How Your Baby Uses Their Hands for Play Skills

 Did you know that long before they can clap or point your baby is working towards these crucial play skills?

We want to share with you more information about your baby’s journey towards these big recognisable milestones. There are actually lots of tiny steps on the journey you can enjoy as they emerge and encourage them through play! At Walky Talky Hub in Myaree, Perth, our physiotherapy services can help support this exciting growth.

5 Things You Didn’t Know About Baby Play Skills and Hand Development

1. Why Newborns Suck Their Hands – Early Baby Play Skills

Newborn babies often have closed hands, they grasp reflexively and one of their first skills is bringing their hands into their mouths.

We recently had this question from one of our lovely members in our Walky Talky Baby Village “I have a question about my son who constantly has his hands in his mouth..... does this generally mean he’s hungry or now that he is 3 months old it’s a developmental thing?”

This is an extract from the answer “Yes it is likely a developmental thing. Babies have a HUGE area of their sensory map in the brain dedicated to the mouth. They learn so much of the world by "mouthing" things, hands first then toys!

Sucking the hands doesn't mean that they will end up being thumb suckers (I get asked this a lot) but does frequently offer them comfort so hand sucking can mean hunger, tired, or "I'm just trying to soothe myself".

OR none of those things and just "I'm interested in my hands and trying to learn more about them!" 

Babies then go on to mouth other things, feet, toys etc and usually use this as the primary way of exploring things until about 12 months. Anything new and interesting they'll put in their mouth first. 

As their hand skills develop they start to use their hands to explore more. Short story your son is at the start of a fascinating journey of learning and discovery about his body, the world, and how they interact!

2. Learning to Reach – An Important Baby Play Skill

Over the first few months, you'll see your baby’s hands uncurl and your baby start to use them purposefully to bat at, reach towards, and grasp things they want to explore.

 Your face and hair are perfect for this early exploration. Position your baby close to you on your lap in a baby nest, or in side lying. Each position offers different benefits to your baby’s development so try and include a variety each day.  Hold your face within arm’s reach and talk to and smile at your baby.  They will reach towards your face with their hands and by 3 months this movement will start to be more smooth and purposeful.

If you would like more information on the development of early skills like reaching and how to position and support your baby check out our Walky Talky Baby Membership. We have loads of photos of different play positions, toys and lot of other information about how to support your baby’s movement, communication and play.

3. Sitting and Hand Skills – Baby Play Skills Milestones

Most babies can sit independently and play without falling over by around 7 months. No longer needing to use their hands to hold their position frees them up for play! From 6 to 12 months babies quickly develop a wide range of hand play skills including clapping, banging toys together, transferring things between hands, turning book pages, poking, picking up small objects using a pincer grip and putting things in and out of containers. Our physiotherapy services at the Walky Talky Hub can help guide parents if extra support is needed at this stage.

 4. Hand Skills and Communication in Baby Play 

Between 9 and 12 months your baby will learn to use a number of natural gestures like pointing, waving and the open hands, “where is it?” movement. These gestures are copied initially and then your baby will start to perform these movements independently at appropriate times in order to communicate. 

This is a fantastic time to start some baby sign with your baby. Your baby will often be able use signs to communicate their needs before they can speak the words. Check out our baby sign blog for loads more information on this. At Walky Talky Hub in Perth, our speech therapy services can also support families who want professional guidance on baby communication and play skills.

5. How to Support Baby Hand Skills Through Play

Try these simple ideas to support the development of your baby’s hand skills.

• Present your baby with a variety of toys and objects to touch, reach, grasp, hold and explore. Watch to see what captures their interest and follow their lead.
• Let your baby investigate a range of textures. You don’t need fancy set up every day experiences like- Splash in the bath, get messy with food, play with grass, leaves and sand outside.
• Give your baby space to try first but you can also model different ways of using your hands in play- shake, build, tap together, knock down etc. Watch to see if your baby asks for more and joins in with play
• Encourage your baby to use their hands to play in a variety of positions. On their back, side, sitting and on tummy. Your baby’s muscles work a little differently in each position and they will find different things easier or harder in each.

Several therapy services, such as physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy at Walky Talky Hub in Perth, can give parents extra tools to build on these play skills.