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. Fuel their inquiring minds with a Wondertivity busy book and they will amaze you with the worlds they can create.  

Inspire your child's imagination by using the pieces from the busy book as props. 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 let their imagination run wild. 

Developing Fine Motor Skills

Gaining control of those smaller muscles of the hands and fingers is no easy task. Wondertivity busy books offer plenty of opportunity to practice these skills. Babies can work on the pincer grip by manipulating smaller pieces and toddlers will be able to fine tune this skill by working through the activities in each busy book. This skill is crucial for school readiness to enable children to hold a pencil the right way and use scissors for school activities. 

Developing Focus and Memory

There are countless opportunities to develop your child's attention span and memory in a Wondertivity busy book. One active way is to ask your child to play a game involving instructions. For example "place the angry eyes on the face" or to "put the pink dress on the dolly". Once your child has mastered simple instructions you can make it more interesting with two step instructions and multi step instructions such as "put the shirt on the dolly and then put on her leggings" or "before putting the 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. Get older children involved by asking them to describe what they see and eventually create stories using props from the book.

Name recognition 

Personalised Wondertivity books not only makes the busy book that little bit more special, it has 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 your child will be able to make up basic sums and use the felt fingers to model the number sentences. Make it fun by using the felt pieces from other activity pages as counters.  

Other Mathematical Concepts

Wondertivity busy books and quiet books will expose your child to a range of other mathematical concepts such as shapes, colours and patterns. Expand your child’s learning by sharing more information about these different concepts. For example, “this is a square, it has four sides and four corners, the colour blue is a cold colour, you can mix blue with red to make purple.” 

Of course there are countless other ways of using the Wondertivity busy books to further your child's learning. Feel free to share your favourite activities with me at hello@wondertivity.com.au.