Infant and toddler physical development includes the physical and motor skills that emerge during the first three years of life. These skills and abilities affect connections with other people, objects, and the environment. This lesson will further define physical development of infants and toddlers, as well as offer an opportunity to think about the importance of physical development for infants, toddlers, and adults.

Physical development refers to the advancements and refinements of motor skills, or, in other words, childrens abilities to use and control their bodies. Physical development is one of the many domains of infant and toddler development. It relates to the growth and skill development of the body, including the brain, muscles, and senses. For example, babies learn about the world as they develop their physical senses of sight, touch, smell, sound, and taste. In fact, babies can hear well before they are born. Newborns like to look at faces and will seek interesting things to look at very early on. An infant can recognize the mothers smell and the sound of her voice within days after birth. From birth, infants are aware of the world around them, and the ability to grow, develop, and learn occurs quickly as infants begin to explore through their senses.

Gross-motor skills and fine-motor skills are developed during infancy and toddlerhood. Gross-motor skills involve the mastery of large muscle movements, as well as the building of strength in muscle groups like the arms, legs, and core. Examples of such skills for infants and toddlers include reaching, rolling, crawling, and climbing. Fine- motor skills involve smaller, more precise movements, particularly movements of the hands and fingers, such as grasping. As their bodies grow, infants and toddlers progressively strengthen their muscles and become better able to control their bodies. Each new motor skill that is developed is the result of an earlier skill and a contributor to new skills.

Newborn infants do not have the strength to hold up their heads, however as they learn and develop control of muscles, they will be able to support their heads and move them from side to side to explore. Skill mastery and development are also the result of brain growth and development. Consider an infant who is starting to walk while holding on to couches and round-edged tables. This child must have acquired strength in the large muscles and a certain level of control over body movement. At the same time, the child also relies on vision to determine where to walk and what to cling onto. As infants and toddlers grow, their bodies and minds become capable of simple and mildly-complex movement and experiences.

Parents, teachers, and caregivers must stimulate toddlers and infants and encourage the development of gross- and fine-motor skills. For example, you may stimulate physical development by holding a toddler upright while moving each leg to imitate walking. Eventually, the child will become accustomed to the balance and muscle movements that are required to walk and be able to do it on his own. Infants and toddlers depend on their caregivers to meet their needs for safety and security. When infants and toddlers receive consistent, responsive care and attention from nurturing adults, they are able to establish a sense of trust in the world.

Preparing infants and toddlers for school requires more than developing a set of skills; it includes physical development and health. When an infant or toddler is healthy and happy, he or she is more likely to engage in learning. Physical development and health can help prepare infants and toddlers for activities that support language development, social skills, and other areas of learning for school success.

young children will develop the abilities to balance, crawl, and walk from their foundational reflex responses. When infants and toddlers are able to move on their own, they are able to explore and contribute to their cognitive development in a way that was not possible when they were unable to walk or crawl.

Children use specific behaviors involving motor skills to connect with their peers. For example, one- and two-year olds bounce a ball to capture peers attention.

Seven-month-olds are given a toy. When the infants use their motor skills to push a button, they hear an exciting sound. The infants are presented with the toy again after a period of wait time. They immediately push the button repeatedly, suggesting that they learned how to perform an action to cause a sound Toddlers, around 18 months of age, engage in play which involves imitation, such as pushing a toy truck while making engine noises or striking a ball with a bat

Mastery motivation is the internal drive to successfully complete tasks, such as mastering motor skills. Infants display more mastery motivation behaviors (e.g., smiling and persistence) when they engage in new, challenging motor tasks rather than when they use familiar and previously learned skills