If you’re reading this, you’ve probably wondered how to encourage your child’s development and intelligence. I’m here to show you 3 simple ways of promoting your baby’s skills, finding effective ways to support your child’s learning, and how to boost their intelligence starting today! 

Step 1: Create an enabling environment

An enabling environment is one that supports learning and playing, both physically and emotionally. It’s a space where your child feels comfortable and inspired to learn. 

It’s important to find the right combination between the right materials and the right atmosphere, basically. This goes for any age, whether you have a 3 month old or a 5 year old.

So how do you do this? It’s simple. It doesn’t cost money and it doesn’t take time. You might just need to make a few adjustments! Below are my best tips for creating an enabling environment at home.

Make materials accessible to your child

I completely understand if you’re currently keeping some toys, books or markers off limits for your little one. Babies and toddlers always find the nicest books to rip, and the most expensive pillows to draw on! I get it. But we want to avoid your child having to rely entirely on you to find something to play with or read. 

Find some space on a low shelf, or a box to put a few durable learning materials in. For example, you can put out a few Indestructibles books, puzzles, rattles, building blocks, or kitchen play kits.

Create space & use the right materials

If there’s no room to play & learn, it’s not going to happen! If you have a newborn or young baby, make sure there’s a safe and soft space to practice tummy time and play with the sensory box. 

For older babies, make sure there’s open space to practice milestones like standing and walking. For toddlers, it’s ideal if there’s space to run around, too.

It’s also great if you can offer materials to play with that you don’t care about. It’s harder for little ones to be creative and learn if we’re always telling them to be careful and not break things. 

That’s why I like to use anything from the recycling box – reuse toilet paper rolls, cereal boxes and (clean) paper coffee cups. They can rip, build, draw and break them with no problem. Plus, it’s free and good for the environment!

Set the atmosphere

We want to create an environment that is fun, motivating and stimulating. 

I highly recommend you play music throughout the day, it can be your favorite tunes, classical music, or my favorite educational music – Super Simple Songs. I just love them. They’re easy to listen to for us adults, and highly educational for young children. 

You can also set up some posters with the alphabet or hang your little one’s drawings on the walls. 

Step 2: Create open-ended learning opportunities 

Now that we’ve got the environment set up, let’s talk about learning opportunities! 

Most parents tell me they don’t feel creative enough to support their child’s learning, or that they can only entertain them in 5-minute intervals. I don’t want you to feel like you need to be an artist OR the center of attention to support your little one’s learning. 

Instead, the trick to having your little one truly learn is to create open-ended learning opportunities and allow for exploratory play. This means that you set no boundary or limit to their learning experience – you basically don’t control them when they’re creating or learning something. You just sit back and watch!

When your child has an enabling environment and you don’t interfere with their creations (whether it’s finger painting for a baby, or a diorama for your preschooler), they get to truly explore. 

If they can paint with any colors they want or use any (safe) tools while playing, they start to practice problem-solving skills, learn the relationship between cause and effect, and also just become more free, confident individuals overall. 

And guess what? It’s actually LESS work for you! You just sit back and observe your little one’s learning process, which is absolute magic. 

Here are 3 ways you can implement open-ended learning, starting today:

• Let go of control. If your child wants to paint with random colors, use a spoon while playing with water, or wear a random hat while reading books – let them. It’s easy to say ‘no’ automatically, but if it’s safe and it makes them happy – go for it.
• Do what they like. Instead of pushing your ideas onto them, see what they’re into and follow their lead. Is it puzzles? Painting? Dancing? Variety is good, but go with what they’re showing you! 
• Don’t set a goal for each activity. Let your little one explore without having the pressure of ‘having to’ paint a circle on the collage, or making the puzzle pieces fit perfectly. It’s okay for them to play and let the activity take them where they need to be.

A great place to expose your little one to open-ended learning activities is via my FREE Sensory Play Guide – download it here.

Step 3: Observe your little one’s interest

The final step of promoting your child’s learning at home is to observe their interests. Whether you have a baby or toddler, your little one will always have a preference when it comes to playing. Use their favorite activity to learn other things. 

For example, if your little one likes playing with blocks, you can use this in storytelling, teaching math, forming the alphabet, developing fine motor skills, etc. 

Find educational activities to do based on what your little one loves doing, and you’ll see that their learning will flourish. This is because they’re actually motivated to learn. 

To sum up…

Supporting your little one’s learning at home is actually simpler than you think. It’s basically just creating a fun and stimulating environment, giving them more freedom and accessibility, and letting go of control over their creations and learning processes so they get a chance to build it themselves!

I hope this post has given you more clarity and confidence on how to encourage learning at home. If you have any questions, contact me or drop them in the comments!

Until next time,

Artemis