A newborn's eyesight isn’t well-coordinated for the first few weeks. Their focus is limited to eight or 10 inches away — about the distance between the baby and a parent’s face when the baby is being held.

However, rapid visual improvement occurs just within the first month of life. The baby will start tracking objects as they move and begin reaching for them. Faces and nearby objects become easier to focus on too.

A baby’s first eye exam should be at 6 months to make sure their eyes are aligned and working together properly. During the exam, the eye doctor will look for signs of anything out of the ordinary. They will also examine how the pupils react to light, and how well the eyes can work together to follow an object¹.

As a child grows, their eye movements and hand-eye coordination skills continue to improve. It’s a giant developmental step that helps them perform important tasks.

These tasks include things like pulling themselves up, reaching for objects, and grasping a toy between their thumb and index finger. They should be getting better at judging distance and throwing objects¹.

• Do show and tell to help them build word association.
• Play peekaboo to help improve their visual memory.
• Encourage crawling to help your baby learn visual tracking.
• Alternate sides when feeding to let your baby see different views.
• Hang reach-and-touch toys above the crib to encourage early hand-eye coordination.
• Talk to your baby as you walk around the room to help them develop spatial tracking.

At this point, hand-eye coordination and depth perception skills should be more advanced. These skills encourage a child’s interest in what’s going on around them. They should be able to recognize familiar people and objects, and scribble while holding a writing utensil¹.

Your child should have a comprehensive eye exam at some point between 3 and 5 years of age. A proper eye exam can detect eye diseases or abnormalities that may affect a child’s vision. If needed, the eye doctor may prescribe eyeglasses or vision therapy to treat certain vision development issues.

This exam should be made a priority before your child starts school. Results of the exam will be used as a benchmark in future checkups².

• Read to kids so they learn to visualize what they hear.
• Roll a ball back and forth to help toddlers visually track objects.
• Practice throwing the Frisbee to help refine hand-eye coordination.
• Play with puzzles to help them develop visual problem-solving skills.
• Play games with numbers or shapes to help kids work out solutions in their head.

Some eye problems in children have more visible symptoms. Schedule an eye exam for your child if they show one or more of the habits below:

• Sitting too close to the TV.
• Trouble remembering things they read.
• Squinting, rubbing eyes or tilting their head.
• Short attention span for their age.
• Using a finger to trace lines as they read.
• Covering one eye or tilting their head to one side.
• Avoiding coloring, puzzles or other visual activities.
• Difficulty with eye-hand-body coordination when playing with a ball³.

1. Infant vision: Birth to 24 months of age. American Optometric Association. Accessed December 2022.
2. Preschool vision: 2 to 5 years of age. American Optometric Association. Accessed December 2022.
3. School-aged vision: 6 to 18 years of age. American Optometric Association. Accessed December 2022.