Hand-eye coordination is a key skill for your little one to develop. This skill helps them track their hands with their eyes and plays a significant role in reading, writing and other learning areas. Although hand-eye coordination cannot exactly be taught to infants, parents can still help develop these skills through giving them exercises for hand eye coordination. They can also give their kids toys that will encourage them to reach out for things and grasp them.
Your child’s hand-eye coordination starts developing as young as two months old when babies can follow a moving object with their eyes. By the time they are a toddler, they should be able to stack a few blocks and hold a pencil or a spoon so playtime is a great time to work on these skills.
Exercises for hand eye coordination
1. Play with tactile toys
Incorporate play into exercises for hand eye coordination.
Toys such as LEGO or Playdoh are both excellent tools for developing hand-eye coordination and inspiring creativity. With each of these toys, children are also developing their fine motor skills simply by assembling and taking apart their LEGO creations or moulding their Playdoh into different shapes!
Playdoh is great for kids who are still getting the hang of more difficult skills like holding a pencil or crayons. With Playdoh, you really can make anything you can dream up, and all that pressing and rolling is great for your little one’s developing fine motor skills.
2. Make bath murals
Making bath murals is among fun exercises for hand eye coordination.
Pick up some craft foam and get out your safety scissors for this one! Start by stencilling different shapes onto the craft foam and then get your little one to help you (carefully!) cut them out.
While in the bath, your child simply has to wet the foam and then she can stick them to the wall and make her own murals. All that cutting, sticking things to the wall and peeling them off again is great for developing her hand-eye coordination!
3. Macaroni crafts
Exercises for hand eye coordination: Macaroni craft
This is such an easy activity because you only need two things, and we can pretty much guarantee that these are things you already have in your home. First grab a spool of thick string, second grab one or two bags of dry pasta.
Help your little one cut and knot one end of the string (protip, it is more effective to do a knot around a piece of pasta since the openings are quite wide) and then she’s ready to go! This is an activity that improves hand-eye coordination and encourages creativity at the same time. This craft also works with many types of cereal like Fruit Loops or Cheerios!
4. Do Puzzles
Exercises for hand eye coordination
Puzzles are another way to help your little one improve their hand-eye coordination skills. And since they are available at many different difficulty levels, you can opt for more complex ones as your little one’s skills with shape recognition improve. Organizing all the pieces and building the puzzle together is a fun family bonding experience too!
Get colouring or scribbling
There is a reason that colouring and scribbling are quintessential kids’ activities. Practicing colouring in the lines helps with hand eye coordination. You can see a vast change in a child’s ability to stay within the lines over time.
Not only that, but it helps their fine motor development as well. When kids are gripping their crayons or coloured pencils, they are practising with the same muscles that they will later use when they begin learning writing skills.
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What activities have you tried with your little one to help improve their hand-eye coordination?