When it comes to play, most parents give their children the usual toys to keep them entertained.
But studies suggest that using unusual objects, like egg beaters or potato mashers, can increase children's attention and development.
Delaney Witmer, a student at Arizona State University, said that young children tend to focus and explore unfamiliar objects more than those they have seen before.
As part of a study, Witmer analyzed how 32 children aged 2–4 played with familiar and unfamiliar objects at home.
Parents were asked to choose a safe but unfamiliar object for the child – usually a kitchen utensil – while the research team recorded how the child interacted with it.
In addition to blenders and potato mashers, the list also included small teapots, bottles and colanders. Popular objects included toys, cars and plastic food.
The results showed that the children touched the unusual object more than the one they knew.
On average, unfamiliar objects were touched 40 times during a 10-minute session, compared to 30 times for familiar toys.
Also, the children spent an average of 5.32 seconds touching the new object, compared to 4.64 seconds for the familiar toy.
“It grabs their attention,” Witmer said at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) conference in Phoenix, Arizona.
“It’s engaging and helps shift attention – moving them from something they see every day to something new.”
When asked if children seemed more focused with unfamiliar objects, Witmer said: "Absolutely. With unfamiliar objects, they often look to the parent for cues on how to play with them."
She emphasized that parents should introduce new – safe – objects and not just stick to the usual toys.
“Even if they only played for three minutes, they learn more and explore a new object,” Witmer said.
By encouraging children to play with these objects from an early age, parents can help them “prepare for the future,” by “encoding this information into their brains.”
According to her research: “Interaction with toys plays an important role in young children’s learning and memory. Children interact with and hold objects longer than their parents, especially young ones.”
Another study shows that allowing babies to feed themselves by hand can improve their growth.
The method known as "baby-led weaning," which encourages infants to feed themselves, provides sufficient calories for development.
Researchers from the University of Colorado found that there was no significant difference in energy intake between spoon-fed and self-fed infants.
Advocates of this method say it encourages healthy eating habits because babies explore foods different from the family meal. /GazetaExpress/
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