How does a baby learn where their body is?
Jen Cooper of Little explains how babies learn where their hands and feet are
Jen Cooper from Little explains proprioception: knowing where one part of the body is in relation to another.
Little offers baby and toddler classes combining movement, music and sensory play. Jen Cooper describes how those early movements help children get to know their bodies
I had heard plenty about sensory play, but not much about the senses beyond sight, sound, touch, taste and smell. Jen mentioned temperature, proprioception and the vestibular sense. I wanted to know what those last two actually meant.
I asked what proprioception means
“It’s the sense of where our body is in relation to itself.”
Jen described a raised hand or a hand reaching towards a foot. Those everyday movements involve knowing where the different parts of the body are.
I wanted to know how that changes as a baby grows
“Those great big gross motor movements are gonna help them to continue that body mapping.”
What interested me was the connection between little movements now and the way a child learns to use their body later. Sensory play can be about much more than the materials in a tray.
I would ask a baby class teacher what the movements are helping a child explore, as well as what equipment they will use
More from Little
Related reading
