Your 33-Week-Old Baby

If you thought passing a toy between their hands was exciting, wait until you see baby’s next milestone in coordination: clapping! Combining important fine motor skills with emotional expression and social connection, clapping opens the door to more games and bonding moments with baby.

And while your little one still has a long way to go with figuring out how to move their body from point A to point B (a skill that will continue to develop well into their toddler years), they’re working hard to figure out the early stages of mobility. One of those early stages might look like army crawling, as baby uses their forearms to pull themselves along the floor—a precursor to faster, more coordinated movement. 

To help you support and encourage your baby with these two new skills, Laura Todd, a licensed therapist specializing in infant, early childhood and perinatal mental health and the founder of Early Bonds Therapy, and Dr. Allison Mell, a pediatric physical therapist and founder of Tots On Target, explain the how and why behind both.

🚼 Baby’s Development 

Clapping

Right around now, you may see baby bringing their hands together on purpose, just to see what happens. They might notice that it makes a sound, or that it gets a reaction out of the people around them (especially a positive reaction). Clapping is one of those milestones that looks playful on the surface, but there’s actually a lot going on behind the scenes.

Just like we talked about a few weeks ago, baby’s ability to make coordinated movements with both hands, like clapping, goes beyond your regular hand-eye coordination. “Clapping does help develop coordination, but it’s deeper than that because it involves bilateral coordination, focusing on two sides of the body to work together,” Todd says. 

So while clapping is a great way for baby to show they’re engaged with something, it’s also a chance for them to keep practicing that more advanced coordination, which is an important building block for future skills. “When babies bring their hands together, they are developing midline awareness, which supports balance and body control,” Dr. Mell says. “Clapping helps babies learn how to use both sides of their body together, which is a foundation for play, dressing, fine motor skills and coordination.”

The best way to help baby practice: keep it fun, and follow their lead. “Clapping is best learned through playful repetition and interaction, not pressure,” Dr. Mell says. Todd recommends incorporating your favorite classic clapping songs and games, like pat-a-cake, “If You’re Happy and You Know It” or simple copycat games.

Just remember to go slowly at first, and give baby plenty of opportunities to join in. “[These] social interactions are important to encourage babies to continue to work towards other developmental milestones,” Todd says, so keep at it, and cheer baby on as they clap.

Army Crawling

If your baby has discovered that they pull themselves across the floor using (mostly) their arms, congratulations: you’ve got an army crawler. As cute as it is, it’s also a helpful stage in baby’s coordination and mobility. 

“Army crawling is common and can be a typical step toward hands-and-knees crawling,” Dr. Mell says. And just like with clapping, there’s more bilateral coordination at work here. Army crawling helps babies learn how to alternate using both sides of their body, Dr. Mell adds. 

As you encourage baby to practice, remember that mobility = time to babyproof—so if you haven’t yet, now’s the time to set up baby gates and close off any unsafe areas. Be sure to give baby a large enough to explore around, and put some toys a couple feet in front of them to give them something to move toward.

Army crawling is important for helping baby build their arm, core, and shoulder strength, Todd says, but keep in mind that it should be treated as just an initial phase of baby’s overall mobility journey. “While army crawling builds bilateral coordination, it does not provide the same strength benefits as hands-and-knees crawling,” Dr. Mell says. “If a baby struggles to progress beyond army crawling, it often points to missing strength or stability.”

To help baby develop all the necessary strength for the next stage, Todd suggests placing pillows, blankets or even your legs in baby’s path to encourage them to lift their tummy and engage all of their crawling muscles. “You can also use a blanket to lift your baby's core off the floor a little bit, but keep their hands and knees touching the floor,” she says. “This helps release some of the weight and makes it easier to practice crawling on all fours.”

Both Todd and Dr. Mell also say to keep an eye out for a some mobility red flags, like if baby always leads with the same arm, drags one side, has trouble pushing up onto their hands with straight arms or army crawls with wide, splayed hips—these can all point to strength imbalances and baby needing a little extra support. With continued tummy time and plenty of opportunities to (safely) explore in an open space, Todd says, baby will be able to build up those muscles.

👀 Looking Ahead

• Babbling: Baby may soon start experimenting with a wider variety of sounds, combining consonants and vowels in a way that almost sounds like real talking.

🛍️ Panic Order

Melissa & Doug  
Band-in-a-Box Clap! Clang! Tap! 10-Piece Musical Instrume...

Give baby a beat to clap along to with these tiny percussion toys. They’re also great for helping baby develop their coordination and understand cause and effect through sound.

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Add to Babylist

amazon.com$15.99

Curious George  
Pat-A-Cake Board book

Complete with a Curious George hand puppet, this board book encourages baby to clap along to the nursery rhyme (and smile at their furry monkey friend).

Buy

Add to Babylist

amazon.com$7.14

Skip Hop 
Geo Playspot Foam Floor Tiles

A soft, grippy surface makes the floor more comfortable for baby to move, scoot and practice their army crawling.

Buy

Add to Babylist

Babylist$95.00

Amazon$94.99

Target$94.99

Nordstrom$94.99

Manhattan Toy 
Wimmer-Ferguson Double-Feature Tummy Time Mirror

Set the mirror a couple feet in front of baby and let them see themselves as they inch forward using their arms.

Buy

Add to Babylist

Babylist$19.99

Amazon$31.95