# Dropping macaroni in a tub

You show them how to drop macaroni into a container, and they practise opening their hand right over it.

To do with your baby between 8 and 12 months. It works on: fine motor skills, visual discrimination, touch, pincer grasp and cause and effect. You'll need: plastic container and macaroni.

## What do I need?

- Plastic container
- Macaroni

## How do I do it?

1. **Set up the game.** Sit your baby on the floor or in their highchair, somewhere comfortable. Put a wide-mouthed plastic container in front of them, with a few large pieces of soft, cooked macaroni.
2. **Show them how.** Pick up a piece of macaroni, say “In it goes!” and drop it into the container. Do it a couple of times, so they can see what you do.
3. **Hand them a piece.** Give them a piece of macaroni and, if needed, guide their hand to the opening. At first they may throw it instead of letting go over the top, and that's part of the game.
4. **Cheer every try.** Smile when one lands inside and tell them: “Well done, it's in!” Over the next few days, they'll start opening their hand at just the right moment.
5. **Wrap up without rushing.** When they look away or start to fuss, leave it for today. You can play again another day.

### Take care

Only use soft, cooked macaroni if they already eat solids, and stay beside them the whole time in case they put a piece in their mouth.

## What are they learning?

Letting go of something on purpose is harder than grabbing it. Babies first learn to grab, then drop things by accident, and later learn to open their hand when they choose. Here they look for the opening, bring their hand over it and discover that if they open their hand, the macaroni falls in.

- **Fine motor skills**: Opens their hand at just the right moment to drop the macaroni
- **Visual discrimination**: Looks for the opening of the container to aim their hand
- **Touch**: Feels the soft texture of the cooked macaroni in their fingers
- **Pincer grasp**: Tries picking up each piece between their thumb and index finger
- **Cause and effect**: Discovers that if they let go over the container, the macaroni falls in

## What the research says

- Gerber RJ, Wilks T, Erdie-Lalena C. Developmental milestones: motor development. Pediatrics in Review. 2010;31(7):267-277. doi:10.1542/pir.31-7-267 (https://doi.org/10.1542/pir.31-7-267)
- Rochat P. Object manipulation and exploration in 2- to 5-month-old infants. Developmental Psychology. 1989;25(6):871-884. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.25.6.871 (https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.25.6.871)
- Vassella F, Giambonini S, Heits B, Kaufmann R, Kehrli P, Wälti U. Development of visual discrimination (pattern preference) in normal infants. Helvetica paediatrica acta. 1977;32(4-5):319-329.
- Farzin F, Rivera SM, Whitney D. Spatial resolution of conscious visual perception in infants. Psychological science. 2010;21(10):1502-1509. doi:10.1177/0956797610382787 (https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797610382787)
- Bremner AJ, Spence C. The development of tactile perception. Advances in Child Development and Behavior. 2017;52:227-268. doi:10.1016/bs.acdb.2016.12.002 (https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.acdb.2016.12.002)
- Miguel HO, Gonçalves ÓF, Cruz S, Sampaio A. Infant brain response to affective and discriminative touch: A longitudinal study using fNIRS. Social Neuroscience. 2019;14(5):571.
- Butterworth G, Verweij E, Hopkins B. The development of prehension in infants: Halverson revisited. British Journal of Developmental Psychology. 1997;15(2):223-236. doi:10.1111/j.2044-835X.1997.tb00736.x (https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-835X.1997.tb00736.x)
- Sacrey L-AR, Karl JM, Whishaw IQ. Development of rotational movements, hand shaping, and accuracy in advance and withdrawal for the reach-to-eat movement in human infants aged 6–12 months. Infant Behavior and Development. 2012;35(3):543-560. doi:10.1016/j.infbeh.2012.05.006 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infbeh.2012.05.006)
- Rovee CK, Rovee DT. Conjugate reinforcement of infant exploratory behavior. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology. 1969;8(1):33-39. doi:10.1016/0022-0965(69)90025-3 (https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-0965(69)90025-3)
- Waismeyer A, Meltzoff AN. Learning to make things happen: Infants’ observational learning of social and physical causal events. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology. 2017;162:58-71. doi:10.1016/j.jecp.2017.04.018 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2017.04.018)

Reviewed by Javier Atance Ibar, PhD in Education.

https://papakoala.com/en-gb/activities/dropping-macaroni-in-a-tub/