Play Learn Grow {Birth to 3}

Babies and toddlers develop so quickly that what is fun today is boring tomorrow. Whether or not your baby or toddler attends a stimulation class, the activities in PLAY LEARN GROW are age-appropriate and correspond to the latest research in development and the brain. In addition, each age-related phase concludes with a checklist that offers you the assurance that your little one is progressing. Faster is not better but progress is important and fun. And with a caring adult, it is the best brain food for 0 – 3-year-olds. Come play with us! Come Learn with us! Come Grow with us!

There is a Play Deficit in our country and it is harming our children. Our children are playing less than any previous generation, and research clearly shows this lack of play is producing profound physical, emotional, social and intellectual problems for today’s kids. We can save play so our children can be fitter, smarter, happier and healthier – DARREL HAMMOND

We are often too busy and distracted – or in too much of a hurry to stop and simply enjoy the moment, but a baby, infant or toddler knows exactly how to make us stop and pay attention to all the wonders of the world that are right there, before our eyes. It is in those moments, the ones where we make eye contact with our baby or when we hear their giggles of utter delight at the simplest of things, that time stands still and we feel truly special and blessed. All our distractions disappear into the background and these moments become the ones that really matter. Our young ones need us and depend on us, to be able to laugh out loud, to play, to sometimes just be silly, and of course- to be clever.

Dr Melodie de Jager is the proud mother of Ruan and Janique, Waldo and Juané, Cozette and SW. She is the founder of the BabyGym® Institute International, the Mind Moves® Institute and the author of ground-breaking non-fiction on the subjects of preconception care, birth, child development and quality of life – irrespective of age. Her books have been published in English, Afrikaans, Danish, Hungarian, Italian, Polish and Spanish, but it is her heart, more than her work, that has touched the lives of young and old.