Description
How to use the Contrast Cards?
Place the cards at a distance of about 25/30 cm from the newborn's face, and for each card let the child observe, focus and concentrate on that image. After a few minutes, change cards.
STEP 1: Black and white images
For the first 2 months, show the black and white side of the cards to the child, because they are the ones he perceives best.
STEP 2: Images in primary colors
From 2 months onwards, start turning the cards from the "colored" side, as this is the moment in which the newborn begins to distinguish and have a preference for primary colors.
When to use them?
During Tummy Time, i.e. the time that the child spends on the floor, on a soft carpet, especially on his stomach, the Contrast Cards become a perfect tool not only for promoting the development of vision, focus, perception of depth, but also for strengthening the muscles of the neck and back!
Initially you can also leave the baby on one side and place the cards in front of his face, then slowly you can turn him over on the stomach (which you can actually do from birth, because it helps strengthen the muscles and has great benefits in subsequent motor development) and always place the cards in front of him so that he has to lift his head to observe them.
How does a newborn's vision develop?
Did you know that sight is the least developed sense at birth?
A newborn is able to focus and distinguish an object only if placed 25/30 cm away from him.
In this stage the child distinguishes light from dark and the first images it captures are those with high contrast and well-defined outlines.
Maria Montessori had in fact ascertained that a child placed in front of images of this kind can maintain an observation and concentration time of about 20/25 minutes!
1 MONTH: the child is attracted to black and white images which are the ones he distinguishes most clearly. The preference is generally for intense colors and for contrasts such as light color versus dark color
2 MONTHS: can distinguish red from green and begins to have a preference for bright primary colors and more and more complicated reasons. A process of distinguishing between color shades also begins, which will become more and more refined in the months to come
3/4 MONTHS: Recognizes blue and yellow, provided they are intense in tone
6 MONTHS: Color vision and visual acuity are comparable to that of an adult
EN 
IT