The current study is the first to examine the role of exploration in play milestones development using a multi-measure micro-analytic approach. Fifteen infants, between the ages of 8 and 17 months, were observed in their natural home environment once a month for a one--hour session; their spontaneous mouthing and fingering and their play level…

Object play yields enormous benefits for infant development. However, little is known about natural play at home where most object interactions occur. We conducted frame-by-frame video analyses of spontaneous activity in two 2-h home visits with 13-month-old crawling infants and 13-, 18-, and 23-month-old walking infants (N = 40; 21 boys; 75%…

Seven- to 12-month-olds were trained to press levers that contingently activated lights. Infants had the choice of turning on either a light an adult interaction partner was looking at or a light that she turned away from. By 9 months, infants reliably turned on the light that the adult was looking at. In a second study, 9- and 12-month-old…