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Toys for Skill Development - Encouraging Hand to Eye Coordination

How Do Babies Develop Hand to Eye Coordination?

Baby toys that encourage the brain to perfect hand to eye coordination can lead to baby having excellent physical skills and balance.

The ability to control our muscles underlies every move we make. Repetitive practice is what helps the brain and the hand link together which in turn leads to improved hand to eye coordination. Initially a baby's early reflexes are uncontrolled – baby has to learn in the first few months to start to control aspects of his body.

You might watch your two year old trying to bat an object on the play gym and keep missing. Baby has an instinctive urge to keep developing and learning so he will continue to try to bat the object – and eventually he will succeed. This repetitive practice is helping baby understand more and more as connections are made in the brain. The more experiences you can offer baby, the more practice he will have to start making the connections and get on with his life.

What Toys are Available to Help Your Baby to Develop Hand to Eye Coordination?

Play Gyms

Baby toys like play gyms are excellent to encourage the connections between the hand and the eye as baby has a variety of hanging objects to observe and then try to touch. Baby will start to reach out to the objects he wants to touch and will initially miss but parents will soon observe that baby starts to reach his goal more and more.

Wrist and Feet Rattles

Wrist and feet rattles will also encourage baby to learn to control his hand movements.

The Lamaze “ Ladybug and Butterfly Foot Finder” rattles encourage baby to learn about cause and effect. The soft wrist rattles and funky bug socks will encourage baby to shake their hands and kick their legs to be rewarded with rattling sounds. Great for developing hand to eye co-ordination and instilling confidence.

Lamaze Flip Flop Activity Block

Encouraging baby to pick up objects and explore them will reinforce the connections that are being made as baby learns firstly to grasp an object then perfect the pincer grip that is a finer motor skill.

The Lamaze “Flip Flop Activity Block” is designed for children aged from 3 to 6 months when baby is discovering the world around them by looking, touching and experiencing. The four cloth cubes are made of different textures and line up initially in a row. But if they are put together a different way using the sticky Velcro, they form a large cube.

Blocks and Shape Sorters

Helping baby to build towers by using baby toys like the wooden blocks from Heros or mastering shape sorters like the ones from the Early Learning Centre will lead to perfecting hand to eye coordination.

The VTech “Sort and Soar Rocket” for example is a fun electronic toy that encourages baby to master the shape sorter but also enjoy music and lights. Once all the shapes are in place the rocket ‘blasts off' with a crescendo of lights and sounds – and all the shapes fall out ready for baby to start again. Great fun.

Developing Baby's Hand to Eye Coordination – Galt Jungle Pals Skittles Game

Galt “Jungle Pals Skittles” will allow baby to play a game with you – he'll learn to throw the ball at the skittles and in time, he'll knock them down. Kicking a ball around the garden is also a great skill for baby to master.

Activity Centres

Babies will also start to master the art of banging two objects together with increasing expertise. As his finger grip improves his movements become more and more intricate until baby can choose how he wants to pick something up.

The “Developlay Activity Centre” from Tiny Love will intrigue babies as they try to fiddle with the levers to get results. The “Developlay Activity Centre” is designed to be played with by babies over nine months old.

To find out more about what to look out for when choosing and buying nursery toys visit our How to Choose and Buy a Baby Toy for Different Ages section and our How to Choose and Buy a Baby Toy for Helping to Develop Different Skills section.

To find out more about the different types of nursery toy that are available for each age group visit our Types of Nursery Toy section.

To find out more about the different online baby and nursery toy shops and stores visit our Top Sites section.

To find out more about the different baby toy brands, visit our Top Brands section.

You can also find out more in our How to Play with Baby section.