When Do Babies Start Clapping and Pointing?
Before your baby can talk, they rely on body movements and sounds to gain the attention of their loved ones. After all, who can resist a sweet baby that is cooing, laughing, and clapping their chunky hands together? Babies love the attention they receive and the reactions they get from their loved ones when they are using the most basic form of communication.
Not only are clapping and pointing some of the cutest things you will ever see your baby do, but they are also important milestones and ways to communicate with you! Think about it: Your nine-month-old can’t say, “I don’t want peas!” Instead, they may clap to show you that they enjoy the snack you gave them!
All babies grow and advance at their own pace, and there usually isn’t a need for concern if they don’t hit the milestone right on the dot. There is usually give and take to these kinds of things, as every child is unique! Continue reading to learn more about when your baby should begin clapping and pointing.
Approximate Age Babies Learn to Clap
Learning how to clap is exciting not only for you but for your baby, too! It gives them another way to express how they are feeling to you and all of their loved ones. This skill takes some hand-eye coordination and won’t happen right away. You might notice them bringing their hands close together at first without touching, but rest assured that with enough practice, they’ll be slapping those chubby patties together to make that beautiful clapping sound soon enough!
Before clapping, most babies have already mastered the skill of sitting up independently and pre-crawling. Most babies will learn how to clap by around nine months and will usually learn from you clapping! If they see you clapping for something they did good or to their favorite song, they may want to join in, too!
Before their first birthday, your baby’s clapping will primarily be imitating you. After they turn one, they usually realize that this is a way to communicate with you!
How to Encourage Your Baby to Clap
Your baby isn’t going to wake up one day and suddenly know how to clap. They learn from you! To start teaching your baby how to clap, try some of these exercises:
Turn on music and clap along. Who doesn’t love music that you can shake your leg and clap your hand to? Try sitting your baby on your lap and guiding their hands together to teach them how to clap. If baby songs aren’t your style (trust me, I get tired of Baby Shark after the hundredth time in a row, too) turn on your own bumpin’ playlist. Entertaining them in later babyhood with music is similar to how you’d entertain a newborn!
Teach them appropriate times to clap. As always, your baby learns from you! Talk out loud and tell them about when it’s a good time to clap. For example, let’s say it’s their sibling’s birthday. Say, “Okay, it’s your sister’s birthday! Let’s clap once they blow out all of their candles!” And then clap once they blow out the candles.
Try clapping at different speeds. Something that babies love is spontaneity. What’s gonna happen next? Try clapping at various speeds to engage your baby in the activity and stimulate their brain. They will become intrigued by what you are doing and want to clap along!
Offer plenty of high-fives. Who doesn’t love a high-five on a job well done? Give your baby plenty of high-fives, as this strengthens their hand-eye coordination. Before your baby can high-five on your own, you must guide their hand to yours to teach them how to do it!
Average Age for Other Hand Motions
Clapping isn’t the only important milestone your baby will hit. Pointing is another big one, too! Your baby will typically begin pointing between 7 - 15 months of age. This beginning stage of pointing will typically be their entire hand, but as they get older, they will have the coordination to use only their pointer finger.
Why is pointing important? It’s a building block in the foundation of communication! Your baby will learn that when they point out they are communicating with you and potentially getting what they want. Another important note is that if your baby is pointing at an object and their parent looks at the object, they will typically give a name to it and talk about it, which teaches the baby!
Monitor Your Baby’s Milestones with Baby Connect
With any milestone, there is a range of times when your baby should be completing them. Thankfully, though, the age your baby is supposed to hit a milestone isn’t hard and fast. There is leeway for essentially every milestone, as some babies take a little longer to learn new skills than others, and that is completely normal!
Although it is normal to not hit a milestone right on time, there is still a time frame where your child should be hitting milestones. If your baby has way surpassed this time frame and still shows no sign of hitting certain milestones, discuss this with your pediatrician.
Because life is busy and things can easily be forgotten, Baby Connect was designed with parents in mind. Instead of trying to remember important dates and milestones, you can simply plug in the information to look at whenever you’d like. This app also can track your baby’s height, weight, feeding schedule, and even appointments! Never again will you show up to the doctor’s office on the wrong day because you mixed up your and your baby's appointment for the second time.
