So many par­ents today are fool­ing them­selves by buy­ing high-tech gad­gets and things like Baby Ein­stein, think­ing that they are mak­ing their chil­dren smarter. The best pos­si­ble thing to do for your chil­dren to aid in their growth is to inter­act with them as much as pos­si­ble. Basic things such as blocks, pic­ture books, stack­able rings, sim­ple puz­zles, dolls/action fig­ures, play houses, leg­gos, etc. are incred­i­ble learn­ing tools. Your child is build­ing fine motor skills while at the same time using cre­ativ­ity and explo­ration to make synap­tic con­nec­tions. Don’t for­get to use fun sen­sory things like play­dough, clay, water, mud, sand, and shav­ing foam as well. Art sup­plies should include lots of blank paper, red, blue, yel­low, black and white paint (let your child dis­cover new col­ors as she mixes the paint), a box of mixed crayons, pens, or pen­cils, and glue or scis­sors depend­ing on age-appropriateness. Remem­ber that our par­ents and grand­par­ents didn’t have a lot of high-tech equip­ment when they were grow­ing up and they seemed to make it okay!