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We start every morning thanks to our fine motor skills. Fine motor skills allow us to coordinate movements such as pressing, holding and gripping using our small muscle tissues. These are muscles located in the hands, feet and wrists.
We have teamed up with a Montessori nursery in North London to share ways that you can help your child to develop their fine motor skills.
Learning to Play an Instrument
Playing music isn’t only fun but helps children in developing their creativity and fine motor skills. Your child can practice their pressing when playing the keyboard and work on holding while learning how to use drumsticks.
Craft Scissors
Scissors can be particularly awkward contraptions to use but play an important role in our daily lives. By allowing your children to practise using child-safe craft scissors, they can build the fine motor skills needed to use them in later life. You can use fun, zigzag scissors to create a beautiful piece of art. We recommend checking the age restrictions before use and supervising your child if necessary.
Jewellery Making
Use pasta, pipe cleaners, shells, strings and beads to create a masterpiece. Piping string into beads and similar objects is a job of precision. Your child can exercise their motor skills by using their hands to carefully feed them through. At first, this may be a little fiddly, but they will soon get the hang of it with practice.
Bath Time Toys
Rubber ducks that fill up with water or other squishy bath toys are an excellent idea. They make bath time so much easier for us mums and dads while your child continues their learning.
Modelling with Play Dough
Another one is to let their creativity run wild. Your child can use play dough to model whatever they like. In rolling, squeezing and pinching they can build all of these essential skills. Before use, check the recommended age for use to avoid exposing your child to a potential hazard. For Play-Doh, this is typically between the ages of 3 and 6.
Baking Cookies
Once you have your yummy cookie mix ready, bake with your child using child-friendly cookie cutters and a rolling pin. Not only does this allow for bonding time with your child but will help them to practice pushing and pressing. After all that learning, a batch of freshly baked cookies makes for the perfect treat.
