Sauthon Baby Grasping Ball - Pink Floral

Long before a baby can pick anything up, the hands are already practising: fingers opening on the changing mat, a fist closing around your thumb. The Sauthon baby grasping ball gives those hands something worth the effort. It is a soft ball in a pink floral print, about 14.5 cm across and 13 cm high, and it is suitable from birth.

What your baby does with it, month by month

Grasping doesn't arrive in one go. It builds in small steps, and the same ball follows every one of them.

• From birth: looking and touching. Lay the ball within sight on the play mat, or rest it against an open palm. Your baby follows the flowers with their eyes and feels the surface under their fingers.
• Around 3 to 4 months: the first deliberate reach. The arms come forward, both hands meet in the middle and close around the ball. Expect plenty of near misses first; they are part of the practice.
• Around 5 to 6 months: holding on, turning it over, passing it from one hand to the other and lifting it up for a closer look.
• Once sitting and crawling: the ball becomes something to push, roll away and go after.

Why a soft ball is among the best grasping toys for infants

A hard object asks for a precise grip that a young baby doesn't have yet. A soft one forgives: it gives a little under the fingers, so even a clumsy squeeze gets a hold, and nobody minds when it lands on a nose, which it will.

The size matters too. At roughly 14.5 cm across, this is a ball for two hands, not one. That is exactly what a baby of a few months needs: bringing both hands to the middle of the body to hold the same thing is a skill in itself, and it comes before the one-handed grip. As easy-grasp toys go, a large soft ball is about as forgiving as it gets.

Where and how to offer it

Reaching and grasping toys work best when they sit just inside arm's length: close enough to touch by stretching, far enough to make the stretch worthwhile. Three spots suit this one particularly well.

• On the play mat: with your baby lying on their back, place the ball to one side at shoulder height, so they turn their head and reach across.
• During tummy time: set it a hand's width in front of them. Having something to look at and stretch towards makes those minutes on the tummy pass more happily.
• In a discovery basket: once your baby sits, put the ball in a low basket with two or three other objects and let them choose.

One tip: offer it on its own. A baby surrounded by five toys looks at all of them and reaches for none. One ball, a clear patch of floor and a few unhurried minutes do far more, which is how the Montessori method treats a baby's first objects: few of them, one at a time. And when it rolls off, wait a moment before fetching it: watching where it went is part of the game.

From birth, and for how long?

The ball is marked 0m+, so it can be part of your baby's surroundings from the first weeks. Its busiest period runs from roughly 3 to 9 months, when reaching, holding and swapping hands are all being learned. It doesn't go back in the cupboard after that: a crawling baby chases it across the room, and a toddler will happily roll it to and fro with you on the floor.

That long life is what makes it an easy newborn gift. There is nothing to assemble, no size to get wrong, and it is useful straight away rather than a year later. Sauthon makes two sister balls that we also stock, the Pear and the Rainbow: same family, different designs, so you can pick the print that suits the nursery. Like everything in the shop, it is covered by a 2-year guarantee.

If this pink floral ball is the first thing in the basket, the rest of our Montessori toys for babies can fill it as the months go by, and the newborn sensory toys in our early learning range suit the same first weeks.

Sauthon grasping ball: parents' questions

When can a baby hold a grasping ball?

Most babies start to reach for a ball of this size and hold it in both hands at around 3 to 4 months. Before that, they look at it and touch it when it is brought to their hands. Every baby keeps their own pace.

What is a grasping ball for?

It gives a baby an easy first object to reach for, hold and let go of. Those three actions train hand-eye coordination and the use of both hands together.

Is this ball suitable from birth?

Yes, it is rated 0m+. In the first weeks it is for looking and touching, with you close by; the holding comes a few months later.

What size is the Sauthon grasping ball?

It measures 14.5 x 14.5 x 13 cm, which makes it a two-handed ball for a young baby rather than something to hold in one fist.

Key details

• Brand: Sauthon
• Design: pink floral
• Size: 14.5 x 14.5 x 13 cm
• Age: from birth (0m+)
• Reference: REFSESBA1
• EAN: 3500760125779
• Guarantee: 2 years