Motor skill development is very important. That is why it is crucial for parents to help strengthen these skills during the early years. Fine motor skill development in early childhood will help give children a strong start on their early childhood education journey.
These skills are fundamental for the tasks children will have to tackle later on. These include activities like writing, drawing, eating and even tying their shoes.
Fine Motor Skill Development
Fine motor skills are the movements we are able to make with the smaller muscles in our bodies. These skills take time to develop, which is one of the reasons why it is vital to start working on these early on.
Parents please remember these skills are not easy for young learners, so it will take time, practice and patience. Every child is unique and different. This means they will reach different milestones based on their own abilities.
If your child becomes discouraged because they cannot complete a particular task encourage them and tell them that it’s okay! It takes practice to become good at anything!
In this post you will find out why fine motor skills in early childhood are so important and how you can help your child develop and strengthen theirs.
Why are Fine Motor Skills Important?
Developing fine motor skills in early childhood is important because these skills will help your child develop what they need to perform basic tasks everyday. Like I mentioned, earlier these tasks could include writing, dressing, brushing hair and teeth, eating, getting dressed.
We use fine motor skills all of the time! As your child becomes better with these motor skills their confidence will start to build. Once their confidence builds they will be motivated to continue to try and learn more new things.
This is what early childhood education is all about! Here are some fun activities and tools to help you help your child build and/or strengthen their fine motor skills!
Fine Motor Skill Development Tools
- crayons
- pompoms
- tweezers
- tongs
- string
- beads
- scissors
- paint brushes
Any tool that makes your child have to pinch or squeeze to grab or use properly will work very well with developing fine motor skills.
Allowing your child to practice with these will have the fine motor skills improving after continued practice.
Fine Motor Skills Development Activities
- Playing with playdough
- Placing beads on string
- Picking up rice with tweezers
- Marble games
- Coloring/Drawing activities
- Painting activities
- Puzzles
- Building blocks activities
- Cutting out lines/shapes
These are some of the tools and activities I have found very helpful with developing fine motor skills in children. You can use any of these activities and make games from them. Your child will be learning and developing fine motor skills without even knowing!
Conclusion
In conclusion, I really do hope this post has been helpful to you. Fine motor skill development is very important in early childhood and has many benefits. Once fine motor skills are developed your child has opened the door to countless more tasks to be able to accomplished.
Once this happens their self confidence and motivation will grow and they will be inspired to learn and do more. What are some of your favorite fine motor skill development activities? Leave them in the comments! I would love to hear your great ideas!
