Encouraging early looking, reaching and grasping (0-4 months)
Babies start to reach toward interesting objects that catch their attention and are within reaching distance. Over the first few months their reaching becomes more accurate and they learn to position their hands and open the fingers in readiness for grasping. Once they get hold of a toy they will pull, push or shake it to see what happens.
This early experience is important for developing coordination between the head, trunk and arm movements. Read more
How to set up a play gym for encouraging early looking and reaching
A play mat (play gym) with places for suspending toys provides a wonderful environment for infants to practice their looking, reaching, grasping and finger movements. The opportunity for repeated practice of these actions is especially important for infants who are at risk for later attention and fine motor difficulties, including preemie infants, Down syndrome, developmental delay and infants who generally are less active and are not motivated to move. Read more
By 4 months infants are becoming quite good at bringing their hands to a toy and sometimes they succeed at grabbing it as well. Th difficult part of grasping is shaping and positioning the hand for easy grasp.
