Create safe and interesting spaces where your baby can move around and explore.
Babies need to spend some of their play time on their stomachs for healthy motor development.
When placed on the tummy for short periods, babies can explore objects in an environment conducive for exploration and discovery. Hewitt, L., Stanley, R. M. & Okely, A. D. (2017). Correlates of tummy time in infants aged 0-12 months old: A systematic review. Infant Behaviour and Development, 49 310-321. Jennings, J. (2008). Touting tummy time: Infants benefit from early use of position. Advance for Physical Therapy and Rehab Medicine, 19(25), 26.
When infants observe others’ goal-directed reaching actions, they map both the movement and the goal onto their
- Boyer, T. W., & Bertenthal, B. I. (2016). Infants’ observation of others’ actions: Brief movement-specific visual experience primes motor representations. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 34(1), 38–52. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjdp.12103
Babies often see something they would like to touch and hold but are hindered by unrefined muscles in their arms and hands. Expect newborns to swipe and swat; grasping what they see happens only accidentally. With more practice, babies will be able to grab and hold on to an object.1
Babies at this stage become aware that an object can exist even when they cannot see it. This awareness is referred to as object permanence. It explains a younger infant’s delight and surprise when playing peek-a-boo.
As babies’ brains and nervous systems continue to develop, they begin to coordinate, combine, and integrate sensory inputs (visual and auditory) in what researchers call intermodal perception. A baby’s hard-wired need to explore and learn is ready to be satisfied when voluntary movements gradually replace reflexes, coupled with increasing muscle strength and sensory perception capacity.