It’s important for parents to help strengthen kids fine motor skills from a young age. Fine motor skills involve the use of our small muscles in our hands, wrists, fingers, feet, and toes. We use our fine motor skills to help us with everyday tasks like buttoning up a shirt, tying our laces or handling our cutlery at dinnertime.
When combined with hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills provide youngsters with various new opportunities, such as increasing independence, exploration, creative expression, and learning.
So, I have teamed up with a boarding school in Birmingham to suggest some activities you can do with your child at home to help strengthen kids fine motor skills.
disclosure: this is a partnered post
#1: Getting Dressed
In the morning when your child is getting dressed, give them some space to practise on their own. Teaching them how to zip up their coat, tie their laces and even brush their teeth with limited help from you. Eventually they will be able to carry out these tasks independently.
#2: Board Games & Jigsaws
Anything that requires your child to pick up small items and move them delicately into a new location will help your child with their fine motor skills. This could be anything from a boardgame, a jigsaw or even Lego.
#3: Arts & Crafts
Arts & crafts projects involve handling crayons, pencils, paint brushes and even scissors so the more your child gets involved with arts and crafts, the more proficient they will become at controlling these items.
#4: Cooking
Ask your child to help you in the kitchen, as this will help them with their fine motor skills. They will have to pour ingredients or liquids when measuring, which involves delicate movement of the hands and wrists. It may also even encourage fussy eaters to eat their dinner!
As with most things, practise makes perfect, but remember to be patient. Children develop at different rates, so if you feel like your child is not progressing as quickly as others their age, it’s probably nothing to worry about. If you are truly concerned, it wouldn’t hurt to make an appointment with your GP.
We hope these four simple and easy activities to strengthen kids fine motor skills have given you some ideas of what you can do at home. Improving children’s fine motor skills will give them much more independence as everyday tasks become easier and easier for them.
