Fine motor skills involve the coordination between the eyes and the small muscles of the body, and are most commonly thought of as the ability to control the muscles in the wrists, hands, and fingers. Fine motor skills are key to building your child’s pride and independence, enabling them to get dressed and eat by themselves. It also helps them in school with writing, coloring, using a computer or tablet, and other classroom activities.
According to the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) the following are great activities for building fine motor skills:
- Help with meals- stir, shake, chop, cut and mix
- Open and close containers with lids
- Set the table
- Pour liquids into a cup
- Hold knives, forks, and spoons to eat
- Wipe the table
- Get dressed – button, zip, snap, buckle, and fasten
- Use Velcro tabs
- Cut with child-safe scissors
- Finger paint
- Use a paintbrush
- Play with playdough and clay-roll, smoosh, pat, pound and use tools like popsicle sticks or stamps
- Draw, scribble, or write with crayons, pencils, and markers
- Put together puzzles
- Place pegs in a board
- Build with small blocks
- Play board games
- Play with puppets
My classroom experiences have shown me that many children struggle because of their underdeveloped fine motor skills. I suspect this might be due to an increase in screen time, resulting in a decrease in play time. You should provide your child with daily opportunities to be creative. In recent years, I have had many children who came into my classroom who never used child scissors, never painted, and never used glue sticks or glue! Most of them probably were never allowed to get messy! These poor kids! They missed out on so many creative learning experiences!
My suggestion is to put together a craft box for your child, which may include any or all of the following: plain paper and colored construction paper, wallpaper, tissue paper, newspapers, magazines, notecards, foam sheets, writing utensils, stencils, watercolors, stamp pads, stickers, glue sticks, paste, tape, Q-tips, cotton balls, yarn or string, buttons, pipe cleaners, pom-poms, wiggly eyes, felt scraps, glitter, ruler, pencil, empty cardboard tubes (TP or paper towel) or anything else you can think of. The list is endless!
You also might want to stock up on plastic tablecloths from the dollar store just to be safe while your child creates their artwork and other crafts. Your child will have so much fun! While they are working on their project, help them to learn to how to hold their crayons, scissors, and paintbrushes properly. When they finish each project ask them to tell you about their masterpiece. Do not offer up any suggestions on what it might be. You don’t want to hurt their feelings if you are wrong. Give them praise for being so creative. Display their work wherever you can.
Take time every day to have your child help with household activities from the NYEAC list, to develop their fine motor skills. Also block out some time every day to do fun activities, games, and crafts, that do the same. Lastly, here is a nice article by Very Well Family that has some great ideas: Fine Motor Skills for Toddlers and Preschoolers.
