Motor skills: Gross motor control – swinging the mallet with enough force and control to actually hit the peg Hand-eye coordination – aiming the hammer at a specific target Bilateral coordination – often one hand holds/steadies the peg or bench while the other hammers Wrist and grip strength – gripping the mallet handle and controlling the striking motion
Cognitive skills: Cause and effect – hitting harder makes the peg go down faster/further Color recognition and matching – naming or sorting pegs by color (purple, yellow, orange, red, green, blue) as they hammer Sequencing – some toddlers like going down the row in order
