Learning how to play builds vital life skills

From courses offering babies motor skills, to swimming, fun zone play equipment and trampolining, Hong Kong has something to satisfy your children, writes Vickie Chan.

One thing that most children in Hong Kong have in common is that there just isn’t enough space for them to play – and that issue has different effects at different ages.

Anne Knetch-Boyer has been teaching the PEKiP (Prayer Eltern Kin Programme) infant development for 17 years. This helps babies as young as six weeks to develop good motor skills.

“Babies learn by moving and their first year is about muscle development, reflexes and co-ordination, which matures the brain for future learning and success,” Knetch-Boyer says, adding that social skills and emotional bonding also blossom.

Allowing up to eight babies (with parents) per class in her spacious Tin Wan studio, Knetch-Boyer believes that babies are restricted by space in most Hong Kong apartments. “Play is very important. Spend time on the floor, make them grasp a toy, roll over and try ‘tummy time’ until they can spin and crawl. Parents can find new inspirations for play each session,” she says. Babies will also experience how to interact with different toys, textures, forms and weight and discover actions like shaking and rolling. An obstacle course with stairs and items to crawl over and under teach babies the feeling of their body responding to their muscles as they move.

If you want an idea of how your baby is developing, Knetch-Boyer explains, “rolling and crawling starts by around nine months, but all babies are different. Those who dislike tummy time and learn to sit up will crawl late, thereby developing leg and arm work late, and co-ordination – which stop them from exploring their environment. Our babies are confident, have good balance, are co-ordinated and have excellent social skills once they graduate,” she says.

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