Fine Motor Skills: 9 to 12 Months

The 9 to the 12-months-old stage is an exciting age for you and your baby as they gain more independence in their movements that leads to more adorable moments to cherish forever. Babies develop fine motor skills in incremental stages, as with any other developmental skills.

Between 9 and 12 months, your baby’s fine motor skills will develop progressively. At this stage, your baby will build on the fine motor skills they established between the ages of 6 to 9 months, including the following:

Pincer Grasp: Babies first develop the glove grasp where they move all their fingers as one and grab an object against their thumb to hold it securely. They then move on to the pincer grasp that allows your baby to pick up items by holding it between the index finger and the thumb.

Poking and Dropping Objects: Poking the index finger at objects or dropping items at will and doing mini throws will become more pronounced in your baby’s fine motor skills arsenal. These movements also complement the cognitive ability of your baby, along with fine motor development.  

Clapping: Initially, your baby claps to imitate you, but as they develop, this fine motor skill also relates to the social and communication development of your baby.  

Finger Power: With strength development, your baby can use their fingers to self-feed by picking up food items or holding the milk bottle, maybe even together with you at first, during feeding.  

While babies refine the skills they have developed in the past three months, they also learn more fine motor skills such as:

Container Love: Being able to move around adds fuel to your baby’s curiosity. More control in hand movements leads to more exploratory actions by your little one. There will most likely be a newfound love for containers that will include filling up a big box with smaller objects and then emptying it. Provide your baby with a safe environment and the tools to practice, as it helps develop their motor and cognitive skills.

Being Geeky: Babies show interest in books and their first attempts at scribbling during this time. They are not grown enough to understand any of it, but they love to bat and flip through the books and scribble with a marker. It will take time for your baby to master holding markers, as they will initially grasp it with their entire fist, but will eventually refine their grip.

Building Up: As their hand-eye coordination keeps getting better, your baby will be able to stack blocks together and make a mini tower of approximately two blocks. This is a great way to help your baby improve their coordination while engaging in this fun activity.

Sipping Cups and Chewing Toys: Babies move on from the milk bottles to their cute sippy cups and start weaning off their bottles. This transition might be difficult for some babies, but it will pass with time.

Eventually, you’ll want your baby to move towards solid foods, and now is the best time for them to practice. In response to teething, you can find your baby chewing objects or gnawing toys.

Passing Objects: Whether it is passing an object from one hand to the other or passing items on to other people, your baby can do both as they develop more advanced motor skills. This demonstrates on-track progress for your baby’s motor as well as foundational learning skills to share with others.

As your baby nears their first birthday, they will have gained so much independence in terms of movements and controlling their own body. This is an exciting phase for your baby as they learn to interact more with their environment. Ensuring a safe environment for your baby to move around and explore is becoming increasingly important in this period and in the months ahead. Still, you’re probably a safety champ by now and well attuned to what might pose a risk for your little explorer!

• baby development
• fine motor
• milestones
• motor skills
• pincer grasp