When you’re playing with your baby, you can help them develop this skill by holding an interesting object up for them to look at and slowly moving it from side to side. Notice how long they track it for and their cues that they have lost interest – they might look away or become restless, for example.
The importance of face time – babies look at face-like objects for longer!
Some items will fascinate your baby for longer than others, and a study from 2003[1] looked at what kinds of objects interested babies (aged 2-6 months) most, so resulted in more visual tracking.
They found that babies looked for longer at ‘attractive, face-like stimulus’ rather than simple shapes, such as a cross.
Your baby will be looking for something new to admire...
The same study found that the more often a baby saw the same item, the lower the total amount of visual tracking time became. This is not likely to be groundbreaking news for any parent as we know babies are drawn to new, exciting things that they don’t usually see – and often can’t play with, like a sharp knife or a glass.
What do you have at home that might capture your baby’s interest?
Knowing this research, when you’re thinking of something to play with your baby and want to support their visual tracking, try to find something a bit new or unusual to show them.
Look for items with interesting shapes or faces – and create some of your own by adding eyes, a nose and a mouth to things like an old wooden spoon, plastic cup or even your own hand. Just make sure it will wash off before you head to the shops!
Reference:
[1] Gamé, F., Carchon, I. and Vital-Durand, F. (2003) ‘The effect of stimulus attractiveness on visual tracking in 2-6 month-old infants.’ Infant behavior & Development. 26, 135-150.