Why do babies
love throwing things?
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The full narration of the video.
When a baby throws things again and again, it's usually not to annoy you. Halfway through a meal, the spoon hits the floor. You pick it up. He watches you, opens his hand, and down it goes again. So what's he after? Start with that little open hand.
A newborn's hand clamps shut on anything that touches the palm, and doesn't really know how to let go. From around six months, he learns to let go on purpose. Anyone with a brand-new skill wants to use it a lot.
He lets go, the spoon falls, clack, and you bend down. To him, it's one chain: I let go, it falls, it makes a sound, a grown-up comes. That thread is what he's learning: when I do one thing, another thing follows.
It's called cause and effect. In plain words: I move, and the world changes. Once isn't enough. In a science lab, you run the same experiment several times to see if the result holds. Babies do the same. A spoon, a bowl, a different height, again and again, checking that everything falls.
Only there's no teacher explaining first. He works it out by trying. He's testing something else too: when it drops under the table, out of sight, is it still there? When he was younger, anything out of sight was gone from his mind.
Around eight or nine months, he starts to get it: things he can't see are still there. Dropping it and leaning over to look is how he checks. Psychologists call this object permanence. So is he just throwing at random? One experiment shows clearly that he isn't.
Researchers showed eleven-month-olds two little magic tricks. In one, a ball rolled off a ledge and just hung in midair. In the other, a ball went straight through a wall.
Then the babies got the ball. Babies who saw it float dropped it, over and over. Babies who saw it pass through the wall didn't drop it. They banged it on the table, testing how solid it was.
Whatever looked strange is what they tested. That's not random throwing. It's checking. And with the surprising ball, they learned new things about it better. So, back at the table. He isn't throwing a spoon. He's asking a question: will it fall this time too?
Every time you pick it up, you help him answer. If your back is tired, give him something unbreakable, too big to swallow, just for dropping. What does your baby love to throw most?
Probably not to annoy you
It’s not a spoon he drops.
It’s a question.
The spoon falls. You pick it up. He watches you, opens his hand, and it falls again. It looks like mischief. In fact he is doing serious work: finding out how the world works.
Putting everything in the mouth and hitting are the same kind of learning.
A brand-new skill:
letting go
I move, and the world changes.
A newborn’s hand grips anything that touches the palm, and it can’t easily let go. From about six months, a baby learns to let go on purpose. Hand opens: the spoon falls, it clatters, an adult bends down. That chain is called cause and effect: I do one thing, and another thing follows.
Like a
science class
One difference: no teacher explains first. He finds out by trying.
Out of sight,
still there?
When he was younger, anything that left his sight was simply gone. Around eight or nine months, he slowly learns that hidden things still exist. Dropping something, then leaning over to look for it, is how he checks.
Psychologists call this object permanence: knowing a thing is still there when it’s hidden. It’s also why peekaboo is fun.
The floating ball
and the ghost ball
Researchers showed 11-month-olds two little magic tricks. In one, a ball rolled off a ledge and hung in midair. In the other, a ball passed through a solid wall. Then the babies got the ball.
Saw it float? They dropped it.
Saw it pass a wall? They banged it.
Babies test exactly what surprised them. And with these strange balls, they learned new things better too. So dropping isn’t random. It’s checking, on purpose.
Tired of
picking up?
Each time you pick it up, you answer his question: “Will it fall again?” If your back hurts, give him something unbreakable and too big to swallow, just for throwing: a soft ball, cloth blocks, a big silicone toy.
This is a normal stage of development. If anything else worries you, ask your pediatrician.
Quick check
When a baby drops the spoon again and again, what is he most likely doing?
Like repeating an experiment in science class, he checks the chain: let go, it falls, it clatters, an adult comes.
