Pointing — a step-by-step lesson for grown-up and child
A pointing finger is on its way to being your baby’s superpower — the first way to ask, request and share a discovery without speech. This card catches the gesture mid-point and teaches you the response that makes it flourish.
What is this?
Pointing is extending one finger towards something — to ask, to show, to wonder. Around this age the first true points appear: index finger out, arm up, aimed. The card shows a single hand, index finger out and aiming; your baby is about to supply the living version.
What does it mean?
A point is a question with no words: that, there, more. It is the start of joint attention — two people attending to one thing on purpose — and one of the most important milestones of the first year. The card names the gesture; your answers give it power.
What does the child need to know?
The rule that runs the game: when your baby points, name what they point at, instantly and warmly. Not "yes, that" — the actual word: "Dog!" The answer teaches your baby that pointing works, and what keeps the finger coming back.
Why this matters
Pointing predicts language: it is the toddler’s first sentence, a gesture with a subject and a question mark. Every answered point feeds vocabulary, shared attention and the deep idea that other people can be asked for information.
What it teaches
Joint attention, pointing to request and to share, vocabulary through naming, and the turn-taking loop — point, name, look back, smile.
Words to learn
pointtherelookthatmoreyes
Say this to your child
“"Pointing! One finger out — there! I point at the card, I point at the light, I point at you. Point at anything and I will name it: dog, cup, ball, moon. A little finger is a way of asking."”
Step by step
- Show the card and trace the pointing finger with your own: "Pointing! You point at things."
- Point at the card itself, then at an object far across the room, naming each: "Card... lamp!" Show that a point travels.
- Point at something your baby loves — the window, the family pet — and look back at your baby’s face to check they followed. That look-back is half the skill; you are modelling it.
- Wait quietly through the day for your baby’s points, and answer each one with the word for what they mean: "Cup! Yes, your cup."
- End the session by pointing at the card’s hand, then your baby’s hand — "Your pointer!" — and letting them take the last turn.
Look closer at the picture
The artwork is a single hand, one finger extended and aiming — a clean, plain gesture. Say that, then watch the live theatre: the wobbly aim, the check-back eyes. The card drew the arrow; your baby fires it.
Ask your child
Watch the points across the day: does the finger come with a sound, a look back at you, a wait for your word? Wonder aloud: "I wonder what you will point at first thing tomorrow."
What your child can say or do
A first true index-finger point at something wanted, a whole-hand sweep towards the window that is practising to become a point, pointing at the card and then at you, or a point plus "eh!" — the sound is the caption; the aim is the sentence.
Out in the real world
Pointing runs through everything now: the biscuit tin on the shelf, the bird on the fence, the sibling who definitely did it. Your job is not to make points happen — it is to be the dictionary they land in, every time.
Try it together
Point-and-name tour: carry your baby towards something they point at and name it up close — "Tap! It is the tap." Following the finger to its target teaches that points lead somewhere, which is what keeps them coming.
Understanding check
Parent self-check: did you answer every point today with the real word, and did you look back at your baby’s face while pointing yourself? The loop — point, name, check — is the whole technology.
Parent tips
Points that want and points that share look the same and both deserve answers; do not bother sorting them yet. If your baby is not pointing yet, keep modelling and answer reaching hands the same way — the finger inherits the habit.
Staying safe
The pointing finger pokes — keep it away from eyes, yours included, and keep a firm hold on the card during excited tours. Otherwise this is the gentlest card in the set, which the finger will resent.
This lesson pairs with the Pointing flashcard in the library — print it, show it, keep it on the fridge. Back to First Actions & Body Parts (Baby 2).