Explores what they can do with objects

Your baby’s physical skills are continuing to develop and now they will be able to move to objects they would like to explore. Their growing confidence in their ability to move also gives them opportunities to explore objects in different ways. They can bring one object to another and look at an object from different perspectives and so add to their understanding of objects.  

The development of play with objects.  

Anita Hughes [1] describes babies and children starting to play in different ways as their physical and cognitive skills develop. Now, your baby is beginning to explore the question, ‘What can I do with it?’ as they play with objects. 

When your baby first developed the physical skills to hold and explore objects they were experiencing lots of new and interesting objects. They will have looked at, held, moved, stroked and put objects in their mouth as they found out what the object was like. They might return to this step when they see a new object; even as they begin to explore objects in different ways they  might begin by exploring a new object before they move on to finding out what they can do with the object.

Now, your baby’s physical skills have developed, and they can pick up objects and take them from one place to another, their exploration will change again. They will begin to think about what they can do with objects, this might be a good time to check what they can reach at home. They will explore putting objects inside other objects, so if they can reach a bin check that they haven’t dropped a new, interesting object into the bin before you empty it! They might be interested in having a variety of objects and containers to explore; they might enjoy filling and emptying bags and boxes or seeing if they can put objects on top of each other. Your baby will learn even more about objects through this play and they are likely to play in this way for many months. 

In a few months, after lots of exploration, your baby’s language and cognitive skills will develop, and they will begin to use objects to represent other objects. When they do this, they are demonstrating their knowledge of what objects are used for and recognising similarities between objects. Your baby’s early pretending will often involve pretending an object is another object when there are some similarities between the objects.  

Whilst much of their play involves playing with you or with other people, when your baby plays with objects you might find their focus is much more on the objects. They might bring something to show you, but in this play your role is to provide interesting objects to explore, be close by to offer reassurance and supervision but then simply to give your baby time to play. [2]

What next? 

Your baby will continue to explore using objects in different ways, they might start to use objects to help them to achieve a goal. When they find a new object they will return to exploring, ‘What is this?’ but you will notice them beginning to pretend and use objects to represent other objects when they play.  

Reference 

[1] Hughes, A.M. (2006) Developing Play for the Under 3’s: The Treasure Basket and Heuristic Play. London: David Fulton. 

[2] Goldschmied, E. & Jackson, S. (2004) People Under Three. Young Children in Day Care. (2nd edn.) London: Routledge.