Fine motor development
A young infant practices eye-hand coordination while reaching for and grasping novel items.
Sit on the floor facing a young infant who is on his/her back and ready to play. Greet the infant by name and present a soft toy he/she can grasp with two hands. Cheerfully encourage the infant to hold the toy. If the infant shows interest in continuing to interact with you (or on another day), put colorful socks or sock rattles on the infant. Encourage the infant to grab his/her feet. Talk with the infant about his/her reaching and holding. If an infant is not receptive to holding the object or reaching for his/her feet, hold the infant in your lap to engage in a back-and-forth interaction of making sounds and looking at one another. Present the toy again when the infant appears ready.
The brief (probably 30–60 seconds) sets of actions suggested in this plan offer support for the infant’s eye-hand coordination. An infant’s eyes and hands begin working together in the first few months of life and become gradually more refined as the infant grows. A nonmobile infant will usually work hard to visually track objects you hold and move slowly from side to side. At about three months, the infant may begin to extend his/her arms toward a toy or other appealing objects.
The way you respond to the infant shapes the activity. The experience is enriched for the infant when you talk with the infant during the activity and describe his/her actions. Use reassuring tones and words to talk with the infant.
Extra support
Enrichment
Fine motor development
An older infant practices using thumb and finger separately while playing with a musical toy that has holes.
Be Prepared: Toy possibilities include OBall® Musical Toy and Jingle and Shake Pal.
[Sit on the floor facing a mobile infant and invite him/ her to play with the musical toy. Greet the infant by name and place the toy within easy reach. Encourage the infant to explore the toy on his/her own. The novel toy with the sound maker inside will almost certainly capture the infant’s interest.]
We have a toy with many holes.
[Point to the toy.]
Let’s find out about this toy. I see a little ball inside.
[Point to the small ball inside the toy.]
[Observe and describe how the infant handles the toy. Example: “You are shaking the toy. The little ball makes a musical sound.” Pause for the infant’s reaction.
An infant may hold the toy with one hand and use his/her pointer finger on the opposite hand to poke the little ball. Talk about the infant’s actions. Emphasize “your finger.”
Some infants may be interested in moving the small rings on the side of the musical toy. Touch one small ring with one finger and make it move. Encourage the infant to touch the rings with one finger.
Continue talking with the infant about the toy with the ball inside as long as he/she remains interested.
Acknowledge persistence in exploring the toy. Example: “You are really trying to move the little ball with your finger.”]
[Describe the toy and what happened. Example: “We played with a toy that makes sounds. Our toy has holes. You used one finger to poke the ball inside. You shook the toy and moved the little rings on the side. We heard sounds when the ball moved.”]
The activity option supports an infant’s emerging skill in isolating use of the pointer finger. At about eight months, infants begin to use the thumb and pointer finger separately from the rest of the hand. Infants will enjoy poking one finger into a toy with holes in this activity.
Before an infant can differentiate finger use, he/she typically uses a raking motion, with all fingers at the same time, to grasp small objects. The raking action strengthens fingers and develops coordination. Infants generally hold objects with their whole hand, and reach with either the left or right hand before more refined hand motions emerge. Exploring objects with two hands is supported by the ability to sit with good balance.
To an infant, it may seem the little ball can come out of the musical toy. Some infants may use fingers to poke and move the ball little ball inside, intent on freeing it. Allow the infant time to manipulate the toy on his/her own. Talk about the toy and the infant’s actions. Example: “You are poking the little ball with your finger and making it move inside the toy. The little ball is inside the toy.”
Extra support
Enrichment
Fine motor development
Older infants practice using thumb and finger separately with a novel toy that offers finger holes and a sock rattle inside.
Be Prepared: This activity is for infants who enjoyed Option 2 and are ready for a fun challenge. Prepare one OBall® for each infant by putting one sock rattle inside. Wiggle the sock through one hole and poke it into the middle of the toy with your finger.
Sit on the floor facing the infants during a play period. Some infants may use one finger to simply touch the sock, and some infants may work to remove it. Talk with the infants about the OBall®. Acknowledge each infant for using their fingers to reach into the OBall®. Repeated experiences handling objects of various sizes and shapes begin to refine an infant’s eye-hand coordination and skill.
You may notice different responses to the OBall®, depending upon the development and interests of each infant. Infants who stand and walk may focus on carrying or throwing the ball. Some infants will be fascinated by the sock inside. Infants who have developed an efficient way to poke one finger into a hole may be very interested in touching the sock. If an infant removes the sock from the ball, enthusiastically recognize his/her persistence. Put the sock back into the ball or keep it in your pocket to put away later. Young infants who are at a stage of watching and reaching for toys may enjoy sitting on your lap with one OBall®. Vary your responses to the infants based upon their actions. Some infants may enjoy simply passing the ball back and forth to you. You can give your attention to one infant at a time during the activity, not unlike a waiter serving three people at one table.
Extra support
Enrichment
Materials Needed: several balls (such as whiffle balls), basket, muffin pan, toys with buttons (such as a toy phone)
Set up a space where nonmobile infants can move freely while learning to control their bodies through rolling and reaching. Include some (but not too many) different types of colorful toys. Sit on the floor and describe infants’ actions.
Place several balls in a basket for early-mobile infants to remove. A muffin pan on a low surface is a good container for balls. Infants who grasp with their whole hand can remove the toys from the muffin pan. Provide whiffle-type balls with holes along with a variety of other infant balls in several areas of the room
Mobile infants will enjoy toys with buttons, such as the toy phone. Some infants may use a hand to press the buttons, and others may push a button with one index finger. The phone button serves as a target for the visually guided index finger.
Materials Needed: nonbreakable bottles, snap-link beads, pegboards, muffin pan
In addition to offering the activity options for infants, toddlers may enjoy putting their pointer fingers into nonbreakable bottles or poking their fingers into the holes of snap-link beads. Preschool-age and older children will benefit from playing with pegboards. Younger infants will enjoy being held and offered small toys to hold. Infants who creep will enjoy getting ahold of objects you place into a muffin pan. Infants are not expected to return the items to the pan.