Games for Babies: Star Tracking
Here is part two of games for Babies. Originally posted by Studio 3 Music on April 17th of this year.
Babies aren’t born with the ability to accurately and smoothly direct their eye movements; it’s something they learn over time. Eventually, good visual tracking skills allow us to follow a line of print without losing our place.
My son Kurt is having some trouble with poor visual tracking, and he has been seeing an occupational therapist and doing “eye exercises” every day. We didn’t know he was having trouble until he started struggling in school. Hopefully with treatment and his exercises he will keep improving. Too bad we didn’t go to Kindermusik when he was a baby. However, we could do some of these exercises even though he is a big boy. We actually do some exercises with small pointer lights, so this could be fun too. Read below for Analiisa’s suggestions for fun activities to develop visual tracking.
Here’s a fun game to play with your baby to assist with developing visual tracking skills:
- Take your baby and a flashlight into a dark room. (At night before bed is a natural time, and this activity is very relaxing.)
- Lie down on your backs. Shine the flashlight slowly around the walls and ceiling and encourage your little one to track the light. Point to the moving light. “Can you see the light? Where is it going?”
- Turn on some favorite music. Move the light with the tempo – faster or slower as it changes, or “long” or “short” to match the music.
- Sing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. Turn the flashlight on and off with the words “twinkle, twinkle”. For the rest of the lines, leave the light on as you move it around the walls and ceiling as before.
I will warn you, however, that as your baby gets older, he or she may demand a flashlight to play with, too, and that’s okay!
posted by Miss Analiisa, who knows that toddlers and preschoolers love this game as well. http://studio3music.com/category/games-for-babies/
Hi!
Thanks for reading. Hope your sister will enjoy my blog, I have lots of articles about child development and music.
Have a great weeekend!
peace,
Angie
musikwithangie
June 25, 2010