Toddlers' and Children's Eyes

While the eye's greatest physical development occurs during the first year, children continue to hone their vision skills throughout childhood. Eye muscles strengthen and nerve connections multiply. As your child’s body muscles develop and become more coordinated, your child’s eyes become stronger and work together more effectively.  

Between the ages of one and three, coordination between eyes, hands and body allow children to pick up objects, walk or run from place to place, and throw and catch a ball.  You will even see the refinement as their hand/eye coordination improves.  Meanwhile, their visual skills help them take in information and learn about the world around them.

Preschoolers—ages two to five—are eager to draw and look at pictures. By connecting stories with illustrations you can help coordinate your child's hearing and vision. Children are also captivated by moving patterns—such as pinwheels—and "I spy" games.

Helping Your Child's Eye Development

Here are some of the many activities that help children develop the connection between eyesight and interaction with their world:

• “I Spy with my eye” game
• Piling up building blocks
• Snapping together Legos or other creative toys
• Coloring with crayons or markers
• Assembling puzzles
• Throwing and catching a ball or bean bag
• Looking at and identifying pictures on a page while a parent or child care worker reads to them

As you can see, when you help your child’s vision grow stronger, you’re aiding your child’s overall physical and cognitive development.  Motor coordination, reading comprehension, and associations between words and objects are all important functions for every child—and vision affects them all.