At this age, your baby should be starting to isolate fingers to poke and point at objects. Many are finger feeding, and their ability to pick up objects with a neat pincer grasp (between the pads of their thumbs and pointer fingers) should be solidifying. They should be able to pick up and put objects into containers as well.
Pincer Grasp
Babies pincer grasps (holding objects between their thumbs and pointer fingers) should become refined at this age. Encourage this important skill by having your child pick up small objects, such as puffs, cheerios or cut up pieces of cooked fruit and veggies.
Ripping Paper
Babies like to rip paper, and fortunately it’s also really good for their hands. In addition to strengthening them, it also encourages using the radial aspect (thumb side) of their hands, which is important for grasp development. Allow them to tear scrap paper and tissue paper, and join along in on the activity with them. Make sure to supervise this task for safety purposes.
Pages and Pointing
Continue reading to your child with board books and allowing them to turn pages in the books. At this age, pointing and finger isolation are developing. Assist your child in pointing to pictures in the books you are reading together.
Buttons and Toys
In order to further develop the ability to isolate their fingers and point, provide your baby with cause and effect toys that require them to push buttons with their fingers. Cause and effect toys are optimal for this purpose.
Clean Up
Encourage your child to place various toys and objects into different containers like boxes and bags with different sized openings. Allow them to dump the toys out and repeat the process. This activity helps with fine motor skill and grasp development in addition to voluntary release of objects.
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