Touch and fine motor skillsExplore · 8–12 months

Dropping macaroni in a tub

You show them how to drop macaroni into a container, and they practice 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.

In the app, one activity a day for their age →

What do I need?

• Plastic container
• Macaroni

How do I do it?

1. 01

   Set up the game

   Sit your baby on the floor or in their high chair, somewhere comfortable. Put a wide-mouthed plastic container in front of them, with a few large pieces of soft, cooked macaroni.

2. 02

   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. 03

   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. 04

   Cheer every try

   Smile when one lands inside and tell them: “Good job, it's in!” Over the next few days, they'll start opening their hand at just the right moment.

5. 05

   Wrap up without rushing

   When they look away or start to fuss, leave it for today. You can play again another day.

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

1. Motor milestones: what little ones learn to do with hands and body

   Gerber et al. · 2010

2. Which patterns babies prefer to look at as their eyesight develops

   Vassella et al. · 1977

3. How the sense of touch develops

   Bremner & Spence · 2017

See all 10 references

1. 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 doi.org/10.1542/pir.31-7-267
2. 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 doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.25.6.871
3. 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.
4. 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 doi.org/10.1177/0956797610382787
5. 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 doi.org/10.1016/bs.acdb.2016.12.002
6. 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.
7. 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 doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-835X.1997.tb00736.x
8. 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 doi.org/10.1016/j.infbeh.2012.05.006
9. 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 doi.org/10.1016/0022-0965(69)90025-3
10. 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 doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2017.04.018

Reviewed by Javier Atance Ibar, PhD in Education