FM.D Putting

Very young babies release objects spontaneously, when they lose interest in them, but cannot plan to release, or let something go at somebody’s request. Learning to put deliberately represents a big step forward in the child’s control of his hands. And putting with precise aim demands fine co-ordination of hand and eye.

Many children teach themselves to release deliberately – at least to the level of releasing objects with wrist support (FM.D.27). Your child may take to leaning his arm on his highchair tray and dropping things over the side – watching you pick them up is half the fun! If your child does this, assess to find out the point he has reached in this sequence, and begin teaching there.

If deliberate putting has not yet begun, you can start to teach it (beginning with FM.D.27) once your child has reached the 6 months’ level in Sequence FM.B: Grasping.

Note that in teaching putting you will be teaching your child to follow a new direction – ‘Put’. If you use this direction right from the beginning, it will soon help your child to know what is required of him,

The skills below will take your child gradually from the first deliberate release to highly controlled, precisely aimed putting.

Below we list all the skills in this sequence.

Note that these putting skills are applied and extended in Sequences FM.E: Manipulative Skills and FM.H: Problem Solving and Puzzles and in many activities from other sequences.