Why do babies and toddlers throw stuff on the ground?

Those are physics experiments.

They are paying fetch. If you don’t play then they will quickly stop. (I hope).

Because they can and it’s cool.

To see if it bounces back into their hands it never does !

It is a testing their surroundings and learning physics !

I think @ragingloli and @Tropical_Willie have the right answer. They are learning about the world through interacting with it.

@RedDeerGuy1 They’re playing fetch with the floor? :D

Thanks for the answers, y’all.

@Sneki95 With the parent who keeps putting it back in their hand

I think @RedDeerGuy1 got it right, but babies start crying if you won’t play the game. I wonder what would happen if the toy was attached to the baby’s chair with a piece of string long enough for the toy to reach the floor. I would bet that the first thing the baby would do would be to try to detach the string. Assuming that they can’t do that, what would they do next? If they drop the toy, you can show them how easy it is to get it back by pulling on the string. Instead of a string you could use an elastic cord that does not reach the floor. Then the baby could amuse themselves by watching the toy bounce up and down on the elastic.

Sometimes they throw up. I guess throwing down is just for change of pace.

@RedDeerGuy1 FTW, at least in my experience. That’s why my daughter did it. Sometimes I’d play along and give it back to her. Other times, I’d leave it on the floor and she’d give up after a few. Once I picked it up and threw it in the barrel. She was pissed!

Aside from being likely experiments in physics and psychology, which are both good responses, it’s an exercise in learning to control gross motor function, too. That is, both the grabbing and the letting go, the throwing motions and kicking, as well.

I remember reading that they do this experimentally for a while, to see if the same thing always happens—i.e., it goes down (and also for the entertainment of seeing parents play fetch). After a while they’re satisfied that they can predict the effect, and they move on to other sorts of scientific exploration.

If I could still get away with it, i would totally throw stuff, frequently, for fun and to watch people’s reactions. I still think about doing it but I tend to stop when I think of the possible negative reactions of adults these days.

It depends on the material being thrown.

E.g.:

They throw butter because they like to see butterfly.
If they’re outdoors and the object is a steak, it’s because they’d rather have ground beef.
If the objects are round rocks, it means they want to see the rolling stones. ;-p

I think it’s mostly fetch, or simply getting you to interact with them, but they are also observing the consistency of what happens.

Whenever I’m with children under 5 and they do something they like, I say “again” before they do. They will do and watch the same things over and over again, especially when it’s very entertaining to them.

Yes, it is a lot of getting a reaction from those around them. We spot them at daycare pretty quick. When they stop getting a reaction with throwing things on the floor, the often go to other behaviour. There is a large range of attention seeking behaviour and they are difficult habits to break, especially when we don’t get back up from Mom and Dad at home.

It’s about discovering that they can affect the world they inhabit. And as soon as they can attain mobility, they are guaranteed to move on to exploring the wonders and marvels of the toilet and its intriguing possibilities for interacting with your valuables.

because this is what they can do.

Babies are jerks. True fact.

LOL!

Gravity test

It never fails. And they have control.