The stages of reaching to hit an object with their fingers 

As your baby gains more control over their movements, you might see them reach out and hit an object that is close to their fingertips. This is the linked control of their arms and hands in action: your baby needs control of their arms to position their hands, as well as to provide support when they have the control to hold and move objects.^[1]

The different phases of reaching 

The development of reaching is an important step for your baby; when they can reach objects they can explore the world in different ways. Reaching allows them to touch objects and, as their grasp develops, hold objects and bring them to their mouth to explore.  

Your baby will gradually adjust their arm movements as they develop the control to reach objects. Even before your baby can reach an object they will begin to adjust the way that they move their arms when there is something close to them.^[2] 

It's thought that the development of reaching involves three phases, each involving slightly different responses to a toy or object that is close to them.^[2] 

• Early phase – when your baby sees a toy they look at it and move their arms less, moving their hands downwards but then keeping their arms fairly still.  
• Mid-phase – when your baby sees a toy they move more, their movements are faster, and they move their hand towards the toy. The movement towards the toy is thought to be the beginning of them being able to accurately move their hand to touch the toy; this development will take some time and lots of practice.  
• Late phase – your baby will continue to move their hand towards a toy that is close to them. They might move their hands upwards towards a nearby toy, and it is at this point that you might notice they can hit a toy or object that is close to their fingertips.  

Reaching involves vision, cognitive development, gross and fine motor skills

Your baby will use their vision to judge the distance to an object, their thinking skills to decide to reach for an object and then gross and fine motor skills to move their arm and hand in order to reach. 

Your baby will develop these skills as they move, look at and touch objects, moving from touching things accidentally as they move their arms to doing this more deliberately as they bring together information from what they see and feel.  

The journey towards accuracy, grasp and exploration has begun

During the next few months, your baby will develop their accuracy when reaching towards objects and will gradually be able to reach with one hand while keeping the other side of their body still. They will be able to open their hand so that they can grasp an object and will be able to move an object to their mouth to find out more about the item that they are holding.  

References:

[1] Sugden, D & Wade, M. (2013) Clinics in developmental medicine. Typical and atypical motor development. London: Mac Keith Press. 

[2] Bhatt, A.N. & Galloway, J.C. (2006) Toy-oriented changes during early arms movements: Hand kinematics. Infant Behavior and Development. 29(30) pp358-372.