Helping Your Child Develop Fine Motor Skills

Fine motor skills involve the small muscles in our hands, fingers, and wrists, used in activities like tying our shoes, holding a pen, using cutlery, or doing up buttons. We often take our fine motor skills for granted, because they are used for such normal, everyday tasks. They start to develop from a very young age. In fact, there are things you can do to help your child improve their fine motor skills so that they become quicker and better at certain activities. Here are some tips from a day nursery in Kew.

Meal Prep 

Allow your child to help you with your cooking or baking, such as pouring ingredients or stirring with a wooden spoon. Let them set the table and pour their own drinks. All of these activities will help your child learn how to control and co-ordinate their bodies. 

Puzzles

Encourage your child to complete age-appropriate jigsaw puzzles together. This involves picking up the small pieces and placing them back down in the right place. Essentially, they must engage with hand-eye co-ordination. They might find it frustrating or give up easily, but keep trying because the rewards are worth it. 

Arts & Crafts

Drawing with crayons, finger painting, and cutting with scissors all help to improve fine motor skills, because your child will learn how to hold certain equipment and carefully control them. Arts and crafts are also great for engaging your child’s imagination and creative side, so it’s certainly worth exploring, despite the mess!

Lego

Playing with Lego encourages pushing and pulling movements and is an effective way to help develop your child’s fine motor skills. Again, it helps them with their co-ordination and allows them to build stronger muscles in their hands. 

There are many more activities you can do with your child to help develop their fine motor skills, but the above ideas should certainly get you started. Don’t be alarmed if your child’s fine motor skills aren’t progressing as quickly as their peers. All children develop at different speeds. However, if you are truly concerned, don’t hesitate to speak to your GP.

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