
Should Your Toddler Use a Dominant Hand to Throw? Social Skills - Games involving throwing are central to social play that teaches skills like negotiating, turn-taking, and teamwork.Read more about the link between throwing, fitness and health here. Fitness and Health - Children who master throwing are more likely to engage in physical activity, which is linked to lifelong fitness and health.


Learning About Gravity & Properties of Objects - Throwing is a child’s first gravity lesson, as she learns that when she throws something up it always comes back down.Hand-Eye Coordination - Learning to throw involves continuous hand-eye coordination practice.Throwing involves the whole body and requires balance, as well as planning and executing movements in a sequential, coordinated way. Integrated Movement - “Throwing is an opportunity for children to practice organizing the entire system,” says Pediatric Occupational Therapist Berta Campa, M.S., OTR/L.Here are some of the key areas of development that throwing strengthens: The ability to throw both overhand and underhand while using opposing arms and legs, rotating the trunk, and hitting a target is generally mastered by age 4. By the time she reaches her second birthday, she will likely be able to throw an object at least 3 feet in the air.

When she’s about 14 months old, your toddler may begin throwing overhead, which is not an easy feat! It requires extending an arm at the elbow or shoulder while maintaining balance, so it will take her a lot of practice to do it smoothly. Most little ones are ready to experiment with throwing when they’re about a year old, although these early attempts are more like awkward, aimless flinging. Throwing also builds on fine motor skills, like the ability to grasp and let go of an object. To learn about this succession, take a look at the gross motor development articles in the Parenting Resources area of our BabySparks program. In order to learn to throw, your baby needs to master a progression of other gross motor skills that build muscles, balance, coordination, and the ability to plan and execute movements. Parents can encourage this skill with BabySparks throwing activities.

They’ll start to use a dominant hand between ages 3-5.
