We, as parents, often marvel at the look of concentration on our baby’s face when they are looking at colourful pictures, loud toys, or electronic gadgets. It is surprising how, without having the slightest clue as to what is happening around them, they are trying to understand it. Any moving object becomes the object of their concentration. This age of exploring new things is also the age of motor skills development.
Motor skills are an infant’s ability to make use of their muscles to reach out for things nearby. Motor skills are divided into two distinct forms -Fine motor skills and gross motor skills. Fine motor skills involve smaller actions such as the movement of fingers or toes, while gross motor skills refer to any movement that involves hands, feet, or the entire body. The activities involve crawling, sitting, running, or jumping etc.
When a baby starts to develop their motor skills there are a number of ways the process can be enhanced. One of the easiest and most effective is through play. It can be the play time of girls or the time to play of boys – they all have their own ways of playing. Their favourite toys include push and pull toys, dummy cars, nibblers etc. These toys not only entertain them, but also educate them at the same time. But before we disclose the four best toys to increase a child’s motor skills between the ages of 0 to 1, let’s take a quick look at how these motor skills are developed in this one year course.
In the first four months, the infant doesn’t try to hold or grab anything. Even if he tries, less strength is involved. By the time he turns four months old, he tries to grab an object for more than 5 seconds in his hand, like a rattle. Only the fingers are used and the rattle doesn’t last in his hand for long. By the time the baby turns -8 months old, he develops the movement to keep holding the rattle for longer by encasing it within its palms. By the time he is 9+ months, he will try to pick up objects from surfaces and hold them in his hand.
This is a collaborative post.