Looking and reaching: how your baby’s development is interconnected

During your baby’s journey, you might notice that there is a similar skill in a couple of streams on the app – this is because sometimes what your baby does brings together aspects of their development. Reaching is amazing and really shows how your baby’s skills link together!  

You might notice that your baby is looking at things that are close to them; as they move their arms they might be touching things.   

Reaching is amazing because it uses skills in different streams of development. 

• Gross motor: touching things by accident helps your child as they begin to control movement to move towards the object that they want to touch. 
• Sensory: your baby’s developing vision helps them to link what they see with what they touch. They will spend lots of time looking at their hands as they make connections between what they feel and what they can see, and develop awareness of their body.  
• Fine motor: touching objects is the beginning of using their hands to grab and feel objects; they will need to move a lot to develop the strength and control to hold objects.  
• Cognitive: your baby will use what they see and feel to understand objects. As they do this, they will be able to think about objects that they can't see, and of ways to solve problems.  

And when you comment and smile as your baby looks at and touches objects, they are learning about the words used to describe things and about their connection with you, so there are links to language and social and emotional development, too.