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Many of the daily tasks your child needs to master involve using small muscles in the hands, wrists and fingers to perform movements, such as zipping up their coat, eating with a knife and fork, and writing with a pen. Giving your child as many opportunities as possible to practise these skills will help them master them so they can be more independent in the future.
Learn more about ways you can support your child’s fine motor development from this article by a day nursery in Worthing.
Everyday activities
Getting your child involved in daily activities like cooking gives them the chance to use different items and learn to control them to perform small movements. They might use items like a whisk, rolling pin and spoon to mix and prepare ingredients for a cake, or a watering can or trowel when helping you with gardening.
They’ll develop different grasping techniques using their fingers to grip items, and use small hand and wrist muscles to move them around.
Playing
Play activities like building a tower of blocks or completing a puzzle are great ways to help children with their fine motor skills. They’ll learn to pick up small pieces and place them carefully where they want them to go using small movements.
Moulding playdough and clay to make different shapes is also beneficial as children learn to use their fingers to manipulate different materials. You might also be able to find some games for your child to play that involve them picking up and moving other small pieces using a pincer grasp.
Creating art
Giving your child free rein to create something from nothing also helps boost fine motor development. They could draw a picture using a pencil, colour in using crayons, make a model using recyclable materials or create a collage by cutting out images and sticking them together.
They’ll learn to use a variety of different tools, like scissors, gluestick, pencils and crayons, to make markings, gradually learning to control them over time.
Water play
When they’re next in the bath, give your child different-sized cups and containers to play with. They’ll love filling them up with water and then pouring it out, or transferring water from one container to another. You can even buy specific water-based toys aimed at enhancing fine motor skills.
This watery play will develop their use of hand, wrist and finger muscles while giving them a lot of fun in the process.
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