Fine motor skills are hand skills, and they start developing early. They are important for every aspect of your child’s life, and ensuring that children are meeting milestones and using their hands effectively early on helps put them on a healthy path.
At one month, your babies should be able to close their fingers around your finger or soft objects (flexion/grasping reflex). At two months, babies have an emerging ability to open their hands (finger extension) and should be able to grasp toys, including rattles. At three months, your babies should begin to shake toys like rattles, open their hands, put their hands to their mouths, and bring their hands together towards the middle of their bodies (at midline).
Reaching and Grasping
You can encourage your babies to develop fine motor skills and the ability to bring their hands together. Hold your babies in front of you or place them in a supported sitting position and allow them to reach out to your face while you engage them by talking, smiling, and singing. You can also do this while putting your babies on the right side of their bodies and then the left side of their bodies while lying down next to them. They may need a cushion behind them to support this side-lying position. Alternatively, offer your baby a toy, a rattle, or a finger to reach towards and grasp. Placing small toys or your finger in their hands should result in reflexive closing of your babies’ hands. Note how long they can hold on before releasing, and whether they are able to grasp objects for longer over time.
Mobiles and Toys
Buy mobiles or make them using string and hanging toys. Place your babies on their backs or hold them so they can reach towards and move the objects. This activity encourages development of both fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. Additionally, use wrist rattles to promote awareness and movement of the arms and hands. These are activities that should always be done with adult supervision for safety purposes.
Bringing Hands to the Middle
Being able to bring hands together at the middle of their bodies and to their mouths is an essential skill for babies’ feeding and play purposes. Help your babies bring their hands together and to their mouths with physical assistance that you can gradually fade as they learn to do it themselves.
Bottle Feeding
Assist your babies to place their hands on their bottles while feeding, and help them sequentially develop the ability to touch, place their hands on the bottle independently, and eventually self-feed with their bottles over time. Make sure their hands are in front of them and free for the movement this requires. This facilitates both fine motor development and self-feeding skills.
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