Clapping is not only one of the cutest baby party tricks, but it’s also an important milestone in their development. Do you know how many skills clapping actually requires? Here are some tips on how to teach a baby to clap.
Model Clapping
Babies learn through imitation, so modeling clapping for them is a great way to start. Clap together while playing on the floor. You can make exaggerated movements, or practice clapping at different speeds to keep your little one interested and engaged. At first, your baby will just be clapping out of imitation, but by clapping for your baby at appropriate times they will eventually learn that clapping is more than just the motion.
Use Hand-Over-Hand Guidance
Practice clapping first, and then try guiding your baby’s hands to perform the same movement. Keep a smile on your face as you clap and cheer. Your baby will be more interested in learning a new skill if there’s a big reaction at the end! Be gentle, you are just guiding your baby’s movements as they learn how to coordinate their hands on their own. You can either sit your baby in your lap and guide their movements from behind or sit in front of them and guide their movements from the front. Either way, be soft, patient, and encouraging, and stop if they are resisting the guidance.
Play Hand Games
Classic hand-clapping games, such as Pat-A-Cake, are a great way to help get your baby clapping. By keeping it fun and interactive your little one will be asking to play again and again! If You’re Happy and You Know It is another great interactive song and game to play with your child as you practice clapping. Not only will you be practicing clapping in a fun and stress-free way, but you will also be developing language and social-emotional skills, a win-win from all sides!
Clap Along to Music
Music is a great way to get your little one clapping along! Choose various songswith different tempos and speeds and practice clapping along to the beat. You can sit your baby in your lap and hand-over-hand clap together, or you can just clap along and let them observe you. If you have the opportunity to take your baby to an event with live music, clapping along in a new environment is a great option as well. The best thing about babies and music is that you’re not limited to just kids’ music. Put on some of your favorite tunes and enjoy some clapping together.
If you’re looking for interactive music toys, grab one of our favorites to help encourage your baby’s creative side. Clap along to the music they create and encourage them to do the same for you!
Use a Mirror
Babies love watching themselves and will get a kick out of interacting with the baby in the mirror. You can sit next to your baby so they can see you clapping through the mirror as well. As they learn the coordination of putting their hands together, they will be fascinated by what they see through the mirror. Mirrors are a great interactive tool to use with babies. They will enjoy imitating themselves and seeing firsthand what happens when they move their body parts. This would be a great way to practice clapping skills.
Practice High-Fives
High-fives are another great way to practice hand-eye coordination and a similar movement to clapping. Babies will also start to recognize that a high-five and clapping produce the same sound. As they get older babies will learn that clapping and high-fives are used as a celebration, and they will be anxious to get in on the fun!
Why is Clapping Important?
Clapping is more than just a fun party trick, but why is something so adorable such an important skill? There’s actually a lot more that goes into clapping than you may realize. Babies need motor skills, hand-eye coordination, visual skills, and cognition in order to clap. As your baby ages, you may notice that they quickly go from making sporadic hand movements to much more specific and intentional movements. Grasping food and toys, tapping things to make sounds, waving, pointing, and clapping are all skills you will start to see develop.
As babies learn coordination, offering activities and toys to help develop the small muscles in their hands and arms will help also develop their clapping. Offer toys that encourage grasping, shaking, tapping, and manipulating. The more your baby uses their hands, the stronger those small muscles will become.
As your baby develops stronger fine motor skills, they will be able to quickly pick up new milestones, such as waving and clapping. Clapping will naturally come as your baby becomes more coordinated, but it doesn’t hurt to encourage the movement along the way. By making it fun and exciting, your baby will also learn that clapping is a great way to express their feelings of happiness, excitement, and achievement.
FAQs – How to Teach Baby to Clap
At what age should babies be able to clap?
Typically babies are learning to clap around 9 months of age. But this is just an average, your baby may learn before or after 9 months of age, which is perfectly okay too. At first, your baby will just be imitating the action they see performed, especially if every time they clap they get a big reaction! It’s closer to 1 year of age that babies start to understand that clapping is communication and a way to indicate emotion.
Should I be worried if my baby isn’t clapping?
Every baby hits milestones at different times, which is why there is just an average age. If your baby isn’t clapping by 9 months, don’t stress. They may still be developing, or they just may not have a huge interest in performing that skill. Make clapping fun and exciting to entice the movement more. The AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) suggests that by 12 months babies will be able to bang two objects together and imitate gestures. If your child still is not imitating a clapping motion by 12 months or shows a delay in other motor movements, have a chat with your pediatrician. It may be difficult, but try not to compare your baby to anyone else’s!
What other milestones will babies reach around the time of clapping?
Other hand motions such as waving and pointing appear around the same time as clapping. Waving is typically the first gesture, followed by clapping, and then pointing. Waving may start as early as 6 months, with pointing typically arriving close to the year mark. As your baby develops their hand-eye coordination and the small muscles in their hand develop, you will see more and more milestones appear.
Final Word
The biggest takeaway is to remember that every baby develops at different speeds. You can practice these different exercises to help your baby develop their hand muscles and hand-eye coordination skills in order to prepare them for clapping. But chances are they will decide when they are ready to perform!
Clapping is a great way to strengthen hand and arm muscles, practice hand-eye coordination, enhance visual skills, and eventually be used as a form of expression. As your child’s motor and cognition skills develop you will see a number of hand milestones emerge, including clapping. Once your baby has those clapping skills down, get the camera ready, because it’s one of the best baby party tricks!
