B a r b a r a s h e r I l L u s t r a t I o n s b y r a L p h

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Attention Games
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Talk about what you are feeling and make comparisons: “That hair-
brush felt rough, but this marble counter feels so smooth, doesn’t it?”
You can enlarge his vocabulary by using descriptive words, such as
hard, soft, rough, smooth, bumpy, wet, dry, squishy, sharp, solid, and so on.
V
A R I A T I O N S
⽧ Make it a Temperature Tour and go around feeling the temperatures of
things, such as a windowpane in winter and how that feels different
from a radio that is turned on. How is the way the refrigerator feels dif-
ferent from the way the couch feels? Use words such as warm, cold, ice
cold, hot, and very hot.
⽧ Using pinking shears, cut 4-by-6-inch swatches of different fabrics,
such as lace, fake fur, oilcloth, terry cloth, brocade, stretchy fabric, plain
cotton, polished cotton, velvet, vinyl, and leather. Sew them together in
a line and then form that line into a ring that fits around the safety belt
of the car seat or stroller. Or sew squares of different textures onto a
thin blanket for your child to lie on.
⽧ Make a box of things to feel that he can check on at his own leisure.
W
H A T
’
S
B
E I N G
L
E A R N E D
Toddlers are learning how to focus on the sensation of touch and to pay
attention to tactile cues as they learn to distinguish between objects of dif-
ferent textures (or temperatures). This information will later aid them in
understanding categories of textures, such as “things that are soft” and
“things that are cold.”
What Is That Sound?
In this game, you are making a fun activity for both an older child and his
or her younger sibling. The older one gets to make the game with you, and
the other gets to play it.