Pulling a cloth to reach a toy
Babies start pulling a cloth or mat on purpose to bring a toy within reach at around 7 months. Small studies agree, but none has yet measured how late healthy babies can start.
How sure are we?
Not sure yet. Only two small studies have measured this so far. How we know this
What it’s a sign of
Your baby is learning that one thing can be used to get another, an early step in solving problems.
An early theory put real understanding of this kind of problem solving much later, at 12 to 18 months. Newer studies find babies pulling on purpose at about 7 months; the difference is about what counts as understanding.
We don't know the age by which nearly all babies do this. Simpler cause and effect, like kicking to make a mobile move, hasn't been measured in the studies we read.
A main source for the ages
Means‐end problem solving in infancy: Development, emergence of intentionality, and transfer of knowledge
Iryna Babik, Andréa Baraldi Cunha, Samantha M. Ross, Samuel W. Logan, James Cole Galloway, Michele A. Lobo · 2018 · Developmental Psychobiology
- Children
- About 20 babies
- Where
- Delaware, United States
- Ages
- 6 months to 2 years
- How
- Researchers visited the same babies at home as they grew
- What it found
- Babies started pulling a towel on purpose to reach a toy at about 6½ to 7 months. The share of tries that worked rose from about 4 in 10 at 6 months to about 9 in 10 at 2 years.
- Limits
- A very small group. The paper gives slightly different ages in its summary and its results, so the exact figures need checking.
A main source for the ages
Development of means-end behavior in young infants: Pulling a support to retrieve a distant object.
Peter Willatts · 1999 · Developmental Psychology
- Children
- Not given in the summary we read
- Where
- Not given in the summary we read
- Ages
- 6 to 8 months
- How
- Researchers tested the same babies over several months
- What it found
- Pulling a cloth on purpose to get a toy increased between 6 and 7 months, and by 8 months babies took account of how far away the toy was.
- Limits
- We have only read the summary, which doesn't give the number of babies or where they lived.
If you’re worried about your child, talk to your child and family health nurse or GP.
Last checked 2 November 2026