Expand Your Child's Horizons On Any Budget

Researchers say baby gesturing can build vocabulary, boost language learning and ease babies’ frustration when attempting to communicate. Even Robert De Niro tried it as uber-involved-grampa in Meet the Fockers.

The Dream

Find local classes through either Sign2Me, the site of baby sign expert Joseph Garcia, or BabySigns. Both programs charge about $150-200 per six-week session for parent-child classes, less for workshops exclusively for parents.

The Reality

Try using Michigan State’s American Sign Language Browser, which plays Quicktime video of popular signs so you can teach your baby at home (free). Or, say yes – a fist-like handshape you shake up and down – to flashcards, like these sign language flashcards from mocobabies, $25 for a set of 35.

For decades, overeager parents have sung (hummed?) the praises of classical music as a means of early education, starting in the womb. Because music that makes you smart can’t have catchy lyrics.

The Dream

There’s Music Together, Kindermusik, Gymboree Music Classes and many locally-offered Suzuki method classes, all of which claim to increase literacy, language, math and reasoning skills. Prices vary, but you can expect to pay $30-40 per session – more for a private music instructor, less if you pre-pay for multiple classes.

The Reality

There are a gazillion classical music CDs specifically for babies and mothers-to-be, including the Mozart Series (CDs start at $6.98) and the Mozart for Mothers-to-Be, Bach for Babies and Beethoven for Babies trio of recordings done by the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields Orchestra ($6.99 each). Playing music and singing together is interactive learning and a means to develop your baby’s ear. And what about church services? There’s usually a choir, classical music and it happens at the same time and place every week. Babies can bounce and sway in pews and no one seems to mind if they cry out occasionally. Free, unless you feel guilty when the collection plate comes around.

For emerging foodies, it’s important to introduce palate-expanding flavors early.

The Dream

Kid-focused culinary school. Classes taught by Samantha Saffir-Barnes at Kitchen Kid in Los Angeles instruct little ones as young as 3 years to craft dishes like fish steamed en papillote with a citrus beurre blanc and lemon-marscarpone risotto. Tot Chefs (ages 3-6), $108 for three hour-long classes; Growing Gourmands (ages 7 and up), $390 for a weeklong, 5 day session. On the East coast, try a Culinary Walking Tour for kids and parents with Home Cooking New York, $400/4 people plus groceries. You’ll cruise such food-centric neighborhoods as Little India and Chinatown, and then you’ll go back to the studio to cook a meal with what you’ve bought.

The Reality

Stroll through your local farmer’s market, taking the time to let kiddos smell, touch and taste fresh food. (There are often free tours through markets like New York’s Greenmarket.) Then, with a kid-focused guide like The Kids’ Multicultural Cookbook (what kid doesn’t want to try ox-eye eggs?), try giving kids a bigger role in the kitchen, even if they make a mess.

Every preschool applicant worth his fingerpaint knows the difference between Picasso’s blue period and his Cubist phase. This information will also come in useful for male babies once they get older and want to pick up girls at museums.

The Dream

Depending on where you live, the dream and reality could converge on this one – major museums like The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston all have outstanding programs for kids including hands-on activities, child-focused museum guides and a slew of different classes and workshops. If you live close to a major art museum, you’re living the dream. If not, a long road trip or weekend visit is a splurge to consider. Before you get there, try reading the online paper (pdf) "Looking at Art with Toddlers" by PhD Early Childhood Education experts from the Toledo Museum of Art and the Smithsonian. It’s five pages of big font explaining how to get the most out of your visit to the museum, from what questions to ask to what activities are appropriate once you’re back home.

The Reality

If you’re off the grid somewhere and can’t get to a major museum, places like the Met can come to you. Try interactive art-based online resources like the Met’s "Learn About Color" and "Aaron’s Awesome Adventure" (free!). Order up a bunch of postcards of famous paintings and create a set of flashcards to talk about with your child. With a little parent education, you can turn any illustrated book at home into an art lesson, asking your child about a picture’s mood, if its lines are straight or curvy, who is the picture about, can you pose like the figure in the picture? Try boning up on toddler art appreciation with two academic guides for parents and educators: Young at Art: Teaching Toddlers Self-Expression, Problem-Solving Skills, and an Appreciation for Art by Susan Striker and First Art: Art Experiences for Toddlers and Twos by MaryAnn F. Kohl, Renee F. Ramsey, Dana Bowman and Katheryn Davis. Both are available free online at Google Books: Young at Art here, First Art here.