Mouth and mind: how your baby explores objects to understand
Your baby has been finding out about the world using their senses and movement. They will have kicked their legs and realised that as they kick, sometimes they touch things! This awareness will grow as they move their hand towards objects, and you may see that now, when holding an object, they try to move it towards their mouth to explore.
Learning about objects with their mouth
Everything is new to your baby and they are keen to find out more about the things that are around them. One of the main ways that your baby will explore is objects is by putting them in their mouth.[1]
Your baby might not quite have the physical skills to move a toy or object smoothly to their mouth yet, but when you give them something to hold they will move it towards their mouth. They will then use their mouth to investigate the object and find out more about how it feels.
Moving, feeling and listening all supports greater understanding
Your baby’s physical skills support the development of their cognitive skills; as they are able to move with more control, they can bring objects to their mouth and begin to understand more about them.
Your baby’s sensory development supports their understanding of the world and objects – they use what they feel to develop their understanding, and as their vision develops they link what they feel with what they see.
Mouth muscles which will eventually help them speak
Moving their mouth to explore an object gives your baby opportunities to develop the muscles in their mouth. These muscles will support them as they begin to make sounds, and experimenting with different ways of moving their mouth is an important part of learning to speak.[2]
When you talk to your baby as they explore an object, they'll begin to make connections between what you say and what they feel and see. With lots of repetition, they will begin to link objects with their names.
Object exploration is all-sensory learning!
Your baby will use all their senses to learn about objects, so as their physical skills and vision develop, you might notice that they look at objects as they move them towards their mouth. You will probably have already seen your baby watching the movement of their hands, and they will bring together what they see, feel and smell to understand an object.[3]
As your baby’s physical skills develop, they will hold, look at and move objects and bring the things they hold to their mouth to explore further.
References:
[1] Goddard-Blythe, S. (2004). The Well Balanced Child: Movement and Early Learning. Stroud: Hawthorn Press.
[2] Gotzke, C. & Sample Gosse, H. (2007). Research Review: Vocalizing 0 - 3 Months. In L.M. Phillips (Ed.), Handbook of language and literacy development: A Roadmap from 0 - 60 Months. [online], pp. 1 - 8. London, ON: Canadian Language and Literacy Research Network. Available at: Handbook of language and literacy development
[3] Smith, L. & Gasser M. (2005) The development of embodied cognition: six lessons from babies. Artificial life 11(1-2) pp13-29.