Baby Finger App

The Baby Finger app by DJ International is a simple cause and effect app that quickly captures the attention of babies. While I am not a huge proponent of entertaining babies using electronic devices, I do feel that this particular app can have great therapeutic uses for babies. And guess what? It's free!

The app starts with a blank screen. Each time the screen is touched, a shape appears along with a sound. Keep touching the screen and more shapes will appear, as you can see in the screenshot above. Touch a shape that is on the screen, and it will disappear along with making a sound. While some of the sounds are a little odd (toilet flushing or farting sound, yes, I'm serious!), babies seem to love this app! They especially love when it makes a cooing baby sound. There are also options to have numbers appear on the screen or a combination of numbers and shapes, but I usually stick with just the shapes.

Here's a video showing an infant with high muscle tone and limited arm control reaching out to activate the Baby Finger app:

Ways I use the Baby Finger app in therapy:

• To encourage reaching, especially in children with high muscle tone
• To encourage finger isolation
• To encourage visual tracking in children with a visual impairment
• As a motivator when working on head control or tummy time

How do you use the Baby Finger app in therapy? What other apps do you use with infants?