How to develop motor skills in child

Improving Fine Motor Skills | USAHS

Editorial

Fine motor skills are what allow us to use the small muscle groups in the hands, fingers, and wrists in a controlled way. Humans begin demonstrating these skills in infancy, when we learn to grasp our parents’ fingers and, later, toys. We continue developing them during the toddler to school-age years, which are such a critical time for physical and cognitive growth. And of course, we continue to refine them throughout our lives.

Cultivating fine motor control at a young age helps set people up for success personally, socially, and academically—so it’s important for parents to help children master them. In this post, discover the benefits of working on fine motor skills with kids—plus ways you can help your child improve their abilities using the printable activities below. 

Benefits of Building Fine Motor Skills for Kids

Building fine motor skills helps children strengthen their muscles and coordination. Clinical practice can also help them develop independence as they learn to complete personal hygiene tasks, play musical instruments, use utensils, write, and draw. Below are just a few of the benefits of promoting fine motor development early on.

1. Helps children learn to use tools

Children need fine motor skills in order to use tools like writing implements or scissors, or to manipulate small items like buttons or zippers. As these skills develop, children will be able to do more fine motor tasks on their own, which will help their continued cognitive and physical growth.

2. Improves hand-eye coordination

In many cases, it takes visual input to effectively manipulate any small object with the hands. Without the ability to coordinate hand and eye movements, people would be unable to perform the simplest actions. To catch a ball, place objects, play games, and write, children must develop hand-eye coordination.

3. Helps children become more independent and confident

When children struggle with performing any fine motor activity, they can become frustrated and upset. But as they grow to better understand how their bodies work, and as their hands and finger muscles become stronger, they can complete more fine motor tasks on their own. Children who can grasp, hold, and pinch will soon be able to brush their own teeth and tie their own shoes. They also feel a confidence boost as their independence grows.

4. Promotes cognitive development

Improved fine motor control may be a pathway to increased academic performance in young children. Multiple studies have shown that the child’s fine motor skills are involved in the development of cognitive abilities. Researchers at the University of Nottingham School of Psychology in the UK found that fine motor skills were a significant predictor of mathematical abilities in preschool-aged students.

Printables to Help Build Fine Motor Skills

Including a fun fine motor activity in your child’s daily routine is a great way to help them improve their fine motor coordination. Printable activities can naturally engage children’s creativity and manual dexterity. Below are four summer-themed activities for preschoolers that involve coloring, cutting, tracing, and placing objects, intended to help your child work on their motor skills through play. Download and enjoy!

Sea Animals Coloring Printable

Using crayons or markers to color can help strengthen and stabilize wrist muscles. Using tools like scissors can develop hand strength and hand-eye coordination.

Ice Cream Cone Grid Drawing Printable

Grid drawing helps children with their fine motor practice as well as their observational and drawing skills. Compartmentalizing the drawing into smaller units also helps children understand how shapes relate to each other proportionally and how to more keenly observe detail.

Beach Trip Line Tracing Printable

Line tracing is a great exercise for children who are just starting to print their letters. By tracing the lines on this sheet, children can increase their fine motor strength through writing.

Rainbow Placement Printable

Working to pick up, grasp, and place small objects (such as buttons) can be a valuable precursor to writing. This process strengthens small muscles and engages hand-eye coordination.

Working on fine motor skill activities is a fun way for children to develop the skills they need to succeed. However, many children struggle with these skills at first, due to neurological or physical differences. If this describes your child, it may be helpful to see an occupational therapist (OT), who can assess any fine motor skills development issues and work with your child on activities customized to their particular needs.

How to Improve Fine Motor Skills as an Adult

Adults who suffer neurological injuries from stroke or other causes may experience loss of or damage to fine motor skills. OTs work with adults to help them improve their fine motor coordination so they can regain the ability to perform activities of daily living (ADLs), such as dressing, bathing, brushing teeth, etc.

The following are some good fine motor activities for adults:

• Drawing
• Folding clothes or hanging them with a clothespin
• Squeezing Play-Doh, clay, or pastry dough
• Opening bottles and containers
• Using scissors
• Threading objects onto a string
• Sorting and stacking coins

Using fine motor skills is an important aspect of independent living. Occupational therapists can help people across the lifespan improve or master these skills by diagnosing the problem and developing an effective treatment plan.

The University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences (USAHS) offers hands-on Master of Occupational Therapy (MOT) and Doctor of Occupational Therapy (OTD) degrees. Practice with mock patients in our state-of-the-art simulation centers and learn anatomy with our high-tech tools. Prepare for clinical practice with patients across the lifespan, as well as advanced roles in research, practice leadership, and policymaking. Residential and Flex (online/weekend) paths are available. We also offer an online Post-Professional Doctor of Occupational Therapy (PPOTD) program designed for working clinicians and healthcare educators, with optional on-campus immersions and an annual interprofessional trip abroad.

Recommended For You

news

Nurse Practitioner vs.

  Nurse practitioners and physician assistants are advanced healthcare practitioners with similar responsibilities, such as diagnosing illnesses and prescribing medications. However, their training and paths toward certification differ in significant

Posted: September 11th

news

20+ Occupational Therapy Specialties to Advance Your Career

As an occupational therapist (OT), you will have the opportunity to specialize in one or more areas over the course of your career. Adding a specialty demonstrates your knowledge of

Posted: July 26th

news

Student Associations COTAD and SPEAK Promote Diversity

In January 2021, when the COVID-19 pandemic was weighing heavy on society, students were learning at home, and the Black Lives Matter movement was inspiring demonstrations for equality around the

Posted: July 26th

news

Occupational Therapy vs Physical Therapy: What Are the Differences? | USAHS

Physical therapy and occupational therapy are both rehabilitative disciplines that require hands-on work—leading many people to believe they are interchangeable. However, these professions vary greatly. When deciding which healthcare career

Posted: July 19th

news

Searching for Equity: The Library’s LGBTQIA2+ Resources

  For Pride Month, we’re focusing the USAHS blog on topics relating to the LGBTQIA2+ and other intersectional communities. For this post, we spoke to Matthew Chase, MASP, MLIS, a

Posted: May 31st

news

A Day in the Life of a Nurse Manager

As we celebrate Nurses Month, we at USAHS wanted to get a sense of what a typical workday is like for a nurse manager. We asked alum Ahnnya Slaughter, DNP,

Posted: May 24th

Let's connect

We're here to support you on your educational journey.

Please complete our contact form. An enrollment advisor will reach out to provide information and answer your questions.

13 Fun Ways to Develop Motor Skills in Young Children

One of the biggest milestones of a child’s life is the day they first learn how to walk. These first steps are a signal to themselves and the world around them that they are ready for something more. They are ready to have new adventures, go to previously unexplored places and quite likely scare their guardians senseless in the process of figuring it all out.

This stage of development is such a special one because it is all about discovering the capabilities of one’s body. The skills that young kids are developing at this stage in life are called motor skills, and they refer to all the movements of big and small muscles that are going to continue to develop into their adult lives.

With this new stage of life comes opportunities for new games and activities, so we wanted to help by putting a list together to help kids and their guardians try some new things and develop these skills in new ways. But before we get to the activities, let’s dig into the types of motor skills and how they’re used.

What are motor skills?

Motor is a word derived from Latin that literally means “mover. ” In our modern vernacular, the word motor is most often associated with a car, as it is the part of a car that supplies moving power. This can be a helpful starting point when thinking about what motor skills are in humans. Motor skills are the skills in the human body that are needed to move. To be able to move, the body must engage in a complex process using the brain and muscular and nervous systems.

Fine motor skills vs. gross motor skills

Because movement can be such a complex process in the body, it’s easiest to understand motor skills in two main categories: Gross motor skills and fine motor skills.

Gross motor skills refer to movement skills that require your whole body or larger muscle groups—core muscles, arms and legs. These skills help your body do things like sitting, standing, walking, running and jumping.

Fine motor skills involve smaller muscle groups and are more related to dexterity—muscles in the wrists, hands, fingers, feet and toes. These skills help a body hold objects in the hands, press buttons, brush teeth and wiggle toes.

Many activities will involve the use of both kinds of skills. Since these skills are so key to childhood development, early childhood education (ECE) experts, parents and care providers put a lot of effort into different activities that can help develop both kinds. We’ve compiled a list of thirteen different activities for children that help develop these skills while offering some novel fun along the way.

13 activities to develop motor skills in young children

Here are thirteen fun activities that can be done with young children to help develop both gross and fine motor skills.

1. Gardening

To start the list, consider this age-old activity that involves both gross and fine motor skills for every age and ability of young children. Kids Gardening® offers several ideas on supplies and ways to encourage this useful play.

Whether it is digging, watering, planting or carefully observing, these various garden activities will help any young child develop both small and big muscles as they immerse themselves in nature. As a bonus, gardening offers many other benefits to children beyond motor skills as well.

2. Pompom drop

Did you go get some coffee this morning? Well, there may be a perfect use for that cup before it finds its way to the recycling bin. This idea from Messy Little Monster is a simple activity for young toddlers that involves bright colors and the challenge of gently placing a pom pom in the hole at the top of a cup. Whether this is mixed in with counting or repeatedly dumping the pom poms back out, it is an activity that is sure to help with finger dexterity.

3. The floor is lava!

The floor is lava is a classic game using gross motor skills that involves imagination, bravery and cunning. While many of us now realize that lava isn’t going to be as big of an issue in our adult lives as we may have thought as a child, this game can help stimulate a “real-life adventure” as your little ones work to avoid getting scorched. Hands On As We Grow® highlights some different ways you can play the game by pushing everyone to step, jump or crawl to different surfaces across the room and steer clear of the dreaded lava pits.

4. Cheerios® bird feeder

Anytime an activity involves food and animals, kids will have a hard time passing it up. This is an activity that can help a child develop their fine motor skills by weaving together Cheerios (or other circular cereals) on a pipe cleaner. The best part of this project is that making it is only the beginning—it’s just as much fun to observe the potential birds the project will attract when you hang it up outdoors.

5. Dancing treasure hunt

Dancing and treasure? It’s hard to go wrong with those two things! Dance Teaching Ideas highlights how gross motor skill activities can be set up beforehand with intentionality, or they can be done on a whim by going outside and seeing what you find in nature. Whether you are a planner or a spur-of-the-moment creative thinker, this activity can be a hit.

6. Painting with Q-tips®

This fine motor skills activity, as demonstrated by The Imagination Tree, involves introducing a child to pointillism, or using tiny dots to begin building something bigger. With just a Q-tip and some paint, you can introduce a child to a whole new world of creating art, all while helping them develop dexterity and gentleness in their fingers. We recommend you opt for the washable, toddler-safe types of paint to make your life a little easier.

7. Crab walking challenge

Spending time with a young child can often mean lots of imagination time as different animals. ChoosePT introduces a crab walking challenge—an easy way to bring that imaginative play into further developing gross motor skills. Whether the child is crab walking to the bathroom or doing the more advanced crab walk dance, learning to walk like a crab is sure to develop all of their different major muscle groups.

8. Handwriting techniques

One of the most important fine motor skills that young kids develop is their handwriting. These multisensory techniques are perfect for a school-age child who may be working on developing their writing skills. This entry offers six different ways handwriting activities can be made fun by adding in play tools, freezer bag experiments and other unique ideas to bring this time to life.

9. Ninja game

“Ninja” is a gross motor skills game becoming quite common on playgrounds, as it involves practically no setup, just willing participants. Frugal Fun for Boys and Girls lays out exactly how the game is played. From striking a ninja pose to karate chops and dodges, this is a fun game that can make anyone feel that special sense of power and poise that comes with being a ninja.

10. Ninja craft

After a session of playing ninja and working on those gross motor skills, it could be a good time to transition to a ninja craft involving the fine motor skills. Kids Art & Craft offers tons of ninja craft ideas that could be perfect for making the transition from playtime to quiet time, all the while building some excitement for the next round of the game.

11. Hopscotch

It’s always important to make room for a classic. Hopscotch is a game that has been passed on for generations now because it is a simple activity that helps develop gross motor skills. Play outside with chalk, or, on a rainy day, use tape.

12. Wash the socks

Yes, you read that right. “Washing the socks” is a fine motor skill activity that involves a little bit of setup and a lot of imagination for a child. Days with Grey breaks down this activity that allows a young child to create a “washing machine” and practice placing socks in and out of it, perhaps even going as far as to learn that often mystifying adult activity of finding socks that match.

13. Button stacking

If you have buttons lying around, corral some of them for this fine motor skill activity highlighted by Coffee Cups and Crayons. Children engage their brains and fingers by flattening playdough and attempting to stack a variety of buttons on a spaghetti noodle. They will love the challenge of seeing how many tall towers they can make.

Children are always learning and growing

Hopefully, this list has given you a lot of ideas of different activities you can do with children to continue to develop their vast array of motor skills. If your interest has been piqued in regard to child development and encouraging healthy growth, check out our article “Early Childhood Development Milestones: What You Should Know.”

Kids Gardening is a registered trademark of National Gardening Association, Inc.
Hands On As We Grow is a registered trademark of Oak Avenue Media LLC.
Cheerios is a registered trademark of General Mills IP Holdings II, LLC.
Q-tips is a registered trademark of Conopco, Inc.

How to develop fine motor skills in a child

Today we will look at what fine motor skills are, its features, ways of development using games and toys as examples, as well as the optimal age to start its development. Why is this issue getting so much attention? Let's figure it out together.

Article content:

• What is fine motor skills
• Features of the development of fine motor skills
• Games and exercises aimed at developing fine motor skills
• Lessons for the development of fine motor skills in children
• Fine motor toys
• At what age should you develop fine motor skills
• Terminals

What is fine motor skills

Fine motor skills are the sequence and precision of movements required to perform various actions with small objects using the hands, fingers and toes.

Fine motor skills can be traced in children from an early age, when they are just learning to hold a toy. First comes the development of the hand, finger movements, then the formation of speech is formed. The formation of speech through the development of fine motor skills occurs due to the influence of nerve endings on the brain regions responsible for motor skills and speech, which are located next to each other. nine0003

In addition to the main function - the development of speech - fine motor skills affect the development of mental processes: thinking, memory, imagination, ability to orientate in space.

Features of the development of fine motor skills

The ability to master fine motor skills in children does not develop by itself, that is, it does not have a hereditary factor. Of great importance in this matter are adults who, by their example, involve the child in various activities, develop him systematically and purposefully. This hypothesis was first put forward by the Russian scientist Ivan Mikhailovich Sechenov. Subsequently, other scientists, doctors, teachers and specialists in various fields began to focus on this opinion as a key one. nine0003

Why is such attention paid to the development of fine motor skills? For children, it means the formation of basic skills and abilities.

1. The speech of the child is formed, which contributes to a comfortable stay in the children's team.
2. Skills of various movements are developed. The child can play with toys on his own without distracting an adult.
3. Self-care skills are strengthened. The child acquires the ability to independently hold a spoon, tie shoelaces, fasten buttons and other items on clothes. nine0012
4. Social bonds are established with peers and adults through the ability to communicate clearly and maintain dialogue.
5. Readiness to study at school is formed in the aggregate of all the above reasons.

Games and exercises aimed at developing fine motor skills

The main activity of preschool children is play. We have selected for you a variety of games and exercises, among which you are sure to find something that suits you and your child. nine0003

1. Folding toys. We put a transparent container in front of the child and put small toys separately. We suggest putting the toys in the container with your right hand. Then we pour them back, and ask you to repeat the same steps with your left hand.
2. Games with cereals. In one container, mix two types of cereals, for example, rice and buckwheat. It is necessary that the child spread these cereals into different containers. You can complicate the game by adding other small items to the cereal mixture, such as beads, buttons, pebbles. nine0012
3. Paper tearing exercise. First, we draw arbitrary lines on a sheet of paper. We offer the child to tear the paper with his hands exactly along the drawn lines. You can complicate the task by depicting geometric shapes.
4. Page turning exercise. As the child grows older, instead of tearing a sheet of paper, you can offer to flip through the pages of your favorite book. This exercise also encourages the child's early interest in reading literature.
nine0011 Smooth out wrinkled paper. We put a crumpled sheet of paper in front of the child and offer to smooth it so that not a single bent corner remains. You can complicate the exercise by offering to perform it with one hand, while holding the sheet with your thumb.
5. Dice games. We give the task to collect various figures from cubes: a tower, a house, a car, etc. Pyramid rings are also suitable for these games. Tasks become more difficult as the child masters the construction of simple figures. nine0012
6. Lacing games. Available in various options. It can also be an unnecessary shoe that can be given to the child to lace up and unlace. It can also be a card in which holes for laces are made. In any case, the actions with these items are the same and have one goal - to teach the child to cope with the laces on their own, since this skill will be useful to him in the future.
7. Exercises with counting sticks. Please lay out geometric shapes on the table. First, the child performs tasks according to the model, and then independently according to verbal instructions. An additional plus of this exercise is the formation of elementary mathematical representations. nine0012
8. Games with covers. Here you can offer various containers and vessels with lids that the child will independently twist and unscrew. And if you tell your child that you can’t cope without him, you will give a motive to become your main assistant.
9. Finger painting in the sand. Invite the child to draw with all fingers alternately geometric shapes or any other pattern that he wishes. Interaction with sand also has a positive effect on the central nervous system. nine0012

Lessons for the development of fine motor skills in children

In addition to games for the development of fine motor skills, you should engage in a variety of activities that children will undoubtedly like:

• modeling from plasticine, clay or dough;
• drawing or coloring with paints, pencils, crayons;
• construction from kits, paper, cubes;
• crafts made of paper, natural or waste materials; nine0012
• stringing beads, buttons on a string;
• mosaic picking;
• ball games;
• peeling fruits, e. g. tangerines;
• work with special manuals-copybooks.

Fine motor toys

What could be better for a child than a new toy? Only a toy that contributes to its comprehensive development.

1. Massage embossed foot mats. Ideal to use after waking up to tone the body. You can purchase a puzzle mat that he can assemble and disassemble on his own. If you want to focus on the development of cognitive skills, you can purchase a rug with numbers or letters. nine0012
2. Magnets. Place the magnets on the refrigerator or a special magnetic board. The child will definitely be interested in them, and will independently move them on the surface. Depending on the goal pursued, you can purchase magnets of various shapes, for example, in the form of numbers.
3. Kinetic sand. Tactilely pleasant not only for children, but also for adults. Such sand does not get your hands dirty, so it will become a favorite toy for children and an assistant for adults.
4. Easel for drawing. There are options for easels on which you can draw on both sides: on the one hand - with special crayons, and on the other - with paints. nine0012
5. Massage balls. Perfect for finger games. Thanks to the spikes, they actively affect the areas of the palms and fingers.
6. Constructors. You can choose a set from any manufacturer. You should focus on safety for the child, age and gender. In addition to the development of fine motor skills, it stimulates the development of modeling and design skills.
7. Finger Theatre. It combines the possibilities of the comprehensive development of the child. In addition, it improves the expressiveness of speech, memory, imagination, acting skills. This option should definitely be used if you notice that one hand is more developed than the other. nine0012
8. Busyboard. Recently a popular manual for the development of fine motor skills. It is a wooden structure, on which various objects are attached on both sides. These can be laces, caps, locks, switches, gears, etc. Such a toy will help parents, as the baby can play it independently and safely.

At what age should one develop fine motor skills? nine0003

It is important to pay attention to the motor skills of the hands for at least a few minutes every day.

• For children from nine months of age, pick up large items such as beads or pyramid rings.
• At the age of 1 year, you can organize games with natural materials: sand, clay, cones, pebbles, etc.
• After 2 years, the baby will be happy to do finger exercises with an adult. Saying various nursery rhymes along with hand movements will help to teach hand and tongue coordination. And also better remembered by the child himself. nine0012
• After 3 years, paper exercises should be used. Usually, by these years, the baby has mastered the skill of working with scissors, so it becomes possible to model applications.
• And from the age of 4-6, origami is mastered as one of the most difficult types of paper games.

At whatever age you are engaged in the development of fine motor skills in children, it is necessary to organize this activity so that it brings not only benefit, but also pleasure to the child. nine0003

Conclusions

In the age of technological progress and the early use of phones, tablets and computers by children, other aspects of child development are regressing. And, first of all, speech suffers. The relationship between fine motor skills and speech, as well as the development of mental processes, has already been established.

Systematic work on the development of fine motor skills is necessary throughout the preschool period, since by the age of seven the brain areas responsible for its development have already been formed. A child, going to school, should be prepared for new loads, in particular, for mastering writing skills, and not learning how to hold a pen or pencil correctly. Lack of basic skills can lead to unstable self-esteem, inability to build social connections, and poor academic performance. nine0003

The network of children's development centers "Baby Club" will be happy to help in the development of fine motor skills of your child. A developing object-spatial environment, highly qualified specialists who love their work with all their hearts, and cozy groups will not leave anyone indifferent.

General development classes or specialized programs - the choice is yours. Contact us if your goal is to raise a developed, open, free, inquisitive little man.

How to develop fine motor skills in children?