully chosen to provide only the very best activities for the first year of life. Whether you are a stay at home caregiver or a working parent, you can enjoy the comfort of these crucial classes in the convenience and cleanliness of your own home!
Early infant development is the key to creating a solid foundation for optimal brain growth and sets the cornerstone for future building blocks.
Time to Play Baby Deluxe Kit
Amazon Price: $74.98 (as of 05/28/2012)
This kit is ideal for all family, baby and parent schedules. Stay-at-home and working parents will enjoy the flexibility of bonding with their baby in the comfort of their homes and enjoy the flexibility and convenience of classes brought home.
Infants will have the opportunity to develop the following skills: eye-hand coordination, spatial awareness, visual tracking, auditory tracking, object permanence, sensory development, gross motor skills, fine motor skills, tactile stimulation, and much more!
An interactive, instructional DVD and 10 toys in one all inclusive package, providing a whole year of baby classes in a box.
* Recipient of the iParenting Media Award and Mom's Best Award
* Creates a playtime experience that enhances infant cognitive, emotional, social and physical development during the first year.
* Includes over 90 minutes of developmental play and 6 interactive age appropriate play sessions.
* Offers 70 guided activities consisting of over 25 chants, songs and rhymes.
It is never too early to start investing in a child's future, and this kit is 12 months of activities to keep the whole family engaged with the baby development!
Teaching Baby about Nurturing
Everyone will have a wonderful time with these baby centered family group activities for the whole family.They can be easily adapted for the classroom or community groups (girlscouts, youth camps, church, and many more). Great activities for summer that will give mom a little bit of a nurturing break.
Activities range from reading, playing games, art projects, and collecting. All of the following activities are constructed with examples for centering focus on baby.
They can be adapted for any group, large or small, and can be changed to use with different age groups (not just baby).
I hope that you will be inspired and and will find ways to be creative with these guidelines.
Family Nurturing Circle - Example of How it Works
*How it Works
This is the short version of the concept of a Family Nurturing Circle. We will explore variations after we look at some activity ideas.
*Gather The Family Together
*Turn Off Distractions
*Sit in a Circle
*Begin the Activity
Reading Activity - Focus on Baby
Here are great ways to teach babies about the joy of reading while also helping older children stay sharp during the summer break from classes. There are also great game ideas that baby can play with the family.
*Gather The Family Together
Sit in a circle and let Baby sit in the center of the circle.
For this example we are using a great children's book called "Teaching Your Baby to Sign" by Lora Heller.
Take the book and begin to read to the family (while keeping your focus on Baby).
Read a page or two and then pass the book to the next family member to your left (this will be your Babie's right-which is a natural flow direction for reading).
Each family member will take turns as they pass the book around and 'Entertain Baby'.
From a nurturing perspective your family and your baby will develop a sense of belonging and core family support.
From an educational perspective your family will come away with educational support foundations that are essential for a life long love of learning.
Not to mention the simplicity of an activity that will be teaching your family about the 'best things in life'.
Here are some book recommendations for your Family Nurturing Circle - Reading to Baby activity
*Gather The Family Together
Sit in a circle and let Baby sit in the center of the circle.
For this example we are using a great children's book called "Teaching Your Baby to Sign" by Lora Heller.
Take the book and begin to read to the family (while keeping your focus on Baby).
Read a page or two and then pass the book to the next family member to your left (this will be your Babie's right-which is a natural flow direction for reading).
Each family member will take turns as they pass the book around and 'Entertain Baby'.
From a nurturing perspective your family and your baby will develop a sense of belonging and core family support.
From an educational perspective your family will come away with educational support foundations that are essential for a life long love of learning.
Not to mention the simplicity of an activity that will be teaching your family about the 'best things in life'.
Here are some book recommendations for your Family Nurturing Circle - Reading to Baby activity
Game Activity - More Focus on Baby
*Gather The Family Together
Sit in a circle and let Baby sit in the center of the circle.
Begin the activity by letting each person share how they have played this game before, how much they like or dislike it, and what 'rules' about the game they might change if they could.
*Why not play by thier new rules if they are realistic. For example: if they suggested that different counts or variables should be taken into consideration when the game is played... then, why not?
However, if someone suggests that the pieces should fly into the rainbow clouds and then come back as butterflies, perhaps you might write this down and inspire this particular soul to become a software developer for animated presentations or Steve Ballmer's "Natural User Interface technology" (Steve Ballmer CEO Microsoft Corp June 2008 AEA Convention).
The possibilities for this activity are endless. The primary goal is to involve everyone in the spirit of 'play', not so much competition, however, this would be a good time to address any values you have to share about competitive atributes with your children, (group, or classroom).
Sit in a circle and let Baby sit in the center of the circle.
Begin the activity by letting each person share how they have played this game before, how much they like or dislike it, and what 'rules' about the game they might change if they could.
*Why not play by thier new rules if they are realistic. For example: if they suggested that different counts or variables should be taken into consideration when the game is played... then, why not?
However, if someone suggests that the pieces should fly into the rainbow clouds and then come back as butterflies, perhaps you might write this down and inspire this particular soul to become a software developer for animated presentations or Steve Ballmer's "Natural User Interface technology" (Steve Ballmer CEO Microsoft Corp June 2008 AEA Convention).
The possibilities for this activity are endless. The primary goal is to involve everyone in the spirit of 'play', not so much competition, however, this would be a good time to address any values you have to share about competitive atributes with your children, (group, or classroom).
Art Projects
I couldn't pass up this opportunity to share my passion for the concept of art as a very powerful nurturing activity.
Be it coloring or oil painting (or anything in between), sculpting, cooking, and the list goes on; Artistic creativity is a transformational experience.
Be sure to nurture your creativity every day and share this practice with your whole family, your classroom, or any group that you are part of.
A family that colors together creates lasting memories of joy and inspiration.
Be it coloring or oil painting (or anything in between), sculpting, cooking, and the list goes on; Artistic creativity is a transformational experience.
Be sure to nurture your creativity every day and share this practice with your whole family, your classroom, or any group that you are part of.
A family that colors together creates lasting memories of joy and inspiration.
Collecting - The Art of an Adventure
Everyone likes to collect something.
It seems that we are attracted to a variety of things in general and then we have our passions.
A great family activity is to explore collecting on a large range of topics (to see what interests each member), or, if everyone seems to love a particular area of collecting, maybe a group collection project would be a great idea. This would ensure that over time, the family will get together to show off what they have to add to the collection.
Note: A Project Coordinator (an adult), should be in charge of actually adding pieces to the collection and even having an index that credits the contributor. This 'journal' will be very treasured later.
Maybe even scrapbook about the continuing growth of the collection. Photos of the person who made the find...stories about the adventure, maybe even clippings from ads when the collection addition is found in traders or online at ebay.
The following items will get you started as you consider what kind of collecting will best fit your family, (group, classroom, or church project).
A great family activity is to explore collecting on a large range of topics (to see what interests each member), or, if everyone seems to love a particular area of collecting, maybe a group collection project would be a great idea. This would ensure that over time, the family will get together to show off what they have to add to the collection.
Note: A Project Coordinator (an adult), should be in charge of actually adding pieces to the collection and even having an index that credits the contributor. This 'journal' will be very treasured later.
Maybe even scrapbook about the continuing growth of the collection. Photos of the person who made the find...stories about the adventure, maybe even clippings from ads when the collection addition is found in traders or online at ebay.
The following items will get you started as you consider what kind of collecting will best fit your family, (group, classroom, or church project).
Adapting the Family Circle Concept
Two people can sit face to face.A small child can sit in your lap while you read to them.
A group of young children can sit around the circle while the adult sits in the center. Or better yet, let each child take a turn sitting in the center.
One group I facilitated loved the 'Friendship Circle' concept. Each participant would take turns sitting in the center of the circle, while each of the group members sitting around the outside of the circle would take turns saying something they admired about the person sitting in the center.
One person would write down each of the compliments on an index card ( a new card for each center of the circle person would be created). At the end of the process, the index cards are given to the person who received the compliments from thier peers.
I have heard, years later, how some of the participants carried those cards around in their pockets for years after our activity and they would take them out now and then whenever they might experience difficult times that could harm their self concept.
There are numerous ways that you can adapt the Family Nurturing Circle or the Friendship Circle for the people in your life.
The primary concept is love. And I am very certain that you have this quality within you as you are seeking (as evidenced by your reading this far on my lens), and, your seeking is the key indicator that you love and care enough to provide memories that will last a life time.
Hug each of your loved ones and find ways to show them that are a part of a loving family. Show them. Sometimes we forget to tell them, but, what we show them will last in their memories for a lifetime.
Here is a selection of baby toys to give you some ideas for activities:
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by Helene-Malmsio
I have created this lens about baby and family nurturing circle activies for your education and entertainment - ENJOY!
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