Hand-Eye Coordination

Gaining the ability to touch what you see

After discovering their hands, babies need to learn that they can activate them, make use of them Ten-week-old Emma lies comfortably watching the toys of her activity gym hanging above her. She is focused on the colorful toy hanging within reach of her hand. She looks at the toy for a few seconds and then suddenly, puts her hand out and swings it towards the toy and … misses. Emma doesn’t give up. Pushing her hand out again, she seems to be assessing the distance and then she strikes again. This time her hand hits the right spot and the toy swings happily back and forth. A broad smile spreads across Emma’s face. Emma is busy developing the coordination between her eyes and her hand. She is trying to learn how to bring her hand directly to the object she is focusing on. It’s difficult for us, as adults, to understand the significance of the concept of “hand-eye coordination” because we take this coordination for granted. When we look at an object and want to touch it, we don’t hesitate even for a moment, and we don’t give a second thought to the task at hand. Our hand moves as though of its own in the direction of the object, and closes exactly at the right place. This obvious action is the result of many months of learning during the first year. Let’s “go back” to this period for a moment and try to understand the process that a tiny baby has to go through in order to learn the obvious coordination between hand and eye.