North Carolina Early Learning and Development Progressions: Birth to Five

Domain: NC Foundations for Early Learning: Health and Physical Development (HPD)

Subdomain: Motor Development

Goal: Children develop small muscle control and hand-eye coordination to manipulate objects and work with tools.

Skill Progression: Manipulation/Tool use

Age: 8-10 Months

Click here to go to all skills for ages 8-10 Months.

Tries to poke object with all fingers extended - may poke with thumb

Situations for Observation of Skill

Observe the child playing with different sizes and types of toys, including small objects, containers, and things with small holes.

Elicitation Strategy

No elicitation may be needed. If does not spontaneously occur, the adult can demonstrate poking with different fingers.

Behavior Observed

The infant reaches with all fingers extended and pokes with the thumb or a finger.

Routines-based Intervention (Embedded Instruction)

Help early childhood educators and parents understand how important it is for children to investigate the properties of objects. What happens to it if I push it, poke it? How many can I hold? Encourage early childhood educators and parents to let children explore and experiment with their fingers and hands. Give them materials that have holes, levers, knobs, etc.

 North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, 2015

©2015 by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/.