Scrunchy stocking Activity
Supporting vision is crucial in the first two years of life. Eye-muscle control is developed as baby ‘tracks’ (follows a moving object). Turn this into a game, while also making life-long healthy connections between the baby’s eyes and their brain.
Why do it?
- Baby will be interested in the sounds and the different sensations when they touch the scrunchy stocking.
- When it makes an interesting sound, they’ll be encouraged to repeat the action.
- Baby is learning that they can make something (a noise) happen, and when they repeat the action, they get a similar result (cause-and-effect learning).
How to do it
You need:
- a leg section of pantyhose
- 3 or 4 items that make noise and/or have different textures, to stuff into the piece of pantyhose. For example:
- a noisy/crunchy biscuit wrapper
- a ball of wool
- some milk bottle lids
- cotton reels.
Steps
- Push one item into the toe, knot the pantyhose, add another item, knot the pantyhose, and so on. Continue until you run out of pantyhose.
- Place the scrunchy toy where baby can reach it when they are on their tummy on the floor.
- Give baby the words that go with the sounds they make — ‘noisy’ ‘scrunch’ ‘crackle’, ‘quiet’, ‘rattle’, and so on.
Using more reo Māori
| Te reo Māori | English |
|---|---|
| He aha tēnei? | What is this? |
| Titiro mai ki te taputapu nei | Look at this toy here |
| He aha tō pirangi? | What do you want? |
| He aha ngā mea pai ki a koe? | What things do you like? |
| Rawe | Excellent |
| Ka mau te wehi! | Awesome! |
| Aro | Notice, pay attention to |
| Anō | Do it again |
| Takoto | Lie down |
| Tāpapa | Lie down (face down) |
| Puku | Belly |
| Tatangi | To rattle |
| Pā | Fort |
| Pana | Push |
| Romi | Squeeze |
| Kopenu | Crush/crumple |
| Turituri | Noisy |
| Hoihoi | Be noisy |
| Pakepakē | Crunching sound |
