Favorite Product: Crayons

Who doesn't love a box of crayons? I've seen people old and young alike sit down and instantly start coloring. They are one of the most basic items because they are great - you can nurture creativity and work on fine motor skills while having fun.

Here are some ways to use crayons to help encourage your preemie's development:

1) Start early - as soon as your preemie can hold an object, give him/her a crayon. Place a piece of paper in front of your preemie and help him/her make a mark on the page. Any effort should be praised. In the beginning your preemie will probably just make light, random marks or dots. And that' great!

2) Drawing lines - once your preemie can hold the crayon somewhat effectively, encourage him/her to draw a line across the page. And then down or up. It helps to draw dotted lines to follow or at least show a start and stop point.

3) Learning colors - since crayons come in pretty much every color, they are a great way to help your preemie learn colors. You can ask for crayons of a certain color or request that he/she colors with a certain color. Older preemies can practice putting colors in order from lightest to darkest.

4) Scribbles are important! Don't worry if your preemie has absolutely no concept of how to color an object. That will come with time. Praise all efforts at coloring across an area. Make it fun!

Happy coloring!

Make and Take: Basic Foam Puzzle

I just posted a tutorial on Entertaining Kids on the Go about making a Basic Foam Puzzle. For preemies who are learning about puzzles and shapes, a basic 2 or 4 piece puzzle is a great place to start.

Favorite Product: Teddy Bear Counters

We are currently working on sorting and naming colors right now so Teddy Bear Counters are a current favorite toy in our house.

I like these little bears because they offer a lot of color options and kids can enjoy the fun shapes and feel to them. Our daughter is much more interested in sorting the bears than she is flat shapes or paper. Here are some fun ways to use these bears (or similar products) to encourage your preemie to sort colors.

1) Start with only 2 or 3 colors. Too many colors is confusing and difficult for your preemie to master. I like to start with yellow, red and blue because each color is very distinct and easy to tell the difference (as opposed to orange and red since they are very similar).

2) Use cups or a divided tray to help your preemie realize that the bears are to be separated rather than piled together. For my daughter I have found that a divided tray works best because she can't move it. With cups she often gets distracted because they can be knocked over or moved.

3) Place one bear of each color into the cup or tray section. Start out by doing the activity yourself. Pick up a yellow bear and say "yellow." Then point to the bear on the tray and the bear in your hand and say "see- same, same." You want your preemie to start understanding that some things are the same and some are different. This will help him/her figure out how to sort. Do one or two of each color yourself and then encourage your preemie to put the next bear in. If he/she does it right than do a lot of praise. If he/she gets it wrong just say - "No. Those aren't the same." and then help him/her put the bear in the correct spot.

4) Add more colors over time. As your preemie starts to master the basic idea of sorting, add more colors so that he/she can continue to build on the skill.

5) Be patient. Like with anything else, if your preemie isn't interested in the activity than put it away and save it for another time.

Favorite Product: Bubbles

This week's favorite product is Miracle Bubbles!

Bubbles are such a great, inexpensive toy that pretty much any kid will enjoy. There are a ton of choices out there but at the end of the day - any set of bubbles will do. Here are some ways to use bubbles to encourage your preemie's development.

1) Blow some bubbles - encourage your preemie to watch the bubbles fly away. Once they get the idea of tracking the bubbles, show them how to pop the bubbles. If your preemie isn't yet mobile than I would first try bubbles in the house or in the bathtub. That way he/she has more of a chance to actually pop one. You can also blow some and then use the blower to hold one of the bubbles so your preemie can see it and you can help him/her pop it.

2) Asking for more - bubbles are a great activity to do when you are trying to teach your preemie to tell you that he/she wants more of something. Whether you are using sign or words, blow some bubbles and then wait. Then ask "Do you want more?" Show me/Tell me. And then blow more after he/she indicates more.

3) Gross Motor encouragement - bubbles can help encourage your preemie to crawl/cruise/walk/run. Blow some bubbles in one direction and then encourage your preemie to go get them. This is another time when blowing bubbles inside might help because they don't go as far away.

Favorite Products #33

A current favorite product in our house is the Doodle Pro.

Recently my daughter has become nothing less than obsessed with the Doodle Pro. She excitedly points at it and says "draw, draw." I have always loved Doodle Pro type products because it provides endless amounts of possibilities - don't like your drawing? Erase and start over. Do you want to practice drawing circles or other shapes? Go for it. This is a great product for kids because you can take it anywhere, it doesn't make a mess and kids of pretty much any age can have fun with it.

Here are some ways to encourage your preemie's development:

1) Fine motor - This is obviously a great product to help your preemie work on fine motor skills. Holding the pen and then drawing with it takes hand strength and coordination. If your preemie has trouble at first, help him/her hold the pen and draw. Some of the Doodle Pro products now come with magnetic shapes that can be "stamped" across the board. This is another great activity for fine motor work. You can have your preemie work on lines (horizontal first) and then circle drawings. My daughter loves to trace her (or my) hand too.

2) Cause and Effect - a great way to demonstrate this is by drawing a picture and then sliding the eraser bar so that it disappears. Tip: make sure you demonstrate the erasing part with your OWN drawing first. Some kiddos don't want to erase a masterpiece right away.

3) Shapes, counting, etc. - as your preemie gets older you can use the Doodle Pro to practice naming shapes or count how many of something you have drawn.

Favorite Products #32

Lately one of the favorite products in our house is the Fisher Price Little People: Animal Sounds Farm.


Olivia got this as a Christmas gift and she really enjoys it. She hasn't quite gotten to the point of doing any imaginary play but she does like to make animal sounds and move each animal around the farm.

Here are some ways that you can encourage your preemie's development with this toy:

1) Animal Sounds - encourage your preemie to imitate the animal sounds for each animal. The toy does make sounds however it's often easier to just make sounds yourself. Start with one animal and then add in more as he/she masters them.

2) Turn taking - help your preemie learn how to take turns. Drop one toy through the "silo" area and then let your preemie do the same. Turn taking is an important part of language and social development.

3) Fine motor - show your preemie how to open the little doors or operate other parts of the farm.

4) Imaginary play - have the animals talk to each other. Maybe they all want to go for a walk around the farm. Any type of role-playing/imaginary play is great.


Happy farming!

Favorite Product #31

This week's favorite product is the 100 First Words Bright Baby board book.

**For some reason I am having trouble with the pictures so I will try and post it later**

While parents may find the Bright Baby (or other similar books) mind numbingly boring, kids love these books. The simplicity, bright pictures and clearly defined items are easy for them to understand. And learn. These books are great for preemies who are working on language development and fine motor skills (including pointing and turning pages). There are many different versions of these books - right now this one is Olivia's favorite. I think she likes the larger size of the pages.

Here are some ways to use this book to encourage your preemie's development:

1) Read the book - this is a great book to read to a preemie who isn't yet ready to "follow" a story and/or has a short attention span. You can get through each page quickly and yet still give your preemie the beginning love of reading.
2) Fine motor - turning the page. Encourage your preemie to turn each page when you are done. At first you may need to lift the page a little bit to get your preemie started but overtime he/she will get the idea.
3) Fine motor - pointing. As you read the book, start pointing at some of the pictures. Choose 2-3 on each page and point directly at the picture as you say the word. Encourage your preemie to do the same. At first your preemie may just randomly point to the page - and that's okay. Over time encourage your preemie to point at specific pictures. This not only helps refine her pointing skills, he/she is also learning to identify objects.
4) Language - As you read the book, clearly say each word. For objects that your preemie might be familiar with - point to the picture and say the word. Draw his/her attention to it "see, here is the ball." This will get your preemie to start identifying the word and the object together. As your preemie becomes more interested and starts building more words, you can increase the pictures that you point too.

Like with anything else, follow your preemies lead. He/she may only be interested in looking at certain pictures or just turning the page. And that's okay. It's all a part of the process.