- Hey moms and dads.
Did you know that when your child masters the skill
of using their thumb and their index finger
to grasp things which is called a pincer grip,
they're going be able to use spoons during meal times,
they're going to be significantly more accurate
and cleaner when they're using their fingers
to place finger food in their mouth.
And lastly, which is the most important thing,
your baby's no longer going to need
to place toys in their mouth
when they're exploring them in play.
They now have the ability to kind of manipulate the toys.
So their play shifts
to becoming one where they'll shake the toy,
they'll look at it and they'll turn it and manipulate it.
Babies who continue to use an immature grasp when playing,
so they might use those three fingers
or their whole hand when playing with toys,
continue to place toys in their mouth
because that's how they explore toys
because they don't have that dexterity in their hands yet.
And also they find difficult
to manipulate the smaller toys
that would be expecting at that age.
So what can you do
to help your baby develop this vital skill?
There's some really easy activities
that you can do with your bub
to develop that pincer skill as well.
Some great toys that will help encourage that development.
So make sure you stick around
and you can find out what you can do
to give your child a headstart.
But before we get into it,
make sure you get that free PDF document
on developmental milestones
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as you'll know what to expect
in your baby's first year of life
and when to be concerned.
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So what is the pincer grip?
The pincer grip is the ability to hold an object
between your thumb and your index finger.
So the parts of your thumb and your index finger,
just like this.
When your baby's around eight to nine months,
they'll start to develop an immature pincer grip
which is basically they learn
to hold an item between their thumb and their index finger.
And then as they get to around 10 to 12 months,
really you'd typically see it at 12 months,
your baby will develop a mature pincer grip
which is where they hold the item
between the part of their thumb and their index finger.
So what activities can you do
to help your child develop this skill?
The easiest activity you can do with your child
is give them finger food
that requires them to use that grasp.
So smaller food that is obviously safe for them to eat
and that they're not gonna choke on.
So it might be some cooked pasta,
some cooked potato cubes or pumpkin cubes,
or Cheerios or blueberries that are cut in half
or grapes that are cut in half length ways,
which requires them to kind of grab the food
with their pincer grip.
So again, remember they'll first off use that immature grip
but then they'll get stronger
and they'll start to use the mature pincer grip.
Now, to make it kind of easier for your baby,
and to make sure that they don't use that raking motion
when they're grabbing food off the tray,
I would generally present one food
like piece food at a time.
And that just ensures that
if they've got like five Cheerio's on the tray,
you'll see them using that raking motion.
But if you're only present one at a time,
so one Cheerio at a time, they'll use that pincer grip.
If your baby doesn't,
then you can do some simple things,
like put the food in an egg carton
or an ice cube kind of tray.
So something like this,
because it simply stops them
from being able to put their whole hands
or use their whole hand to grab the item.
They have to kind of isolate those fingers
to pick up the food.
But that's a really easy way
that you can kind of promote that skill,
but also do it in a fun way for your child.
The other way you can do it
is by using inset puzzles that have little knobs on it.
So because that section of the puzzle means
that they have to use that pincer grip to grab it.
You can get puzzle pieces
that have larger kind of knobs on the puzzle
but I would avoid them and stay with the really small ones.
And that's simply because the big ones
kind of encourage your child to use those,
well, your baby, to use those three fingers
or their whole hand to grab it
where the smaller ones mean
that they will actually have to use their thumb
and the index finger to grab the puzzle.
Again, at this age,
we're not expecting them to put the puzzle pieces in.
We're just wanting them to pull the puzzle pieces out.
Another way you can work on the pincer grip
is by presenting them with toys on a string.
And when you present the string,
I would present it in a kind of vertical motion.
So that means that they have to kind of grab it this way.
Whereas if you present it horizontally
you're encouraging them to use
their whole hand to kind of rake the string.
So you want to present it
so that they have I have to pick it up vertically
and just pick it up that way.
Another activity you can do with your child
is give them blocks to play with.
So you generally would use small blocks like this size,
not the larger ones, like the DUPLO size blocks
or the ones that you post into a shape sorter.
So the smaller ones are great,
these are a smidge big for my liking
but when you have the smaller box,
it would mean that they have to grab it
with their pincer grip.
They might use the three jaw chuck grip, but that's fine.
They'll move on to this
as they become more proficient in that skill.
And then by 12 months
they'll be stacking one block on top of the other.
But at this age, you could get them to grab the block
and then post it into
like a metal mixing bowl
or a large ice cream container.
Another great activity you can do with your bub
is use peg men.
Now that's pretty expensive.
So you can use just these kinds of ones,
which are quite cheap and they're decorations,
but when you're presenting it to your baby at 10 months
and up until 12,
really you'd present it this way
where your baby will come and grab it like that.
But by 12 months, your baby will have the ability
to supinate, like rotate their wrist
when they're approaching a toy.
So there'll be able to grab it this way
and then they'll use that pincer grip.
So you can see with the bigger end,
it encourages you to the three fingers
but if you turn it around,
it's a smaller grip required
so you could use that pincer grip.
Now, if you don't have those kinds
of things at home, that's fine.
You could get your little bub
to pull straw out of the container,
or you might be able to use pegs.
So you just present at the same thing
so that they're up straight initially,
and then they'll use that pincer grip,
and then by 12 months,
they'll be able to rotate that hand
and they'll use that pincer grip to grab the toy.
Or if you've got like straws or kind of blunted end,
so this is pick-up-sticks,
you could use that as well
to help your baby develop that pincer skill.
You can also get your bub to turn the pages in board books
because they will kind of do that pinch and flip the page,
so it's working on that pincer skill.
And the other activity you can do
depends on how much you like mess
and a bit of waste, I guess,
is let your child pull out tissues from a tissue box.
Now, when there's a lot of the tissues out,
it kind of encourages that whole hand grasp
just kind of have a small triangle sticking out
so that they pull just a small amount
but do be aware
your baby's gonna really enjoy that activity.
So all the tissues are gonna come out
and they're gonna go everywhere.
So if you're happy to have a bit of mess
and a bit of waste,
then go ahead and use the tissue box.
Now, do you remember when your baby's doing these activities
they're gonna use both hands
to kind of play with the toys and that's totally fine.
We're not expecting your dominant hand
until about two years of age to three,
like that's when we can start to pick it.
So let them use both hands
when they're engaging in these activities.
So that's it moms and dads.
Those are the activities that you can do
to help your baby develop their pincer grip
and have lots of fun while doing it.
Remember to get that free PDF document
in the description box below.
And if you've enjoyed this video
make sure you hit that like button.
And hopefully I'll see you next week
where I'll share more parenting tips and tricks.
(upbeat music)