Puppets and peek-a-boo games are fun ways to interact with babies. Not only that, studies show that very young babies instinctively understand the fundamental laws of physics. They know that an object cannot be in two places at once, that two objects cannot simultaneously occupy the same space, and that an object cannot suddenly appear or disappear when hidden from view. This is called object permanence.
Puppets and peekaboo help your baby understand that objects continue to exist even though they can no longer be seen. Including parents, something that we have all experienced when we leave the room our babies are in for just a moment.
Nursery rhymes can be sung at any time of the day, why not carry out the actions with puppets or soft toys?
Rhymes and songs that involve puppets can provide a wealth of learning and development opportunities from visual stimulation to imagination and speech development. They also encourage rich adult-child interactions and the element of surprise that toddlers love so much.
Vocabulary can also be increased through rhymes, action songs, stories, and interaction with soft toys and puppets. Pointing out objects and using words such as ‘big’ and ‘small’ and ‘under’ and ‘behind’ to describe size and position also increases understanding.
