Many of the regular activities your child completes such as eating and getting dressed, require small muscles in the hands. These skills are also known as fine motor skills. As your child develops and practices using these muscles more often, not only will it strengthen their fine motor skills, but allow them to complete advanced tasks such as holding a pencil or playing an instrument. it is important for children at early school age to already be developing their fine motor skills. Advised by a junior school in Exeter, here are some of the ways you can help your child with these skills. Not only are these techniques useful for helping young children but are also useful for older children’s motor skill development.
- Explore with play dough. An old favourite that entertains both adults and children. This is a great material to use as it is durable enough to help children work on their fine motor skills without realising. To make this enjoyable, take part in this activity with your child and show them how to handle it. Encourage creativity alongside and watch how it keeps them busy for a long while.
- Puzzles are also a fantastic way of getting your child’s fine motor skills working well. Puzzle pieces require preciseness when it comes to picking up and moving pieces and helps develop a pincer grasp. It can be frustrating at a young age when all they want to do is put the pieces into their mouths or throw them about. Engage with your child and stay patient as you encourage them to complete their puzzle. Doing this will allow them to improve their hand-eye and coordination skills.
- Colouring and painting are one of the most exciting activities for a child so use their enthusiasm to your advantage to help them strengthen their muscles by learning how to grip pencils and paint brushes well. It requires a lot of patience and boosts creativity and imagination. Paint by number is a fantastic way of getting your child to learn how to control the brush well to achieve a better painting.
- Cutting with scissors is always a terrifying task to allow your child to try for the first time but it is one of the best ways to get fine motor skills working well and strong. It aids with hand-eye coordination and concentration levels. The best part is they can take their time to learn how to cut shapes and different textures such as playdough and cardboard.
Engage in activities like these to help your child strengthen their fine motor skills quickly. They’ll be completing big tasks in no time!
*Collaborative post
About Debz Louise
Debz Louise is a UK-based lifestyle expert and the founder of several lifestyle blogs. Specialising in everything from interior design and home renovation to body-positive fashion and parenting, Debz brings a wealth of hands-on experience to every guide. Her mission at Stereotude is to simplify the modern world for her readers through expert curation and fiercely honest advice.