12mo–22mo4 minArtFree playSelf-care
Trail Making
The child moves a finger or spoon through a thin layer of soft food and sees the trail or impression left behind.
What you'll need
Essentials
- a shallow plate
- cooled thick oatmeal or yogurt
- a spoon
Movement level: low
What you'll do
The 3-step guide, with what to look for at each step, is for signed-in parents.
What this develops
What it practices
- Early mark-making is not the same as writing. It is a sensory and physical experience for babies and toddlers, which they do not yet connect to forming symbols which can communicate meaning. (See roots of mark-making and handwriting in Playing and exploring and Physical Development).Observable behaviour from Development Matters
- Enjoys the sensory experience of making marks in damp sand, paste or paint.Observable behaviour from Development Matters
- Holds pen or crayon using a whole hand (palmar) grasp and makes random marks with different strokes.Observable behaviour from Development Matters
- Makes connections between their movement and the marks they make.Observable behaviour from Development Matters
- Picks up small objects between thumb and fingers.Observable behaviour from Development Matters
- Holds an object in each hand and brings them together in the middle, e.g. holds two blocks and bangs them together.Observable behaviour from Development Matters
Where it comes from
- Source
- Development Matters in the EYFS (DfE, 2012)
- License
- Open Government Licence v3.0
- Attribution
- © Crown Copyright 2012 (Development Matters in the EYFS, DfE) — cross-aspect multi-target authored per DM2012 's See [other aspect] pattern