Ad disclosure: I was given a ticket to The Baby Show, a contribution towards travel expenses & two Fisher-Price toys, so that I could visit the show and learn more about the Laugh & Learn range.
When we visited The Baby Show recently, Fisher-Price invited us to join them for lunch and to watch a presentation about the Laugh & Learn range, including some new research about learning through play and laughter. The presentation was very interesting and certainly proved that baby laughter is infectious, with an adorable video montage of giggling babies setting the whole room off laughing!
New research from Childwise, commissioned by Fisher-Price, suggests that babies & toddlers learn best when they are having fun. Despite the rise of high tech toys, 3 in 4 mums believe their child smiles and laughs more when engaging with toys compared to smart devices, and just 1 per cent of mums think that it is important that a toy is high tech.
I have to say, I agree with the research, on the whole. There is no denying that Georgie is very proficient with the iPad and it can be a great educational & entertainment resource, but she also learns a lot through playing with toys and with James, myself, and even with Lydia. Laughter flows easily from our little girl, and she is really proud of herself when she recognises colours & shapes in her toys, or manages to count things.
For us, it is all about balance. Georgie spends time playing with slow toys, silly toys, noisy toys, reading books, watching a little tv (she is now a fully fledged Peppa Pig addict!), and playing games on the iPod or iPad. We have a lot of fun, and she is like a sponge the entire time – her knowledge seems to expand daily!
When it comes to choosing toys for Georgie, we will always consider firstly how much fun she will get from a toy, and secondly whether it has educational points, before anything else. It looks like the research agrees with this, with 82% of mums putting fun & learning top of the list when buying a toy.
James and I try to stay relaxed as parents; children are only young once and we think that young kids should get to enjoy themselves in a fun environment. We don’t want to put too much pressure on our girls with everything absolutely always having to be planned with education and development in mind – let kids be kids!
Our “chilled out & fun” approach is hopefully working, as Georgie seems to be developing well and has a lot of fun – learning new things as she goes, without even realising. This research is a welcome read, as it backs up our parenting style nicely!
We all learn better, when we are happy. When we are happy it might well be because we just had some endorphins (feel happy hormones).
Whereas it has been said that we are forgetful when stressed.
I can agree with that one – when I’m stressed it seems like my brain has been leaking out of my ears! I remember the subjects I enjoyed at school were always the ones that came easiest to me, because I was less stressed and felt at ease with the teacher.