Black and white book Activity
Young babies’ sight is not fully developed at birth. Exposing them to contrasting colours both stimulates and encourages their visual growth. A black and white ‘book’ is a good way to do this.
Why do it?
- Young babies are attracted to high-contrast black and white patterns as their eyes and capacity for sight are not fully developed at birth
- Early exposure to contrasting colours both stimulates and encourages a child's visual growth
- This little ‘book’ can be stood up in front of baby when they’re on the floor, so they have something to look at when they raise their head or turn it to the side.
- Its an easy, low cost activitiy
How to do it
You'll need: White card and dark marker pens.
- Fold your strip of card multiple times to form a zigzag so it can stand on the floor.
- Use dark marker pens to draw simple bold shapes on each square or cut pieces of dark card/paper to make patterns or shapes and stick them firmly on the squares.
- When baby is having some floor time, put the stand-up book where they can see it.
- When you hold baby, try sharing the stand-up book with them in its folded-up state. Try tapping the picture to get baby to look at it.
Using more reo Māori
| Te reo Māori | English |
|---|---|
| Pukapuka | Book |
| Pango | Black |
| Mā | White |
| Pene | Pen or pencil |
| Pepa | Paper |
| Anei te pepa | Here is the paper |
| Titiro mai, he aha tēnei? | Look here, what’s this? |
| He porowhita tēnei | This is a circle |
| He tapatoru tēnei | This is a triangle |
| He ngeru tēnei | This is a cat |
| He aha te tangi o te ngeru? | What noise does a cat make? |
| Titiro ki te motuka | Look at the car |
| Titiro ki te ika | Look at the fish |
