5 motor skill activities for babies
From the moment they come into the world, babies are eager to explore and learn. By stimulating their motor skills you help lay a strong foundation for their future development. Here are 5 beneficial motor skill activities for your baby.
1. Tummy Time: Activities & Tips
Tummy time is a crucial developmental exercise that plays a pivotal role in enhancing your baby's motor skills and strengthening their neck, shoulders, and upper body. These foundational skills are essential for achieving exciting milestones such as independent head lifting, sitting unaided, and mastering the art of crawling.
The MODU Base Block is perfect for tummy time exercises. Crafted with your baby's safety and development in mind, the block's dimensions provide a secure surface for your baby to explore. Place a Round or Square Block underneath the tip to elevate the block. This makes it easier for your baby to engage their core muscles, and promote proper alignment and balance. Giving your little one a gentle lift, can even help to reduce the chances of reflux or spit-ups. A win win for both you and your baby!
Once your baby has gained confidence lying on a flat surface and lifting their head, it's time to introduce more engaging challenges. Add some excitement and test their balance by placing them on a Scooter Board using the MODU Base Block and the MODU Swirly Wheels. Begin gradually, ensuring a slow increase in speed and changes of direction. Utilizing pegs as support and handles will help keep your baby secure throughout the activity.
2. Climbing: Igniting Early Motor Skills Development
Different types of climbing play a very important role in early childhood motor skills development. Climbing is like a full-body and mind exercise that boosts both cognitive and physical skills. As your baby navigates various surfaces, they enhance their spatial awareness and challenges their sense of balance. Through climbing, your baby also refine their fine motor skills by grasping and holding onto surfaces, which promotes hand-eye coordination and finger dexterity.
One of the remarkable advantages of MODU is the flexibility the system offers, enabling you to tailor the exercise to your baby's developmental stage. Begin with simple structures, such as a small staircase, to introduce your baby to climbing gradually. You can even start out by just laying individual blocks on the floor for your little one to climb over. As they grow and learn, progress to more advanced creations like a slide, providing a dynamic and evolving challenge.
3. Walking: Empowering Your Baby's First Steps
Witnessing your baby walk for the first time is a momentous milestone in their development. This exhilarating journey unfolds through gradual stages, often beginning with pulling themselves up, standing, and cruising between furniture before they venture off on their own.
With MODU, you can build a standing tower to provide a sturdy and stable base for standing exercises. Use pegs as handles, giving your baby something to grasp onto. This allows them to utilize their arm strength to ascend to a standing position. Repetition of this exercise helps develop their balance, stability, and the muscle strength needed for them to eventually stand independently.
Once your child has mastered standing up, it’s time for their next move — walking! In the beginning, most children like to walk sideways while holding on to objects, like a couch or the coffee table, and then move around by leaning on to new objects. When they are ready to venture off on their own, walkers are a great companion.
The MODU 3-in-1 Baby Walker supports early walking skills and is packed with fun and engaging features. Let your little one feel the fun and freedom of moving around on their own, using the tray to bring along their favourite toys. With safe, steady wheels and a lightweight design, the Baby Walker is easy for little ones to push around. Let your child’s exploration begin!
4. Rocking Toys: Fostering Motor Skills and Balance
A fun and engaging way to further the development of your baby's core strength and balance is rocking toys! Rocking toys help build gross motor skills by encouraging the use of larger muscle groups, especially the upper body, to keep your little one upright and steady. The rocking motion sparks the vestibular system, which boosts your baby’s growing sense of balance, and helps them learn to adjust their bodies to movement which is important for their overall mobility.
Included in the MODU Curiosity Set, use the MODU Base Block as a versatile base for building rocking toys, adjusting the size and height of the rocking toy as your child grows. Rocking toys remain relevant as your baby transitions into toddlerhood, fostering creative play and encouraging imaginative scenarios, such as transforming into fearless cowboys conquering the wild west.
5. Ride-ons Toys: Exploring Speed and Mobility
Around the age of 1 to 2, when your little one has developed sufficient strength and balance to sit upright and has good control of their upper body, ride-on toys become a fun way for them to explore speed and action. With MODU, you can progress slowly, starting with more stable ride-ons and ride-ons with backrest, providing good support for your little one while pushing them around.
The MODU Tiny Ride is perfect for babies and young toddlers. Thanks to its light weight and mobility, this ride-on is super mobile and easy for little ones to maneuver around.
Moving around in changing directions enhances their core strength, and as they start to steer and kick by themselves, they also work their lower body and coordination — all of which is great practice for learning to use a balance bike!
