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: 12-15 Months

Click here to go to all skills for ages 12-15 Months.

Uses tools such as a spoon, fork, comb, washcloth, etc.

Situations for Observation of Skill

Observe the child during daily routines.

Elicitation Strategy

The adult provides tools during routines, such as a fork and spoon during meals, a washcloth for washing. During play the child uses a tool, such as a marker for scribbling.

Behavior Observed

The child uses tools for their intended use without prompting. For example, he tries to stab with the fork and scoop with the spoon.

Routines-based Intervention (Embedded Instruction)

Encourage parents to let children use tools, such as utensils, independently. The child practices fine motor skills such as wrist rotation, orientation of fingers and hands, amount of force needed, and so on with continued use.

 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/.