Parents of toddlers have no doubt heard the term ‘fine motor skills’ as it is often bandied about when talk turns to child development and preschool goals. Fine motor skills involve all the small muscles of the body that allow functions such as writing, grasping small objects and fastening clothing. Fine motor skills involve strength, fine motor control and dexterity.
Fine motor skills, are skills that involve a refined use of the small muscles controlling the hand, fingers and thumb. The development of these skills allow a person – at any age – to be able to complete tasks such as writing, drawing and buttoning.
The preschool attainment goals that are expected of children include their ability to hold pencils and markers with a mature grip, the child’s ability to draw recognizable shapes and objects and a child’s capability to cut out shapes while turning the paper as necessary. Fine motor skills are important in most school activities as well as in life in general.
Limitations in fine motor skills can greatly impinge on a child’s ability to eat, write legibly, operate a computer, turn pages in a book and perform personal care tasks such as dressing and grooming.
As children improve their motor skills, they are better able to help themselves by completing daily activities independently. For instance, children between the ages of 2 and 3 are able to put on and take off simple articles of clothing. They are able to ‘operate’ clothing with zippers, use spoons, string together beads with large holes and open doors that have doorknobs. When children are between the ages of 3 and 4, they are able to dress in clothing with larger buttons, use scissors to cut paper and can copy simple lined shapes using a pencil. By the ages of 4 to 5, children are able to dress and undress themselves without assistance. They are also able to manipulate a fork and have increased their dexterity to cut around shapes with a pair of scissors. Finally, by age 6, a child is able to cut soft foods with a knife and can tie his or her shoe laces.
Because all children develop at their own rate, the ages given are not an exact timeline because every child will acquire their fine-motor skills in a different timetable – however there is much you can do to support a toddler’s acquisition of fine motor skills. In fact, the more your preschool child uses his or her fingers in activities that help to strengthen their hand coordination, the sooner they will master dexterity.
Develop fine motor skills by drawing and coloring with your child using markers, pencils, crayons and even pavement chalk. Drawings need not be perfect – scribbling is great fun – and coloring pages of a favourite TV or movie character should encourage even the most reluctant colorer to literally try his or her hand at coloring. At sites like Spongebob Coloring Pages you’ll find the best Spongebob colouring pages while little girls would perhaps enjoy the coloring sheets at Fairy Coloring Pages.
Despite parents’ best efforts however, sometimes children need some assistance when developing their fine motor skills. This requires parents to find diverse strategies in order to assist children with their development. Occupational therapists are the true experts in the field of fine motor and handwriting development, therefore, if you think that there may be an issue with the fine motor development of your child, you should ask for an evaluation by a licensed occupational therapist.