Visual tracking: Help your newborn with an important new skill

Have you noticed your baby starting to follow moving objects with their eyes? This is an important new oculomotor skill known as visual tracking.

Try this: Take a high-contrast object, like the Silicone Rattle or a Black & White Card from The Looker Play Kit, and move it slowly across your baby’s field of vision. Can they keep their eyes focused on it the whole time? 

If they can’t do it yet, they’ll steadily improve with practise. The two sides of their brain are learning to work together ❤️ They’re also using different sensory systems—sight and sound—to locate and track objects they’re interested in. 

You can give them opportunities to work on visual tracking as they play. Here’s how: 

Visual tracking play for newborns

Start with slow, side-to-side movement

When practising visual tracking with your newborn, hold the high-contrast plaything about 8 to 12 inches from their face. You may have to jiggle it a little to get their attention. Once they are focused on the object, you can move it very slowly from left to right. Repeat, going back in the opposite direction.

Practise tracking from side to side for the first few weeks. At first, your baby’s eye movements will be small and jerky. Once their tracking gets smoother, you can try slowly moving the plaything in different directions—up and down or in a circle. This usually happens over the first 3 to 4 months as your baby’s eyes and brain develop.

Pause if they lose track as the object crosses their midline

Your baby may look away as the plaything crosses the centre of their field of vision. This is common at your newborn’s stage of cognitive development. Visually tracking across the midline of their body requires coordination of both sides of their brain, which will take a few more months. 

Stop or slow down to allow your baby to find the object again. You can gently shake or tap the plaything to create a noise for them to follow—it’s helpful to use a gentle sound toy. 

Watch for signs that they’ve had enough

When your newborn is getting tyred or overstimulated, they may yawn, look away, or move their arms and legs more quickly. They may also show hunger cues, like sticking out their tongue or sucking their hand. Tracking takes a lot of effort for them ❤️ At this stage, play sessions lasting only a few minutes are just right.

The Looker Play Kit

The Looker Play Kit welcomes your newborn with tools to help them process the world around them and build brand new brain connections with high-contrast and black-and-white Playthings.

Learn more