Let's Motor!

 Discover the joys
—and benefits—
of play time with baby.

By Barry Feldman

Your baby begins developing motor skills from the moment she is born. The more motor skills your baby develops, the more she’s able to command the world around her and take on challenges with greater confidence. 

You can help your baby develop motor skills in so many ways. Our challenge as parents is to provide interesting stimuli and age-appropriate exercises. Start by finding a safe, open space where you and baby can play, grow and bond. Then try any of these fun and easy activities:

• Put your baby tummy down on the floor for short stints to encourage head control. Some babies may fuss at first in this position, so give her time to adjust. Try getting down on the ground with her, smiling, singing or talking.

• Introduce ball and bubble activities to facilitate hand-eye coordination. 

• Encourage rolling by providing ample, safe floor space and lots of praise.

• Help develop the locomotor skills that lead to crawling and walking by playing tag down on your hands and knees. Create an obstacle course to crawl over, under and around. 

• Hold your baby by the torso, not his hands or legs, when you’re helping him walk.

If you’d like to connect with other new parents or find you just really enjoy sharing this kind of play with your baby, why not join a parent-child program? You can start when your baby is as young as four months old. Trained instructors will introduce a variety of beneficial physical activities that promote core body strength and kinesthetic awareness. Musical activities introduce rhythm and language, and little ones become familiar with social settings.

Helping your child develop motor skills requires patience. You want to avoid frustrating experiences and allow your little one to acquire motor skills when the time is right for her. With a good balance of time, practice and encouragement, helping your infant’s motor skills development is remarkably fun and rewarding.

Barry Feldman is an owner and director of The Little Gym of Folsom. Now in its fourth decade, The Little Gym is the world’s premier motor skills development program for children ages 4 months to 12 years. www.tlgfolsomca.com