Nature baby - embracing the outdoors and wiggling those toes

7 min read

On a nice day, find a safe outdoor space for your baby to explore.
Take off their shoes and socks so that they can explore the textures of grass or mud under their toes, and let them have some tummy time in the grass.
If you’re concerned about the grass getting into your baby’s mouth, you can place them on a blanket, with their feet over the edge so that they can still feel the ground under their toes.
Encourage them to reach or move forwards, towards you or an interesting object, and notice how they use their feet to help make the movement.

Feeling different textures will help your baby understand the signals their feet send to the rest of their body when they are developing their fine motor muscles.
As their toes press into the ground, they might take a moment to be surprised by the new sensation of grass or mud, and want to explore it further by wiggling their toes or kicking their feet. This offers them lots of brilliant gross and fine motor movement development.

You can offer your baby lots of opportunity to explore new sensations with their feet by placing them on different textures. Wet mud, sand, soft carpet, hard floors, grass and even bubble wrap or foil will all give different experiences. (Always supervise your baby while they play, and don’t allow them to put bubble wrap or foil near their mouth.)