Motor Skills
Motor skills are your baby’s physical abilities. Gross motor skills involve the whole body, so include walking, crawling etc. Fine motor skills involve the hands and fingers so include more delicate movements like pressing buttons, gripping, twisting levers and dials etc.

Independent Play
This is the ability to be able to play with a toy without help from an adult. This helps to give kids confidence in themselves.

Co-operative Play
Is the ability to play with other children and involves social skills like sharing, working together as a team and planning games together.

Visualisation & Memory
This is the ability to imagine things, to remember what something looks like when you can no longer see it, and to picture something in your head even if you have never seen it.

Hand-Eye Co-ordination
Is what a baby needs to be able to reach out for a particular object. Pressing buttons etc to get a response helps develop this skill which is needed to help develop fine motor skills and other abilities.

Imitative Play
Is when a child pretends to be someone else such as a familiar adult. This involves the ability to realise that other people are separate from ourselves, some knowledge and understanding of the world, and recognising objects and remembering what adults use them for.

Visual Awareness
Is the ability to see objects clearly and to respond to them, being aware of how near or far away something is, and being able to tell where one object ends and another begins.

Auditory Stimulation
Develops a baby’s ability to tell the difference between many kinds of sounds. Babies are particularly attracted to the sound of the human voice, and music has also been shown to be beneficial for a baby’s development.

Tactile Stimulation
Develops a baby’s ability to tell the difference between various kinds of textures such as hard and soft, fluffy and shiny and so on.

Role Play
Is when a child pretends to be someone else in play, perhaps a shop keeper, firefighter or police officer. This involves social skills such as knowledge of how other people play a part in the world, using the imagination for extended periods of time, and considering other people’s points of view.