As a parent, guardian, or someone who takes care of children, it’s important to make sure that they have the things they need to become their best selves. Whether feeding them a balanced diet that includes essential nutrients or teaching them how to read, there are many ways to introduce habits and practices that benefit children as they grow. Fine motor skills are an important part of a child’s development. Much of our daily routine is accomplished by using these skills. We share tips here on how to improve fine motor skills in your child.
Understanding Fine Motor Skills
Fine motor skills involve the movement of small muscles in hands, fingers, feet, toes, and wrists as coordinated by the brain. From simple movements such as grasping a small object to snapping one’s fingers, these skills are the building blocks for more advanced skills that will become necessary for children as they grow into teenagers and young adults. The good news is that many activities contribute to this development in kids. Here are a few ideas.
Drawing and Painting
Encouraging kids to draw and paint is a great way to work on their fine motor skills. Using pencils, paintbrushes, and other writing utensils helps to build a child’s hand-eye coordination. Learning how to control and manipulate a crayon as a youngster makes it easier to grasp the mechanics needed for writing. Moreover, drawing and painting helps a child’s creative juices flow. A pad of paper and a set of the best watercolor markers can lead to independent creativity and fine motor development hours, say the experts at ooly.
Playing With Blocks and Construction Toys
Blocks are a classic child’s toy that teaches kids to pinch, grasp, and move things around. Pulling and pushing pieces into place is important in fine motor progress. Building brick toys that interlock together help kids understand how to join parts and manipulate them for the desired outcome. Playtime involving these toys helps build muscles and improve coordination. These toys also help children flex their creativity muscles and develop problem-solving skills, which are a must-have throughout life.
Working With Arts and Crafts
Arts and crafts offer several ways to help build small muscle coordination. Aside from using crayons and markers, there are activities such as using scissors and working with small objects such as seeds, dry cereal, and dry pasta that help with fine motor control and manipulation reminds Good Housekeeping. Learning how to cut shapes aids in hand-eye coordination and how small hand movements and changes in pressure assists in achieving the desired cutout result. Working with modeling clay and other crafting materials helps develop a child’s dexterity. These activities also help kids work on making their ideas a reality and enables them to celebrate their accomplishments.
Putting children on the right path is an important responsibility of a parent, guardian, or teacher. There are so many ideas and concepts that kids will absorb as they grow into adolescence and adulthood. Sometimes it’s the simple things you can do to ensure that they’re getting the things they need for their progress, and fine motor skills are no exception. You don’t need special training or knowledge to help a child master grasping, pinching, holding, and other essential functions involving their hands, fingers, feet, toes, and wrists.