Bonus Activities

Wondertivity busy books and quiet books provide plenty of opportunity for independent play and most activities can be done unassisted. However if you are looking for some ideas for interactive play or structured games and activities to do with your little one, here are some ways in which you could use the busy books and quiet books to further your child's learning. 

Developing Imaginative Play

Children are naturally curious and love imaginary play. Twitterpated Busy Books and Quiet books are filled with a variety of themed pages to encourage and develop a child's imagination. Inspire your child with props from their busy book. Give the props names, speak to them and find new ways of using pieces in other activities. Give your child an opportunity to lead and they will amaze you with the worlds they can create.

Developing Fine Motor Skills

Twitterpated busy books and quiet books offer plenty of opportunity to practice using the small muscles in your child's hands and fingers. Babies can work on the pincer grip by manipulating smaller pieces and toddlers will be able to fine tune this skill by working through activities in the busy book such as threading ribbon and string, doing buttons, rearranging velcro pieces and zipping up zippers.

Developing Focus and Memory

There are countless opportunities to develop your child's attention span and memory in a Twitterpated busy book. One active way is to ask your child to play a game involving instructions. For example, "place the green eyes on the face". Once your child has mastered simple instructions you can move on to multi step instructions. For example "Before putting dolly to bed, take off her leggings and put her dress on."

Developing Language Skills

By simply describing what you see on each page of your busy book, you are introducing new words to your child. Develop your child's vocabulary by naming the pieces in the book and introducing words that describe the pieces. Get older children involved by asking them to describe what they see and eventually create stories using props from the book.

Name Recognition

Personalised Twitterpated busy books have the added benefit of encouraging name recognition. You can teach your child to spell their name by going through the letters on the front cover before starting on the activities of the busy book.

Numbers and Counting

One of the indicators of cognitive school readiness is the ability to recognise numbers and count to 10. Counting and number recognition activities are available throughout the busy books and quiet books. At the end of the Fabulous Fox busy book and Peekaboo Farm busy book your child can make up basic sums and number sentences. Make it fun by using pieces from other activities pages as counters.

Of course there are countless other ways of using your Twitterpated busy book to further your child's learning. Feel free to share your favourite activities with me on facebook or instagram or email me at hello@twitterpated.com.au.