Multifunctional Baby Playground: choose it or avoid it?
Index
During pregnancy and the first few months of a child's life, most parents wonder what the best baby gym (wooden, Montessori, Chicco, Ikea, Multifunction, etc.), how to choose itsuch as features must have and when to start to put the child on the gymnasium.
What I want you immediately say is of don't be in a hurry to purchase the gymnasium and read this article well before doing so.
Most of the multifunctional gyms for newborns are superfluous e very expensive; in the following paragraphs I will explain what your child really needs for a excellent motor development and, as a result, you will understand the features that the gymnasium must have.
Before going any further, I will mention that the Montessori wooden gyms for infants are, in my opinion, the best choice a parent can do.
1. What is a multifunctional baby gymnasium
La Palestrina Neonato Multifunzione è indicated as a game for very young children from 0 months up to 3-4 months of age.
The gymnasium is defined as multifunction perché si dice che offra vari stimoli al neonato in grado di stimolare il suo sviluppo.
The truth is that la maggior parte delle funzioni che offre è superflua e non ottimale per le reali necessità di sviluppo del tuo bimbo.
Now ti spiego il perché.
First of all, multi-purpose gyms often have a Soft Carpet per neonato. Questo è spesso super colourful and non è funzionale for tummy time (the child slips or sinks with his arms, as well as being very small as a play area) and for the view of the child (too many colours together when the infant has difficulty seeing).
Inoltre, il tessuto è easily soiled and not very washable (much better the XPE play mat (polyurethane foam).
In addition, multi-purpose gyms often have a Kickable piano, ma la verità è che il bambino potrebbe tranquillamente do without; he does not need to learn to move his legs by pushing piano keys in random mode.
Also the music delle palestrine multifunzione sono superflue; sì, il neonato le sente (come ascolterebbe qualsiasi altra tipologia di musica intorno a lui) ma non è propedeutica allo language development.
È molto better real interaction with the parentsitting opposite him reading him a book or sing him a song (eye contact important).
In addition, most of the games in the gymnasium are in plastic and similar materials.
I prefer a montessori wooden gymnasium with natural materials.
Finally, the multifunctional gymnasiums are very expensive and, often, you cannot divide l’arco dei giochi appesi dal tappeto morbido.
Wooden ones cost much less, are easily transportable, you can choose where to place them (sopra il tappeto gioco è il massimo) e i giochi sono interchangeable.
2. The importance of the gymnasium for the infant's development
The first year of life represents a rapid development and exciting for each newborn.
Your child develops at lightning speed and improves its psychomotor skills at a glance.
The ways in which your child speaks, interacts, plays and moves provide some important clues about his psychomotor development.
From the first weeks of life, it is advisable to start propose various activities to the child including the prone position (tummy time) and the supine one (pancia in sù).
Tummy Time and Gymnasium
Tummy time, literally time on your belly, indicates the elapsed time prone (belly down) from the baby to play during the day, when it is awake and supervised by the parent himself.
During tummy time on the play mat and in the play gym, babies gradually learn to support la testolina, il collo e la schiena. Inoltre, durante questa attività il bambino develops muscle tone and coordination appropriate to improve its gross-motor skills.
In supine positionon the other hand, the newborn has the arms and hands free.
In this way he will be able to learn to move them in order to coordinate and reach the objects in front of him.
La gymnasium is particularly useful for the development of the infant in supine positionas it guarantees games hanging in front of him capable of stimulate the oculo-manual coordination and others fine-motor skills.
3. What the multifunctional baby gym is for
As we understood from watching the previous video, the psychomotor development of the child starts from the first weeks of life.
To help your child develop at its best, it is important to offer him numerous stimulations, games e interactions during the day.
The multifunctional baby gym one thinks can offer visual and tactile stimulation (through colourful games), stimulation auditory (games with various melodies and music) and stimulation motor skills (coordination in supine position and muscle strengthening in prone position).
This is partly true but not everything.
Le multifunctional gyms are often too colourful and offer too many superfluous stimuli for the infant. In addition, they are very expensive and have other superfluous features that not advice.
Below I explain in full why this is so.
Auditory stimuli
The gymnasium mainly serves to favour the spatial awareness, the oculo-manual coordination and the fine handling.
Stimulations auditory with games and melodies of the multifunctional gymnasium are superfluous. For a excellent language development is much better the mother's face (sitting opposite the child) and a song sung together.
Auditory stimulation without eye contact and without the child being able to look at the face and the lips of the mother, it is very ineffective.
Visual stimuli
Le visual stimulation offering the multifunctional gymnasium are optimal and help the child to improve its eyesight and beyond (click here for visual development of the infant from 0 to 12 months).
There are also, numerous black and white booklets that you can use to stimulate your baby's eyesight from the first weeks of life (find them here).
Motor stimuli
It is often said that the multifunctional gymnasium also serves for proper motor stimulation; spieghiamo meglio questa affermazione, vera per metà.
When the infant is in supine position, toys hung in front of the infant encourage the development of eye-hand-mouth coordination, fine-motor and manipulative skills.
Invece, quando il neonato è in posizione prona, la multifunctional gymnasium non è il luogo ottimale in cui fare tummy time.
The reason is simple.
La palestrina multifunzione è troppo small, too colourfulmade of fabric, too soft (sinks) and slippery.
Infatti, durante il tummy time il neonato ha bisogno di un piano d’appoggio soft but not too soft (such as that of best play mat for baby - click here for full article).
Why should the gymnasium be separated from the mat
The child must position its arms correctly and support well; it must not sink or slip.
Here are the main reasons not to choose a gym attached to the mat:
- The multifunctional gymnasium is too small and too narrow; the play mat is large and allows a free and autonomous movement.
- The multifunctional gym is made of fabric e gets dirty easily; the play mat is in XPE (polyurethane foam) and is easily washable.
- The fabric of the multifunctional gym is slippery and offers little gripnecessary for the movement of the newborn.
- The multifunctional gymnasium is not very thick; the mat is 1.5 cm thick and absorbs all shocks perfectly.
- The multifunctional gym is often too colourful and the child struggles to focus on an object; the play mat is clear and has few plots, facilitating concentration and the sight of the newborn.
So what to do? Acquistare la palestrina multifunzione o non acquistarla? Se sì, quale palestrina acquistare?
4. How to choose the best baby gym
The gymnasium is a game that most parents impulse buys dopo la nascita del bimbo. Questo accade perché one thinks only of beauty aesthetics and little to real needs of the newborn child.
Fortunately, after reading this article so far, you will have understood the features that the best baby gym must have.
I list you how to choose the best gym and subsequently let's compare some.
Come vedi chiaramente dall’immagine sottostante, la palestrina che consiglio non è quella multifunzione.
Here are the features it should have:
- must be stable and safe; it must not risk tipping over easily and falling on the infant's head
- must be easily transportable;
- must not have a soft textile carpet but solo l’arco coi giochi appesi; preferisco dividere l’acquisto della palestrina da quello del tappeto gioco. Scegli, quindi, una palestrina che abbia solo l’arco dei giochi appesi, costa meno ed è più funzionale.
- must be made of natural materialsprefer the wooden gymnasiums to plastic.
- it is better to have soft, neutral colours, rather than too garish ones (especially the fabric carpet).
- the hanging games of the gymnasium must reach the right distance dagli occhi e mani del bambino, nè troppo lontani nè troppo vicini.
After reading this far, here is the amazon links for one of the wooden montessori gyms that mi piace di più.
5. When to start using the baby gym and when to stop using it
The wooden play mat and gymnasium are two of the most important investments in motor development of your baby in the first months of life.
Especially the play mat represents the place where the child spends most of its time playing at home is needed from the earliest months to develop best thanks to the tummy time and other motor activities that I have summarised in the video course From zero to hero.
You can start using the Montessori wooden gymnasium and play mat from the first month of lifestarting with the supine position and gradually introducing tummy time as well.
When you start placing your newborn in the play mat and on the play mat, interact with him and guide the conversation.
Don't just observe but speaks with your baby, move slowly the games in front of him and facilitates his prehension.
Initially, your child will need you to approach i games hands and show them at close range (20-30 cm distance).
Gradually, from the second to the third month il bambino migliorerà la vista, la coordinazione spaziale e la manipolazione dei giochi.
When to stop using it
To understand when to stop using the gym you just have to go along with your little baby's development and wishes.
Usually, around month 4 the gymnasium starts to become monotonous for the child who, after learning to roll and getting better and better with tummy time, will start to prefer the prone position to supine.
At this age, the child is also strong enough to pick up the gymnasium and drop it; as a result, it risks becoming more dangerous than useful.
Also, let your child guide you as to when to stop using the gym: if he snubs it and loses interest, it is time to stop using it and move on to other toys and activities to encourage rolling and crawling.
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