My lessons on baby motor skills

From the moment I had my children I jumped right into developing their motor skills. 

Individual activity:

I started off by getting my precious little one to follow an object with her eyes. I would use a big bright red soft ball and slowly move it to the left and right. Apart from teaching her to follow an object with her eyes, this activity assured me that she had good eyesight and was able to focus on the object. It is a good eye-tracking exercise which is vital for reading skills.

Another activity is getting your child to catch her toys during bath time. You could make it challenging by splashing water on her while she tries to retrieve her toy.

You can also try asking your child to weave a string through some holes in a piece of cardboard. Use yarn and make the holes big so it's easy for your child to do this task.

Group activity:

Sit in a circle (or opposite each other, if there are only two players) and roll the ball to each other. The aim is to keep the ball rolling straight to the intended person.

Once your child has mastered this, move on to an object relay. This is where I get my girls to stand in a line and pass the ball to the person behind them. You could pass it overhead, in between the legs or by twisting your upper body.

You could also turn this into a guessing game by blindfolding the last person and getting them to guess what is the object they are receiving.

A game of throwing and catching is a little tricky for beginners and mummy can get very tired picking up the ball. What I would do is tie the ball (or any other object) with a string and tie the string to a low beam or pole. This way, if the toddler misses the catch, the object won't fall down and roll away. The toddler can also play on her own.

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